The wireless foodie

I am still getting used to my cell phone. In fact, I don't think I quite know how to view picture messages, though I'm sure that I do have a picture and video phone.

So all this new cell phone technology is pretty crazy to me, and it seems like much of it has to do with watching what you eat. Sprint has MyFoodPhone, a service that allows dieters to use their cameraphones to photograph meals and snacks before they eat, then instantly upload the pictures to an online account. Every two weeks a "nutritional advisor" checks the account and delivers feedback via the Web about portion sizes, nutritional content and general eating habits in the form of a video clip or notes.

It's kind of like your nagging significant other calling you to check where you are and what you're eating. "You're at Fatburger eating a Double Kingburger with fries?!?! Get home this instant and eat a salad!!" Something like that.

Not to be outdone by its competitor, Verizon Wireless also offers a similar service - its phones can host two applications, Diet Fitness Diary and Diet Tiny Assist, applications developed by third parties for Verizon. The applications are integrated with enormous nutrition databases on the backend where you can find calorie, fat, and nutritional information for every single thing you're snacking on.

Now though it's not exactly just a cellular phone, Palm has partnered with Weight Watchers to offer Weight Watchers On-the-Go, which has been around for a little over a year and half. The Weight Watchers diet "system" is based on eating foods with certain "points," which means the dieter has to keep track of how many points they have consumed in a day. The application is supposed to make it easier for the dieters to count their points. The application also has a database of foods with all their point values so that users who are out and about can make smart choices. The database even includes foods from popular restaurants and cafes like Subway and Coldstone Creamery. Because you know, it's not enough to just know that a brownie sundae is probably not good for your diet. You have to know how many points just to see how bad it is.

But the wireless technology isn't relegated to weight-loss only. There is help for grocery shopping, recipe following, and even cooking.

Now I'm sure I've seen the option on many of the mega food portals I visit on an daily hourly basis where you can send information from the website to your cell phone as a text message. Today, I was browsing the Food Network and saw that you can now send a grocery list of any recipe to your Sprint cell phone. Pretty handy, I suppose, but I have to wonder, if you're on the computer looking at these recipes, isn't there a piece of paper lying around on your desk somewhere where you can write it down?

You see, I'm not exactly sure how these technologies are supposed to help anyone lose weight, shop for groceries, or otherwise.

Many people swear by Weight Watchers, and I can see how the convenience factor would play into having an electronic points-tracking system handy, as well as the database of nutritional information in the Verizon Wireless applications. However, how does a nutritional advisor who tells you how poorly you ate two weeks after the fact help you? I understand that perhaps it's also a lesson. The advice the nutritionist gives you will help you make better choices in the future, but if I ate fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits and french fries every day for two weeks, I really think the advice is too late. If I send a photo of deep dish pizza to someone, I don't need to know the nutritional info in two weeks. I want someone to send me text message right that says "HELL NO!" With alarms. And blinking lights.

Perhaps one way the technology is helpful is that it delays the "start gorging" moment. If a person sits down to eat and has to stop for a moment, rustle around in her purse to find her phone buried beneath a bag of Cheetos, then take a photo lookup some points values, there is a moment to think about what you are eating.

As far as the grocery list thing, though, I don't know.