If you're having trouble maintaining a food diary to keep track of certain triggers that could be contributing to your digestive problems, apps for your smartphone and other electronic devices may be able to help.
Tracking Food Quality
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has just created an app based on its Chemical Cuisine glossary of food additives database. Last spring, the CSPI launched a mobile application that brings all CSPI's food additive safety ratings directly to iPhone, iPads, iPad Touch, and Android-equipped mobile devices.
"Shopping for groceries was a lot easier when more food came from farms and not factories," said CSPI's executive director Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., on the organization's website. "And the tens of thousands of packaged foods on supermarket shelves have a bewildering array of chemical food additives designed to enhance the taste, texture, color, or shelf life of the product. We decided to make life a little easier for those who want to satisfy [their] curiosity about some of the most commonly used food additives from the convenience of [their] mobile device."
Managing Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
For sufferers of chronic ailments such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn's disease, or ulcerative colitis, WellApps.com has a GI Monitor symptom logging app that allows patients to track their medications, monitor stress patterns, record pain levels, log meals, and track the frequency of bowel movements. This information is useful enough to give to your doctor for updated care. Currently, the GI Monitor app is free to users and can be downloaded on iPhones and Androids. You can also establish and online account.
Counting Calories
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also created a set of interactive tools to help you monitor the amount of calories you consume each day, learn about the basic food groups, customize a daily food plan, and get healthy eating tips and weight-loss information. The website also offers the MyPyramid Tracker assessment tool, which provides information on your diet quality, physical activity status, related nutrition messages, and links to nutrient and physical activity information. The Food Calories/Energy Balance is a nice feature that automatically calculates your energy balance by subtracting the energy you expend from physical activity from your food calories/energy intake. Although the interactive features on the website are not described as a phone app, they are easy to access from a smartphone by going to www.choosemyplate.gov.
Sources:
iTunes Preview
CSPI Chemical Cuisine By EchoDitto
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cspi-chemical-cuisine/id423326905
Android Market
Chemical Cuisine: Learn About Food Additives
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.echoditto.CSPI.chemcuisine&feature=search_result
Center for Science in the Public Interest
CSPI Releases Food Additives Mobile App
http://www.cspinet.org/new/201104111.html
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
http://choosemyplate.gov
