what websites/apps for tracking the nutrition of my actual diet?

June 9, 2012 9:58 AM

Nutrition website/app filter: I want to track the nutritional values of what I actually eat in relation to accepted norms of good health. I've used this website: http://​www.​myfoodrecord​.com/​mainnat.html, which sorta does what I want, but I'm left feeling there's probably something better out there these days.

I tend to fall into habits with my food choices, which is fine except when I end up leaving out some important vitamin/nutrient, etc., then feel the effects over time without realizing the specific cause, so I'd like to track these patterns and compare them to different, accepted definitions of a "good diet."

As I mentioned, the website I linked above kinda does this, but the food choices listed in step #1 are somewhat limited and, more importantly, the nutritional recommendations under step #3 seem more vague than they could be. There must be something better, right?

FWIW, I'm not as concerned with the calorie counting/weight loss angle, which seems to be the focus for a lot of site/apps, and I'd prefer something really simple, uncluttered, and user friendly. I've only looked at websites thus far, but I guess there would be app options as well, since I have an iPhone and MacBook Pro (previous app questions focussed on Android).

posted by 5Q7 to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

I'm not totally sure what you're looking for, but MyFitnessPal (my entries here - the categories at the bottom are adjustable, those are the five that I picked) has a pretty good iphone all which allows you to see how you're doing for various nutrients versus what the US RDA is for you. The website is okay [you can look at how you're doing daily for things like fats, sugars, carbs, protein, fiber and other vitamins] but the app has more detail and better reporting. There's also a community there of sorts who are good folks to talk to about nutrition stuff [peanut gallery style, they're not nutritionists but not everyone is there for weight loss] if you have other questions.
posted by jessamyn at 10:03 AM on June 9, 2012

Cron-o-Meter is my favorite application for this, and the most comprehensive diet tracking application I've tried. (There's both a web version and a mobile app.) It was created for calorie-restricted life extension dieters, who need to plan their meals carefully to make sure they meet nutritional requirements.

It does a great job of visualizing all your micronutrients, plus stuff like amino acids and omega-3/omega-6 balance, and allows you to set custom targets for each. The only caveat is that exporting your data and viewing nutrition trends for time periods greater than a week requires a paid subscription ($35/year).
posted by ecmendenhall at 10:50 AM on June 9, 2012

Seconding crononeter.
posted by tayknight at 12:26 PM on June 9, 2012

There is. Cronometer.com. I know I'm the third person to say this, but yes, absolutely. They have a gold version, which I bought, but the free version is absolutely just as good as the gold; I just bought it to be supportive of some great free software. It's intuitive to learn to use, and offers a whole ton of data.

I've used everything out there that's free, and cronometer wins hands-down: non-cluttered website, fast, ability to add not only custom foods, but custom recipes, publicly added recipes are curated, full nutritional breakdown, not just macronutrients. If you want a complementary smartphone app, I'm sorry to say that isn't great yet, but I have hopes that it will end up being just as good as their main product in the future.
posted by thelastcamel at 12:37 PM on June 9, 2012