iPhone Appidemic: Fooducate

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iDevice Apps, Features, Appidemic

How’s that New Year’s resolution going? The one where you were going to eat healthier as part of this whole New Year, New You program? Remember that? No, really, you did. Put down the bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and brush the Ho-Ho crumbs off your keyboard and check your Twitter feed from January first. There it is.

Okay, so it can be hard to eat healthfully, especially when you’re out grocery shopping. If you’re trying to cut down on processed food, or maybe just look for a better alternative for the same items, Fooducate—a free app with a barcode scanner—can help.

What is it

Fooducate is a database program for food and supplements that gives food a grade based on the number of calories and ingredients. It helps you be aware of what you’re putting in your body, and find better alternatives.

How does it work?

You can scan items in (provided your device has a camera), or enter barcodes naturally. Fooducate then rates it on a scale from A-F, explains why it has that grade, tells you how many calories per serving it has, and also lists better alternatives in the same category.

Fooducate bases it’s rating on the number of ingredients (how “processed” it is), as well as things like extra sugars or chemicals that have been added. The Lipton Pureleaf Sweetened tea I normally drink, for example, has a C+ grade due to the added sugar (which gets a red exclamation mark in the warning), as well as natural and artificial flavors, and citric acid. The unsweetened version of the same tea gets an A- rating.

If you’re doing Weight Watchers, Fooducate also lists how many points are found in a serving, using the new WW system introduced this year.

Is it contagious?

Fooducate is an addictive way to make yourself aware of the prepared food in your diet. Having a Ritz cracker? Scan it: they contain trans fats and use refined flour. Fooducate can then suggest healthier alternatives, like a whole-grain cracker in the same aisle. At the very least, you’ll be aware of what you’re putting into your system. It’s especially fun if, like me, you have a morbid sense of humor and start looking forward to the “beep” of the scanner followed by all the warnings.

If you’re part of a group program, or just want to be one of those people who get hidden on Facebook, Fooducate has social media tools that let you share links to what you’ve scanned on both FB and Twitter.

Best of all, the app is free.

Category: Healthcare and fitness
Developer: Fooducate
Cost: Free
Download: Fooducate

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

---

LIBERTY GLOBAL LM ERICSSON LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL MCAFEE MAXIMUS