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Healthy Living Apps You Need to Know About
With so many healthy living apps out there, it can be hard to know where to begin. This week, I want to share several apps that I have used over the years and found to be very helpful. I have chosen just two per category, so that you can jump in and get started using these tools right away.
Caliber is a very popular FREE fitness app for use at home or in the gym. Choose your own workout from their extensive in-app library. You can filter on the muscle group you want to focus on, your experience level such as beginner, intermediate, or advanced, the type of equipment you want to use (or no equipment), and length of time you would like the workout to last. Done For You plans are available, as well as the ability to design your own custom exercise plan so that you are sure to enjoy each exercise within the plan. You can schedule your workouts on the in-app calendar to ensure you are rotating your types of exercise and getting a full body workout each week, and the app also allows you to enter the amount of weight lifted, reps, or time, so that you can track your progress.
What I like about this app is that it gives you a plan to follow when you arrive at the gym. No more wandering around and trying a little of this or a little of that, and possibly not getting enough out of your workout. With Caliber, you won’t leave the gym wondering if you did enough, and you can feel confident that you are getting stronger with each workout. Upgrades are available for a fee. The screenshot below is an example of a custom plan.
Sworkit
SworkIt is another great customizable fitness app. I have used this one for years. Originally it had a single purpose, to provide guided workouts based on the muscle group chosen (Abs, Back, Core). It has grown a lot over the years and now offers many additional services. While the orginal version was free, with so many upgrades, there is a fee to use, but they do offer a free 7-day trial so that you can try before you buy. The look and feel of this app is a little different than Caliber, as the guided video workouts help encourage you to keep moving for the duration of the exercise, and helps with proper form.
Yuka is an app that can help you make better choices while grocery shopping. Curious if that food marketed as a ‘healthy’ food is really all that good for you? Download Yuka and give the product a quick scan. While the label on the box is a good start, Yuka points out the positives and negatives with the food as a whole, and assigns the food a score on a scale of 100. Then armed with more information, you can decide for yourself.
Fooducate
Fooducate is an another app that helps you better understand how healthy a food really is. Similar to the app I mention above, Fooducate allows you to take a closer look at the ingredients in a product. Each food is given a grade based on ingredients. This app goes a step further than just reporting the list of ingredients, but also provides education about that particular ingredient, and it’s potential harm, just click the drop down icon beside the ingredient. This app currently charges a fee, however, if you google the name of the product and the include the word ‘fooducate’ in the search bar (e.g., zone bar fooducate), you will be taken to the web version where you can examine the food’s report for free, as in the example below.
Better Sleep
Better Sleep is a great app for reducing stress and, well, helping you get better sleep.
This app has many free and paid features, there is a lot to explore here. You can choose from a guided meditations, music, breathing techniques, sleep tales, a variety of white noise options, and so on. My favorite thing though, is the custom soundtrack mixes you can make. Do you find the sound of the ocean relaxing? What about layering it with the gentle sound of wind chimes? Oh, and do you like the sounds of tropical birds? Or a gentle breeze? Layer whatever you like so that you can create that perfect spa music mix to calm your nervous system and drift away to your happy place. You will think you have been transported to the South Pacific. You can thank me later. The app has a playful vibe, as shown below.
Insight Timer
Insight Timer is one of the most popular mediation apps in the world. It boasts the largest FREE library of more than 220K guided meditations, wow! It even provides live yoga classes, mood tracking, a community hub, engaging meditations, and mentors and workshops you can connect with. It covers beginners to advanced. This app interface is clean and calming.
I hope you will choose to take advantage of one or all of these apps! They all bring something unique to the table to help make it easier for to you live a healthier life, and it’s all right there at your fingertips. Stay well, Lake Norman! And don’t forget to follow LKN Connect for more healthy living tips and inspiration!
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Karen Anthony, Certified Coach Focusing on Diabetes Prevention
Creator of the Ten Pound Toolkit: DFY Tools for Losing Your First 10 Pounds
As always, if you would like help with reaching your health goals, email me at [email protected]. I specialize in midlife weight loss and diabetes prevention, with a money back guarantee. You can also sign up for my 6 week program that guides you every step of the way and keeps you on track. You will develop lifestyle habits you can stick with for life.
Karen Anthony, Owner of Coaching with Karen, LLC
Davidson, NC
704-858-2338
