Also for the diet, as well as for many other activities, different resources are available on the latest generation phones. Diet and walking apps can make it much easier to continue a diet, provided it is always dictated by a nutrition specialist. Moreover, thanks to the calculation of calories on mobile phones, it is easy to create personalized food diaries that can then be shown to the nutritionist once the time for the control session has arrived. There is also no lack of help for calculating calories or portions or useful advice and recipes suitable for those on a diet. We talked about it with Dr. Elisabetta Macorsini, biologist and nutritionist at Humanitas.
Weight loss apps, how do they work?
One of the advantages of the apps dedicated to slimming is the simplification in the compilation of menus. These programs can help you plan your meals by avoiding the routine, the enemy of any low-calorie diet. The apps also give more security in planning a better dietary plan from the point of view of health, with the right amount of macronutrients and the right portions. All the recipes are completed by the possibility to select them also according to the foods you have the possibility to consume.
“Surely the technologies at our disposal could be useful and advantageous only if they were used with conscience – added the expert -. On the web we look for answers to our questions but we can not expect that the network repays us with the attention and quality that only the professional is able to offer us. It is better then that the apps remain an extra support that can simplify the application of a diet agreed with a specialist. In short, if we decide to use an app, we always check that there is a specialist’s advice upstream”.
An app should never be a replacement for a doctor
“It is true that today from our smartphone store we can download applications for anything, including those for our diet – commented Macorsini – This possibility may seem advantageous but remember that a nutritionist or a virtual dietitian will never replace a diet customized and formulated by the nutritionist. One of the advantages perceived with the use of applications for the diet is that of cost: most applications are free, at least initially, and above all are immediate and usable everywhere. The professional, on the other hand, is able to create a relationship of trust with the patient, stimulates and advises him and is able to intervene promptly to correct any errors and make the food process simpler and more effective. Increasing motivation”. “Obviously, this link does not exist with the use of apps – stressed the nutritionist -, on the contrary, it increases the probability that over time you abandon it altogether. The possibility of modifying the diet at will can make it unbalanced and consequently harmful to the body. The apps also often do not take into account the blood tests (blood tests) that the professional requires and always examines before starting a personalized diet.
