10 Healthy Apps for Wellness Warriors and Nutrition Nerds
PSA: Your smart phone is your health and wellness secret weapon. From easy meditation guides, to yoga sequences, food ingredient translators, recipes, and more, there are healthy apps that will totally up your wellness and health game.
Besides getting crazy inspired via Instagram, you can use your smart phone to become a wellness and health guru. Here are the top healthy apps to help you live your healthiest, happiest, and most mindful life.
Top 10 Healthy Mobile Apps for Wellness and Health
1. Sworkit (Free + premium features, iOS and Android) Sworkit, short for “simply work it,” wastes no time getting you to work. Choose an activity (cardio, strength, yoga, or stretching), and how much time you have (5 minutes to an hour), and this app delivers a personalized training session with videos and guided voice cues. It’s like a personal trainer in your back pocket.
2. Dirty Dozen (iOS and Android, free) – Which fruits and veggies should you be buying organic and which ones are okay to eat conventional? We have our friends at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to thank for making that question much easier. Every year, the EWG publishes a list of conventional foods with the least and most pesticide residues, tested from 48 fruits and vegetables, assembled into a list called the “Dirty Dozen:” the 12 foods with the highest pesticide residues, and the “Clean Fifteen:” the 15 fruits and veggies with the least amount of pesticide residue. Consult this list at the grocery store next time you’re choosing between organic and conventional produce.
3. Headspace (take10 program free, iOS and Android) – Along with amazing health benefits (lower stress, more creativity, reduced anxiety, better sleep, reduced blood pressure, and improved cellular health) meditation is a tried and true method for quieting the mind. Not exactly sure where/how/when to start meditating? Download Headspace to learn how to quiet the mind, sit still, and get meditating. With the free take10 program, Headspace directs you on ten guided meditations, ten minutes each with a cute accent to boot.
4. Farmstand (iOS, free) – Are you farmers market and local food obsessed? Us too. That’s why we love using the Farmstand app to find farmers markets by location. Use your phone’s GPS to find local produce, meat, and more from more than 8,700 farmers markets all over the world, access directions to markets, opening times, and post and share photos of your delicious haul. Go on and be a localvore!
5. Yonder (iOS and Android, free) –With a mission to inspire and enable a love for the outdoors, this app is your ticket to outdoors. Like Yelp for nature-buffs, Yonder uses your location to find suggestions for hiking, biking, kayaking, and skiing with reviews and tips from fellow outdoorsmen and women. You can even view photos of trending experiences nearby, check out nearby destinations, and connect with fellow app users.
6. Food Tripping (iOS and Android, free) – Road trips are great…until hunger sets in. Every highway exit is lined with the same old fast food restaurants and zero nutritious options in sight. Download Food Tripping before pulling into McDonald’s to find awesome eateries, healthy food markets, juice bars, microbreweries, organic coffee, and health food stores based on GPS location. Search by location, name, and popularity plus view contact details for each place, save favorites, and discover healthy and sustainable food options all over the country. Nutritious travel on the road is possible. Hallelujah!
7. Non-GMO Project (iOS and Android, free) – Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses, or other plants and animals. They have become an incredibly hot topic as consumers try to assess their safety in food. A growing body of evidence has linked GMOs to health problems, environmental damage, soil depletion, and the violation of farmer’s rights. More than 60 countries have banned or placed significant restrictions on GMOs in their food supply, while the United States still plows full speed ahead. If you prefer not to partake in the science experiment, make sure to download this app before your next trip to the store. With the app, you can search through a huge database of brands and products that are enrolled in the Non-GMO Project, and find supporting retailers in your area who can help with non-GMO shopping.
8. Seafood Watch (iOS and Android, free) – Overfishing and ocean depletion are becoming huge global issues. Still love sushi? This app helps to recommend ocean-safe seafood at local restaurants and stores, seafood and sushi recommendations, and information about how each fish should be sustainably fished or farmed. Developed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Seafood Watch app is the easiest way to stay informed on up-to-date seafood recommendations.
9. Fooducate (iOS and Android, free with paid premium features) – Considered one of the top healthy apps, Fooducate is like having a nutritionist, food diary, and grocery store manual all in one. Track food intake and exercise (along with easy integration into Apple’s Health app) and track the quality of the calories consumed, not just the quantity. Our favorite part: scan a packaged food’s barcode using your phone’s camera to get a personalized nutrition grade of the product – A, B, C, or D. Once scanned, learn about a product’s pros and cons and choose healthier alternatives if necessary. Fooducate analyzes information found in product nutrition panels and ingredient lists. You can also scan to discover things manufacturers don’t want you to notice such as excessive and added sugar, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, food colorings, additives and preservatives, and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame.
10. Whole Foods Market (iOS and Android, free) – Find tons (more than 3,800 to be exact) of high-fiber, gluten-free, vegan, sugar-conscious (and more!) recipes with the Whole Foods Market app. Along with a recipe database searchable by course, cuisines, special diet, and on-hand ingredients, there are also digital coupons, shopping lists, store locators, specials, and even home delivery options with this healthy app.
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