For American Hearth Month, the GW Heart & Vascular Institute's registered dietician, Kelli Metzger, identified top heart-healthy mobile phone apps to help patients reach their nutrition and lifestyle goals. Today's best health and fitness apps allow patients to track and measure as many parameters as they choose in the palm of their hand. For some people these apps may be the motivation they need to reach their weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and dietary goals.
Health apps can be downloaded to smart phones, tablets, or computers for free, but most of them now offer a premier level which costs between $3.00 and $10.00 per month.
| Health App Name | Focus | Cost | Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
|
MyFitnessPal by UnderArmour |
Calorie Counter, Activity Log |
Free to download, Premium $9.99/mo. or $49.99/year |
Biggest food database, barcode scanner, recipe importer, restaurant logging, food insights, personized experience, calorie counter, nutrient tracker, water trackers, Activity log - sync workouts, log cardio/strength exercise, track steps. Add friends or join community for motivation, chart progress with reports |
|
LoseIt |
Calorie Counter, Activity Log |
Free to download, Premium $39.99/year |
Set a goal with calorie budget, track food and fitness, connect apps and devices for tracking, connect to community for motivation |
|
MyNetDiary |
Calorie Counter and Food Diary |
Free to download, Premium $8.99/mo. or $59.99/year |
Select target weight and date to create diet plan, use food and exercise tracker, app recommends balanced nutrition plan, connect to community, sync with other health trackers |
|
MySugr Diabetes Tracker Log |
Diabetes Blood Sugar Tracker |
$2.99/mo. |
Provides reminders and tracks blood sugar, blood pressure, dietary consumption, and physical activity |
|
Emeals |
Meal Planning for Mediterranean Diet |
$29.99 for 3-month recurring subscription or $59.99 for annual subscription |
Provides simple recipes and one-click shopping lists with ability to personalize lists. Can focus on Heart-healthy Mediterranean diet. Groceries can be linked and delivered through Instacart. |
MyFitnessPal, LoseIt, and MyNetDiary are a few top health apps rated well by their many users. These three apps can track dietary consumption by manually entering food and beverages or by scanning barcodes. MyNetDiary advertises a database of 700,000 food items; MyFitnessPal advertises a database of more than 6 million foods including global items and cuisines. These apps can also connect to other apps and devices to track activity, weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels.
In addition to what is offered on the free app, each has a premium or maximum version available for a fee. MyFitnessPal's upgrade offers customized daily calorie and nutrient trackers and goals. LoseIt premium allows participants to track extra goals including body fat, hydration, and fiber and has a meal planning option. MyNetDiary Maximum offers nutrient planning/tracking for up to 45 nutrients, weekly exercise plans, up to 20 body measurements such as BMI, steps, and sleep as well as tracking of total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, A1c, blood pressure, blood glucose, and pulse.
For patients with diabetes, MySugr Diabetes Tracker Log is available can pair with Accu Check blood glucose monitors. The app can provide reminders to test blood sugar and tracks blood sugar (including continuous glucose monitor readings), blood pressure, dietary consumption, and activity. MySugr Subscription is available for $2.99 per month or $27.99 per year and offers an insulin calculator and the ability to take photos of food to aid in carbohydrate counting.
For those looking for easy meal plans to follow, Emeals app provides a meal planning service and one-click shopping lists for an annual subscription of $59.99 ($5 per month). Heart-healthy meal plans such as the Mediterranean diet are offered with simple recipes based on Italian, Greek and Spanish ingredients like olive oil, fresh vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and plenty of fish. Groceries can be linked and delivered through Instacart.
