The always insightful Dr. Kvedar has a great post up on the cHealth blog. The full post is worth a read, but I was struck by his analysis and experience tracking the food he ate. I’ve seen so many apps that are working on ways for you to track your eating habits. It’s amazing how sophisticated many of them have become at trying to simplify the entry of the food you eat.
However, Dr. Kvedar points out a major problem with tracking the food you eat. We all have a very personal and emotional connection to food. Food is so much apart of every culture and much of our lives revolves around food. It stirs up so many emotions. The idea of tracking the food we eat can really impact us in a way that’s not so good. It’s like we’re being judged on what we eat every time we enter the info into the app. Who wants to be judged all the time? Especially when it comes to something as personal as food?
My wife used one of these apps for a little while and then just stopped using it. This is a problem for those app makers. My wife described how the app was good, because it helped her know what she was eating and the impact it would have on her weight loss efforts. However, once she’d learned those things, she wasn’t getting the same value out of the app.
Personally, I just don’t see myself ever using one. I’d hate to be judged every time I was eating. Plus, I try to make up for bad eating with extra exercise. We’ll see when that finally catches up to me. Either way, I’ll be surprised if I ever start tracking my eating habits. Maybe once the tracking just happens automatically.
