Knowbodies Roundtable: Mobile Apps for Healthy Habits

In this roundtable podcast, The Knowbodies have a spirited conversation regarding some of the mobile apps related to fitness, wellness, and nutrition that have helped us set and achieve some of our new year’s resolutions.   If you are looking for extra incentive to walk or run and would ALSO like to serve a great cause by helping to raise money then check out CHARITYMILES or WOOFTRAX for a unique way to change your daily walk with your dog or lunchtime stroll into a charitable cause.   For a more running focused app with a fun story based twist, maybe ZOMBIES RUN! Is more up your alley. ZOMBIES mixes short audio book story segments with your own motivational music (and little something extra that I won’t spoil here) to create a motivational and addicting change of pace.   Rounding up the fitness apps is a nod to the fantastic minds at DAREBEE.COM and their PANDORA role-playing fitness game that allows the user to participate in countless physical fitness challenges in order to progress the story.   From a nutritional standpoint, we throw our support behind FOODUCATE and FITMENCOOK for their affordable apps and the information that they provide. FOODUCATE takes complex nutritional concepts and breaks them down into digestible tidbits. Additionally, FOODUCATE has a scan/search option that you can use on your household foods or when grocery shopping to provide a snapshot of the nutritional content of foods and even provides a grade scale to help you make healthy food choices.   FITMENCOOK is a cheap encyclopedia of recipes that take the complexity out of healthy cooking. With FITMENCOOK you can categorize the recipes into diet specific goals (i.e. low- carb, high protein, low sugar) and even organize your next grocery-shopping trip to help you plan ahead for some healthy cooking for the week.   Healthy habits are tough to maintain and good habits are often more than simply checking off the list. Often it takes mental toughness and realistic goal setting in order to keep a healthy habit rolling once the stresses of life start to pile up.   Some mobile apps like APLANFORLIVING and HABITICA can help provide the structure and reward feedback that might just help you keep your resolutions through the good times and the tough times. APLANFORLIVING is the modern day digital diary with pre-organized sections for assessing your mood, practicing gratitude, and even voicing your frustrations. Even for the non-diary users, this app provides all the structure and requires so little time that it might just be what you need to help improve your mood and assess your stressors.   HABITICA is the final app we cover in this episode and it may be one that you have already come across. HABITICA is an enormous online community of users that take a retro-style gaming approach to helping you set and achieve your goals. HABITICA bases your experience around building and upgrading a character in your likeness that thrives when you enter daily to-do lists, refine healthy habits, and complete pre-organized challenges (e.g. daily walking, reading, or self-reflection). In contrast, if you allow these goals to go on uncompleted, your sprite suffers the consequences and could lose life or points for even more motivation to keep your resolutions! If you are motivated by games and list-making, this app is the one you need to help organize and refine your habits!   Take a listen to hear more about these fantastic apps as well as some personal stories from The Knowbodies on our experiences with mobile apps and goal-setting.   Until next time, It’s your body, know it!