In the ever expanding health and diet market, even technology plays a role. We've seen online "diets" with eDiets, allowing people to track progress, take part in support fora, and even communicate with diet coaches. Now, you can make dieting even more mobile, on your cellular phone.
Sprint has launched MyFoodPhone, which is a sort of food journaling application. It allows consumers to take photos of food they eat and send it back to a nutritional advisor, who will analyze it and then send feedback to the consumer on a biweekly basis. The service also allows users to log into a web-based application via their phone to track their weight, level of exercise and calories burned. The advisors are trained as MyFoodPhone Nutrition Advisors. The service costs $9.99 a month.
I am all for "advances" in technology, and in my own preparation for swimsuit season, am interested in effective ways to slim down and shape up. However, I am not quite sure how I feel about this.
How about you send the pictures to me, and I'll send you a text message right back. "Don't eat it. Eat an apple instead, Chubby." I think that would be much more effective.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-04-2006 @ 8:24PM
cybele said...
I want to see what the job description looks like for those nutritional advisors. How interesting must that job be, looking at crappy photos of food from cell phones all day? What sort of testing is done for these advisors in the intricacies of food identification? Are these jobs outsourced to India? Jeeze, I have so many questions.
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5-08-2006 @ 3:00PM
Jenny said...
Chubby? LOL, ok very funny. I dunno. Maybe it's a good idea. It's a quicker and easier way for us lazy Americans. ANYTHING that can help us at this point will do. I think it's also a good support system. You have someone there with you while you eat, but instead of being right in front of your face. The only problem is would I show you every single thing I eat? No. Cause I might munch in between. Unless I call you or text you and be like, 'hey, lady, i'm hungry, what should i eat for a snack?' And if she says go eat a granola bar, I'll be lookin around thinking, "Where?" I'm not just gonna get up and go to the store and get a friggin bar to eat, although that would be good exercise. Secondly, I may not listen to your advice on what to eat. And it might just be easier for me to cheat with this system. Either way, I think people should try it and see if it works. It may surprise people. Although, I personally don't want to shell out $10 a month. But hey, if you're desperate, go right ahead. You know, they should have this for people who want TRAINERS FOR $10 A MONTH. Hey, about that? I'll defintely shell out money for that! Not too much though.
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5-09-2006 @ 3:14PM
Chelle said...
Oh this is rich. Back it up baby. Are we really this bad?? We can't look at the food in front of us and say "hmmmm pound of cake - good or bad"? Should I eat the sandwich/potato chips/soda/and maybe just a small ice cream. Come on. Reality check people. You want to lose weight? Eat less move more. It is so simple but yes you do have to actually do it yourself. You can get information from other sources, but they aren't going to do the exercises for you. And come on - pop quiz - hand full of m&ms or granola bar (which one might be better for you) Come on - you can do it. And just so you don't view me as an "easy for you to say" let me just say - been there/done that 150 pounds later...
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5-09-2006 @ 3:50PM
Michelle said...
This is pathetic. I mean come on now... taking pics of what you eat to send to someone so they can analize it that is pure laziness of not wanting to read what is in it and pure stupidity. There is something wrong if you can't tell if that is good for you or not good for you. Really, learn how to proportion what you eat. Its also called self control. Yes, its okay to have that rich slice of chocolate cake or candy bar every now and then. But again, proportion, write it on paper and keep the paper on your fridge of what you ate through out the day. Its cheaper! Excerise... has this world gone to rely on diet pills, diet drinks, and some advisor that you don't even see to help loose weight or control weight. For having 6 kids... I excerise and eat right. I get complimented on how good I look for having 6 children. Another thing... go figure... its a new way for someone to make some fast easy money off of people. Thanks but no thanks... I will keep my $10.00 a month and do something productive with it like help pay for a membership at a gym.
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5-09-2006 @ 5:58PM
Lisa Fansler said...
Why pay for it? Fitday.com offers practically the same thing and it's free!
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5-09-2006 @ 7:14PM
rexwebsterr@aol.com said...
I think they should outsoource the jobs of looking at the pictures to India - as everything else goes there - alsot he people there are very small and slim - they eat little as there is little to eat.
This might be a psychological help to those dieting - knowing that those that look at them are small
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5-09-2006 @ 8:17PM
Karen said...
Why not just take a picture of an itsy bitsy bikini and look at that before every meal?
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