5 apps to eat better and cut your carbon footprint

VitaEurope’s selection of apps which will help you get a healthier and more sustainable diet

di Ottavia Spaggiari

 

Eating healthy is a commitment. You need time to go grocery shopping, choose the right ingredients and eventually cook, however technology could really make things easier for you. We have selected 5 apps which will help your eating habits get healthier and more sustainabile.
 
 
For someone who grew up in the eighties and nineties, buying in-season food is always tricky. Locavore helps you find in-season products and maps the farmers’ markets and farms selling the food in the right season, giving you tips on seasonal recipes and allowing you to share your cooking activities on Facebook. 
 
 
It’s an all American app but it would be great to have the European version soon. Developed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Seafood Watch App helps you choose ocean-friendly seafood and sushi, giving information about how each item should be fished or farmed. The new Project FishMap feature allows you to contribute to the app, adding the names of the restaurants and stores in the US, where you’ve found sustainable seafood and locating what other users have found at businesses near you.
 
 
“A personal grocery advisor” this is the definition Fooducate gives itself. The app helps people shopping for the healthiest products, motivating them to develop a balanced diet. To get information on the food nutrition facts, you just need to scan the product barcode, the app will show bullet point explanations and healthier alternatives to the products which are not considered very healthy. The app is currently ranked among the top health apps. 
 
 
A new app maps the nearby restaurants using sustainable criteria such as vegan menus and the use of local ingredients. To feature on the GoPure database, restaurants are supposed to fill out a 45 question sustainability survey and an algorithm processes the data to evaluate the purity of each reastaurant, based on how well each restaurant is doing in 9 categories., including waste, beverages and seafood.
 
 
It’s more than a app, it’s an appcessory, the “personal environment monitor” which works on four peripherals, to measure the humidity, the temperature and the organicity of food. An iPhone plug-in accessory takes a sample of the food item and tests the nitrate concentration in the sample. Nitrates are chemicals used in non-organic fertilizer, once the food has been tested, Lapka will log the results in a database of sorts so that other users can access the information before making a purchase.
 

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