5 Apps For 21st Century Wellness

Fall is a very busy time of year for everyone: school is in full swing and late night study sessions are frequent; parents are shuttling children back and forth from extra-curricular activities; busy professionals are trying to stay on track to meet end-of-year deadlines. With all of these daily activities and endless to-do lists, how can we find time to concentrate on wellness? There’s an app for that!

Mobile apps are one of today’s most widely used sources of information, and several popular and reputable apps focus on wellness, healthy eating, exercise, and work/life balance. These apps allow users to quickly and easily stay informed, track progress on health and wellness goals, and improve overall well-being through new information, recipes, community dialogues, and inspiring stories. Here are a few recommended apps that can help you achieve your wellness objectives. Whether you’re yearning for a more productive workout, clearer information about food and nutrition labels, or you’re striving to achieve another targeted wellness goal, these apps should help you find balance and light in your daily rundown of busy activities!

Fooducate: This popular app provides helpful and concise nutrition information for more than 200,000 food items. Fooducate is particularly handy if you’re at the grocery store and you’re interested in learning additional nutrition info about foods before purchasing them. You simply scan the item’s bar code and Fooducate provides detailed information with a letter grade based on healthiness. The app also provides information on suggested healthier alternatives and other product comparisons.

Cost: Free. Available on Apple and Android devices.

MyFitnessPal: This app is primarily used as a calorie counter and diet goals tracker. MyFitnessPal helps you stay on track to achieve specific wellness goals by logging timed workouts, keeping a food diary, and sharing progress updates with other MyFitnessPal users. This open communication with friends pursuing similar goals helps keeps everyone motivated and inspired. MyFitnessPal also contains a bar code scanner to gauge calorie information for store-bought food items.

Cost: Free. Available on Apple, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows devices.

Astrid Task/Todo List: Here is one small antidote to the stressful pile of papers and sticky notes that may be your daily to-do lists. Get organized and de-stress with this app that helps you put together lists for everything from office organizing to grocery shopping. You can even share the lists with family members or coworkers, helpful when you need your partner to pick up groceries on the way home or enlist your coworker to take care of a few office tasks.

Cost: Free. Available on Apple and Android devices.

The Snack App: On any given afternoon, most of us crave salty, sweet, or savory snacks. More often than not, these snacks tend to be unhealthy additions to our daily nutritional intake. By using The Snack App, you can find healthy alternatives and make wiser snacking choices. This fun and easy to use app helps you stay on track to achieving your wellness goals but it also gives you some wiggle room to still enjoy your favorite foods, just in healthier ways. For example, you could eat 11 French fries for 105 calories, or you could choose the healthier 1/2-cup of edamame for 95 calories.

Cost: Free. Available on Apple and Android devices.

Locavore: This informative app pinpoints your location and displays a robust list of local fruits and vegetables currently in season. The app also lists fruits and vegetables that will be in season in coming weeks and helps you locate farmers’ markets in your area. Locavore users can also share seasonal recipes and community food updates on Facebook. 

Cost: Free. Available on Apple and Android devices.

Cellphone Suggestion: I want to mention a quick safety tip about the device itself. Various studies have suggested that excessive cell phone use may endanger your health. More research will continue to accumulate with more specific recommendations, but in the meantime, I suggest you consider turning off wifi capability or the device when you’re not using it and use headphones or speakerphone function as much as possible. Children under the age of eight should not use cell phones at all.

The above mentioned apps help users stay informed and on top of wellness and fitness goals but these are just a few of the thousands of apps available to help marry the worlds of 21st century technology and wellness. Give them a try and see what works best for your lifestyle and wellness needs! I invite you to visit this blog often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

You can find more ways to live a long and healthy life in Secrets of Longevity: Hundreds of Ways to Live to Be 100, which is now available on Kindle. In addition, The Natural Health Dictionary makes a great companion to your quest for longevity. It is a comprehensive guide that answers all your questions about natural remedies, healing herbs, longevity foods, vitamins, and supplements.

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May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

—Dr. Mao

This blog is meant to educate, but it should not be used as a substitute for personal medical advice. The reader should consult his or her physician or clinician for specific information concerning specific medical conditions. While all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that all information presented is accurate, as research and development in the medical field is ongoing, it is possible that new findings may supersede some data presented.

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To purchase Dr. Mao's new book, "Secrets of Longevity Acupressure Healing" on Kindle, click here.

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