Our pals at Shape.com recently spotlighted an awesome, soon-to-be-released app that I am so excited about: Ceres, which should be on the market soon, is for people who like the idea of food journaling, but don’t necessarily like the idea of journaling. How does it work? Ceres will allow users who take a picture of their food to receive an approximate calorie count. No more scribbling in a pocket sized notebook , looking through online tables for calorie counts, or scanning a bar-code to find the exact protein bar you’re munching in. I don’t really understand how this will work—I doubt a room full of RDs analyzes each photo—but I love the simplicity!
Bonus: Ceres is being worked on by the same techs behind Siri—which I hope means the app will be sassy!
Also in the works—from a different team—is the nutrition tracker TellSpec. It’s not an app; it’s actually a gadget that connects to your phone, supplying you with the calories, allergy information, and nutritional facts about your meal of choice. Here’s a picture of the device, which is about the size of a key fob:
You wave the TellSpec over your food and the gadget uses an algorithm to calculate the details of your food. Again, not really sure what makes this gadget go go go—it sort of seems like magic to me—but really cool nonetheless!
Like I said, both of these should be available in the near future. For those of you who want to track your calorie counts now, without waiting for Ceres or TellSpec to be released, here are some other great food tracking apps you can start using now:
Meal Snap—2.99, currently available
Meal Snap uses the same idea as the above devices, just with a bit of a less accurate reading according to some reviews. Still, it’s probably more accurate than guessing how many calories are in your meals and snacks!
My Nutrition—free, currently available
You can quickly search through various foods by category, name, or nutrition info. The app is easy to use, visually appealing, and very useful.
My Fitness Pal—free, currently available
My Fitness Pal is one of the most well known apps on the market, and why wouldn’t it be? My Fitness Pal allows you to track your food manually or using the bar-code scanner. At the end of each day, MFP will give you a breakdown via pie chart or list of your consumption throughout the day. You can also connect with pals to keep each other in check.
Also Read:
Live Happy iPhone App Keeps You Happy and Healthy
Strengthen Your Core and Stomach with the Core Fitness App