Food tracking

Every diabetic knows that if you truly want to get control of your blood sugar, you need to know the carbohydrate makeup of the food that you eat. The best way to do this is to look up the carb amount, from either the label, a calorie counting book or using electronic database of one sort or another. At the same time, if you want to lose weight (which I do!) then it helps to know the calories that is actually going into your mouth. Every successful dieter knows this.

So, figuring out a successful food tracking system is going to have to be the first step in the process.


While I've used an actual book for this in the past (I recommend the Calorie King due to its size and contents), this days it is my preference to use an electronic version to look up the carbs. I needed one that I could carry or access on my various devices (iPad, Android phone and laptop) and have them all "synch" up so that an entry on one would appear on the others. Oh, and I would prefer that it was free. And one that was usable if I didn't have any internet access. It had to have realistic food choices with restaurants and food items that I actually eat/eat at. And it should have a way that I can download or review prior entries for data analysis. Whew, talk about high maintenence.

There are a lot of good programs out there if you are a single platform user. There are not too many that are cross-platform. After trying a number of them, I have found that myfinesspal.com is the one that seems to fit the need. There is a separate app for both the iPad and my Android phone, as well as web access (although I actually find the web access a bit slower than I would like. Fortunately, all of my input is via the other two.) I have been impressed by the database, and have yet to find it lacking. I think that is because every user of the service can input food into their database, so chances are whatever you want to eat is already there. The off-line access has been fine as well, for those times that my phone just can't get through. It's free, which is always nice.

My only complaint thus far is that there is no way to see the total dietary fiber in a meal without clicking on each one separately. When I select a food item I can see the fiber, but when I am done with my selections and look at the meal as a whole I can no longer see the fiber content (without clicking on each item). No doubt 99.5% of the other users have even noticed, but given that I factor in the fiber content when determining the carbs I need to bolus for, it is a minor annoyance. I just have to remember the fiber count and subtract. Again, a very minor annoyance in what is thus far a good solution to looking up carbs in advance and keeping a food log.

With regard to the latter aspect, initially I was disappointed to find that you cannot export your meals. Upon reflection, however, I realized that I would always have that data handy in the application itself when I needed to refer back to it. Generally speaking, for day-to-day use I just need the carb count. When doing my weekly review, then it is helpful to be able to see the specific items eaten. Again, possibly a minor annoyance but one I can work around.

It also features a ticker system that you can use to track weight lost, etc. I'm not sure where I'll put it on the blog but at least I can embed it here for you to see. I decided to take a realistic goal of reaching 225 lbs, trying to eat the elephant in bite sized pieces, so to speak. Lastly, there is a community feature so if you happen to join up as well, feel free to "friend" me.

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter