As we we are constantly being reminded that two-thirds of all Australians are overweight or obese it is necessary to constantly think of new ways to help the population maintain a healthy weight.
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Technology is advancing so quickly and we are now regularly attached to our smartphone or tablet checking emails, Facebook, Instagram or any of the other myriad apps available to us.
How many of you are using your phone to monitor your diet or physical activity levels? Just looking at the health and fitness category in Google Play retrieved 376 apps and 240 apps available in the iTunes app store. Which one do you choose, if any? I suppose the first consideration is: diet or exercise? Or an app that can monitor both?
Choosing an app is difficult but if you want to monitor what you are eating, picking an app in which you enter your height, weight, age, gender and target weight is a good starting point. By entering this information an app can calculate your required daily kilojoule intake.
So throughout the day as you log your food intake, the app can calculate your nutritional intake for each eating occasion and provide the number of kilojoules remaining for the day.
This is much easier than trying to do the maths in your head.
Indeed, research has found that weight loss is greater in those who keep a food diary; having a phone by your side most of the time also makes it easier to log your food intake whilst on the go.
On the other side, if you are not very disciplined and find continuously noting down your food intake tedious, then checking the nutritional content of the food you buy whilst doing your grocery shopping is an alternative way to keep an eye on the contents of foods you are consuming.
There are a couple of apps that have been developed specifically for the Australian market that might be of interest; FoodSwitch, developed by the George Institute and the Traffic Light Food Tracker from the Obesity Policy Coalition.
These apps provide a simple traffic light rating system based on the amount of total fat, saturated fat, sugars and sodium per 100g of a food. Red denotes high levels, amber medium levels and green for low levels.
Using FoodSwitch it is also possible to track packaged foods using the voluntary Health Star Rating system introduced in June 2014.
The food industry can rate their foods from ½ star to five stars using the Health Star Rating Calculator to assess the positive and negative nutrients in the food.
However, if you are still confused about which app to choose, VicHealth recently undertook a review of 200 healthy lifestyle apps. Go to www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/apps.
Author: Dr Joanna Russell, Research Fellow, HealthTrack Study
*These health tips are provided by researchers affiliated or associated with the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, which runs the HealthTrack Study.
Please consult your doctor for specific medical advice.
