饮食应用程序有效吗？This is what experts want you to know

If you’re looking for ways to change up your diet, you may have considered using an app to build some healthy habits. Using adiet appcan be a helpful way to learn more about what you’re eating and make some lifestyle changes.

饮食应用程序比见专业营养师或咨询医生的饮食应用程序更便宜，耗时较少，对于那些需要自我激励的人（并且没有潜在条件）的人来说，这可能是一个不错的选择。这是专业人士希望您了解的有关饮食应用程序的了解。

饮食应用程序可以是一个很棒的教学工具

有几种不同种类的饮食应用程序，但它们以相似的方式工作。大多数人提供食物日记，让您跟踪您的饮食，并经常鼓励您吃某些食物，例如营养丰富，低热量的选择，例如水果和蔬菜，并劝阻其他食物，例如高热量，低营养糖果。其他人则允许您跟踪宏观和微量营养素（即每种食物中的碳水化合物，蛋白质和脂肪），并亲自查看您可能想增加或减少摄入量的地方。

One classic diet option, WW (formerly体重观察者), uses a point system in which you have an allotment for the day, with the healthier, low-cal foods counting for fewer points (or none at all!) and higher-calorie foods worth more points. A newer diet app,NOOM, uses a traffic light system that categorizes nutritious and low calorically dense foods as green (eat in abundance) and high calorically dense foods as red (eat in moderation)—in ourNOOMreview, Reviewed's executive editor Megan McCarthy found it to be useful and easy to track and categorize the food she ate.

无论您的目标如何，使用应用程序都可以具有教育意义。例如，在应用程序中，您可以看到总的纤维或铁摄入量，并找到全天偷偷摸摸的营养素的方法。在学习份量大小时，应用程序也可能会有所帮助，这很难可视化。例如，一份烤鸡肉是4盎司，或大约相当于一张牌或手掌的大小。适当使用时，用户可以了解自己的饮食，并进行更改以与目标保持一致。

饮食应用需要自我激励

在改变饮食或生活方式时，这有助于问自己为什么要首先这样做。金宝搏APP下载如果您发现自己的理由对您很重要，那么您可能更有可能坚持所做的更改。“随着健康和健康的改变，'为什么'真的很重要，因为您的'为什么'是在这种变化中维持您的原因。”伊丽莎白·冈纳（Elizabeth Gunner）, a New York City-based registered dietitian. “If the ‘why,’ for example, is ‘I want a flat stomach,’ that might not be as sustainable compared to somebody whose ‘why’ is ‘I want to prevent diabetes because it's something that runs in my family.’”

在她的WW评论, Reviewed’s deputy head of audience development Rachel Moskowitz says she had the most success with WW when she regularly used it, having fallen off and gotten back on a few times over the years. Any lifestyle change works best when you have consistency, and it's easier to stay motivated when you have a "why" that's meaningful to you.

If you have trouble figuring out your “why,” Gunner recommends talking it through with a professional. “Some of them are deep-rooted,” she says. “We think it's just a surface-level thing, like, ‘I want a flat stomach,’ but in reality, it's deeper. In reality, a lot of times it's ‘I want to feel valued,’ ‘I want to feel loved,’ ‘I want to feel accepted,’ ‘I want to feel worthy.’”

将健康和健康目标设定为真正照顾自己而不是从判断地点来真正照顾自己的方式。Gunner说：“我总是告诉我的客户来自一个爱与丰富的地方，而不是恐惧和缺乏。”“如果您来自对自己的真实，真实的爱的地方，就像您是最好的朋友或父母一样，那么我认为这已经使您取得了更多成功，而不是我们经常陷入的自我仇恨为了更喜欢自己。”

Diet apps only work if they teach sustainable habits

Whether you use an app or not, studies show that most“饮食”长期不是可持续的due to their restrictive nature, as well as the natural inclination to go in all-or-none. So if you find yourself struggling after a few months—or having some success, then returning to old habits—don’t stress. You’re not alone.

“大多数'饮食'不起作用，因为饮食是对食物组或卡路里的限制，”Jessica DeGore, RD，位于匹兹堡的注册营养师。“每当您切除食物组时，您都会减少大量卡路里。因此，在您停止饮食后，很多体重（您会失去）往往会回来。”

Smaller changes often work better in the end, if you can integrate them into your lifestyle, which youcanachieve with an app, as long as you give yourself some time (and cut yourself some slack) to acclimate to them. While it may be tempting to choose the program that promises you’ll shed 10 pounds in a month, the diet that encourages you to eat morewhole foodsand up yourdaily step countmay be the better option.

Diet apps aren’t one-size-fits-all

With any new diet program you start using, an app or otherwise, think about your needs beforehand. Many diets restrict users to extremely low calorie intakes that aren’t healthy or sustainable. “A lot of apps I've seen will recommend as low as 1,200 calories per day, sometimes 1,500 calories,” DeGore says. “We recommend 1,200 calories for toddlers, so I would never recommend that for a grown adult.” Not only will this heavy restriction not be sustainable, it may do more harm than good in the long run. It can slow down your metabolism, alter your natural hunger cues, and possibly lead to food binges.

此外，您可能没有应用程序可能没有考虑到更具体的营养需求。如果您知道您需要高纤维饮食来管理糖尿病或low-FODMAP(for those with conditions like irritable bowel syndrome), you should find a program that takes those needs into account.

Diet apps could spell trouble for people with eating disorders

If you find yourself unable to let go of your diet app and its incessant calorie counting—or begin to have obsessive thoughts or guilt about consuming “bad” foods—you may want to reconsider whether this kind of food diary tracking is a good idea for you in general. “Whenever we put a negative label on something or put it on a shelf, we tend to crave it more,” says DeGore. “And that kind of makes us a little crazy and food-obsessed, which I would not consider healthy behaviors.”

那些负面的想法可能包括迷恋食物，对涉及食物的社交环境感到焦虑，或者当您饮食时感到内gui或羞耻，并且经常让它们表示您养成一些无序习惯。冈纳说：“这种情况比人们想象的要多。”如果您发现自己无法停止思考食物，饮食或记录您的食物，她建议您与可以提供帮助的人交谈。那可以是治疗师，营养师或家人或朋友。

If you have a history of disordered eating or obsessive exercise habits, steer clear of diet or calorie-counting apps. Additionally, if someone in your family has struggled with aneating disorder你可能在更高的风险,所以proceed with caution.

Not all diet apps are about calorie counting

如果您想了解更多有关饮食的信息，Gunner说Cronometeris a good option (available for苹果手机in the App StoreandAndroid at Google Play). It allows users to set custom nutrient goals and track biometrics like blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, and more that may be important to some users.

如果您正在寻找饮食应用程序，但担心要迷恋自己的数字，Degore建议使用较少以卡路里为中心且以正念为中心的应用程序。Am I Hungry(for苹果手机andAndroid） 和Ate(for苹果手机andAndroid) are two apps that focus on intuitive eating and building lifelong healthy habits.

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