Technology Solutions

Five iPhone® Apps for Healthy Living

Apple's iPhone (and iPod Touches) can do far more than just play music while you jog. Hundreds of applications (or "apps") supporting health and fitness are available for download. Here are five that will help you and your students eat healthy and stay active:

1. AllRecipes.com® Dinner Spinner™
   

   No idea what to make for dinner? Give your iPhone a shake! This “Dinner Spinner” provides quick access to thousands of healthy recipes. Each includes photos, five-star ratings, user reviews, and recipe variations.

   You can search for what you want by dish type, ingredients, and prep time. Or, if you want a random suggestion, just shake the spinner, and the app will choose something for you. Save your favorite recipes and email them to friends. If you decide to upgrade to the Pro version, the app will help you generate grocery lists and more.

2. Tap & Track (nanobitsoftware.com)
   

   This app helps you keep a close eye on what you eat, how much you weigh, and how much you exercise. Enter what you've had for breakfast, lunch, or dinner by searching the app's massive food database, and it will tally your daily calories, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, protein, and more. Search for restaurant foods or create custom foods not listed in the database. Add your exercise for the day to see how many calories you've burned. The app also has handy report features: view your BMI, see a pie chart of your daily caloric ratio, monitor weight loss with tables and graphs, and export all your data to a spreadsheet.

3. iFitness
   

   Your iPhone can now act like a virtual personal trainer. This app not only tracks your workout progress, it also provides information on how to properly perform hundreds of exercises. You can search for exercises to tone a particular body region or muscle and see pictures of the exercise along with written instructions.

   For more difficult exercises, the app provides video featuring its consortium of fitness experts. Customize your workouts for different days of the week, follow pre-established routines for various fitness goals, and track your progress with reports you can send to your e-mail.

4. GoPedometer
   

   As soon as you purchased your iPhone or iPod Touch, you were instantly aware of how it could detect your movements. GoPedometer has capitalized on this feature by converting the device into a great tool for measuring your daily physical activity. Use this pedometer for walking or jogging, or just to see how many steps you're getting in each day. All you have to do is enter your weight and height, and then keep it in your pocket or on your belt. The app then tracks your footfalls, the distance you've traveled, your pace, and the number of calories you've burned.

5. Eat This?
   

   Having trouble deciding if that box of crackers fits into your health goals? This app can act as your own personal dietician. Just scan the barcode on the box with your iPhone's built-in camera. If you don't have a camera, type in the UPC numbers. Then, based on the health objectives you selected (diabetes, weight management, healthy eating, cholesterol, and high blood pressure), the app will quickly tell you if it's a good idea to eat those crackers. You'll even see taste ratings from other consumers and suggestions for healthy alternatives.

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