There’s an app for that!!
My favorite Intuitive Eating-friendly tracking apps
There are so many apps these days to track everything you do: calorie counting apps, sleeping apps, meditating apps , and even pooping apps (I’ll be getting to that one later, it’s seriously one of my fave!). Yet Intuitive Eating as a practice doesn’t require you to track your calories or even the foods you eat like most diets do. In fact I have seen so many people get obsessed with the tracking of their foods, calories and exercise that it can lead to unhealthy behaviors.
There are so many things wrong with our worship of tracking our intake.
First, with apps like Fitness Pal, the calorie/nutrient content is so often incorrect because the data is crowd-sourced. This means that the nutrition content is added in by users of the software and may not always be the most accurate or up to date. Who knows if the information that you are documenting is correct?
Second, it makes exercise punitive by showing that if you exercise you are allowed more calories to eat. To me, movement should be joyful and enjoyable regardless of what you eat!
And lastly, the problem with tracking is that it pushes us to say “I had a GOOD day” or “I had a BAD” day based on an app, and thus our self worth really gets tied into the tracking.
I always say that time is an abstract concept, and breaking our lives down to 24-hour chunks and then basing how we feel about ourselves on those hours, well—that just sounds like a recipe for disaster. And low self-esteem (we’ve got enough battles to fight as it is, don’t we?).
Also, just as an aside, you know how we were all told to aim for 10,000 steps each day? Yeah, that’s bullshit. Recent articles have been published debunking the “science” behind the 10K. Surprisingly, the number was created by a Japanese marketing firm in the 1960’s to capitalize on the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Say WHA? More recently, public health leaders have stated “There is no scientific evidence that exists to back up 10K steps.”
With all that being said, I know y’all still like a good app. So here are my four useful, Intuitive Eating-friendly favorite apps that I use and recommend to my clients daily:
This app is just the best. Created by two eating disorder experts, the purpose of the app is to check in throughout the day with your hunger and fullness cues on a regular basis. You will learn how to respond to your own internal cues as opposed to external cues and rules. This is perfect for chronic dieters who always relied on a diet plan to tell you when, and how, to eat. You can set a timer that prompts you to be present and asks “where are you?” on the hunger scale, anywhere from “famished” to “sick.” When you’re ready to eat, you let the app know and you can rate your hunger before and after eating. By using the program on a regular basis, you can discover your unique rhythms of hunger and fullness and learn to know your cues.
I love this because it is SO simple to use (just one or two clicks) and the “Be Present” prompts are helpful for a busy person like myself. Also, all three creators of this app emailed me personally to thank me for downloading it. Um, WHAT? How amazingly kind and thoughtful are they? Once you download you are eligible to join the “Peace with Food” private Facebook group to connect with other people learning their hunger/fullness cues.
2. Am I Hungry? Mindful Eating Virtual Coach
If you’ve ever needed guidance in determining whether you’re truly hungry or not, this is for you. Created by Michelle May, MD, author of the “Am I Hungry?” books and training series, this app is like having a coach in your pocket.
So let’s say you want to eat (whether you’re actually hungry doesn’t matter). The app will then ask you a series of simple questions, like “Am I hungry?” with answers of “yes”, “no”, or “I don’t know.”If you don’t know, it gives you a great Body-Mind-Heart Scan to help you determine if you’re actually physically hungry. Other questions are “Do I have signs of hunger?” with examples, “How hungry am I?” with a hunger/fullness scale, and “What do I eat?” You get the point—basically, it’s an intuitive eating decision tree right on your phone. With consistent use of this app you’ll really get to know your internal hunger/fullness cues, and also perhaps learn to pause if you’re eating for non-hunger reasons (which is totally OK, too).
OK, let’s talk about poop, people. Did I become a dietitian because I can legit ask people about their bowel movements? Maybe.
I learned about Cara from other dietitians in a Facebook group and I have been hooked since downloading it. This is for people who suffer from IBS-like symptoms (diarrhea, bloating, constipation) and/or may suspect food intolerances that they cannot pinpoint. So often I hear “I have GI symptoms but I just can’t figure out what’s doing it!”This app is your Sherlock Holmes of gut distress where you log in your food (no calories!) and simple ingredients along with your symptoms (such as mood, bloating/gassiness, reflux, period, and yes, the look of your poop). After a few days of tracking, Cara will magically tell you which foods you eat on your best, mildest symptom days and which foods you ate on your worst. It produces very useful data and can begin to offer insight as to what is exacerbating your symptoms. Plus, poop. 💩
I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about my favorite mindfulness app, Insight Timer. I use this every evening when my son and I listen to a sleep meditation (really I’m just trying to get him to Go the F$%^ to sleep!) Boasting the largest library on earth of free meditations, it’s my go-to when I need a break. Feeling anxious? There’s a meditation for that. How about needing a body image pick me up? Choose from a selection. Want to feel one with the Universe? Well, you’ve come to the right app because there are thousands of those! Also some great courses with short daily meditations- I just completed Coming Home to Yourself and the teacher was phenomenal. Just an FYI, I get the paid version so I can download and listen offline (like on a plane, etc) and I think it’s worth it.
What apps do you like to use in your daily life? Leave a comment below.
