Among the most popular diet apps are those for labeling interpretation and food recognition, which in most cases do not have objective criteria and are a bit alarmist.
In fact, several experts have expressed that they generate the so-called “chemophobia” towards additives that are actually safe in human food, and that under no circumstances replace the advice of a nutritionist.
However, that does not mean that there are no applications to be taken into account in the market. In fact, there are a good number of free diet apps that make it very easy to eat healthy. Let’s see what they are.
- Related article: “Psychology of food: definition and applications”
The most recommended free diet apps
There are several free applications that help you know what to buy and what to eat to have a proper diet according to your goals. Below you will see several recommendations.
1. Coaching apps in the field of food
If you are interested in apps that guide you in the process of buying the right ingredients and establishing in your day to day a diet that fits what you are looking for, this selection of applications will interest you.
1.1. Oorenji
Oorenji is the most complete diet app, and includes personalized plans with 20 types of diet: vegetarian, vegan, keto, Mediterranean, lose weight, lowcarb, etc.
It has a novel artificial intelligence algorithm that takes into account the records of more than 1,000,000 people to propose the nutritional plan with the most likely success based on your profile, and even your genes.
In addition, Oorenji offers the option of having a follow-up service with nutritionists and a coaching service through push notifications to activate your motivation.
This is one of the best rated free diet apps. If you want to access all their plans and challenges, you will only have to pay € 2.99 per month.
1.2. Noom
This interesting app called Noom offers long-term weight loss plans with 14-day trial. At the end of the questionnaire you are asked for € 16, although you can pay € 1. It is based on cognitive-behavioral psychology to change habits, although without having diet plans or a nutritional method of its own.
To use it, you have to fill out an initial questionnaire on medical data, which would require the supervision of a health professional. Then, you have to fill out another questionnaire about lifestyle, goals and motivations, which becomes a bit tedious.
The app offers coaching with nutritionists and psychologists from 150 euros every 6 months or 25 € per month, a bit expensive and certainly not for all pockets.
- If you are interested in downloading this app, you can do it on this page for Android and this one for iOS.
2. Tagging Apps
These are the best free diet apps focused on providing information about food for sale.
2.1. Yuka
The French app Yuka offers information on food labeling. The premium version costs €14.99 per year.
It scores out of 100 based on 3 criteria: 60% of the grade consists of the rating in Nutri-Score, 30% of the note penalizes the presence of additives, and 10% is based on positively assessing whether the product is organic or bio, although that does not imply that it is sustainable.
The score is not entirely fair, as all additives approved in Europe are safe, and it does not provide information on the nutritional quality of the food. In addition, the app is not based on a validated nutritional method or offers different diet options.
In France, through this app the option of consultation with a nutritionist is available from € 69.
- You can download it here for Android and here for iOS.
2.2. MyRealFood
MyRealFood is a free Spanish app that is based on scanning barcodes, in search of ultra-processed foods. It classifies foods into 3 groups: real food, good processed and ultra-processed.
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It is based on the NOVA system of the University of São Paulo. It reports the presence of additives and the nutritional quality of the food based on the front labeling used in Chile, but does not clarify the design of its final index, so it is not 100% objective.
2.3. Open Food Facts
Open Food Facts is a French app that defines itself as the “Wikipedia of food”: a free and collaborative database.
It reports on the nutritional quality of a food based on the Nutri-Score system of five letters and colors, from green (A) for the healthiest products, to dark orange (E), for the least healthy.
It also provides information on nutritional levels per 100 grams in fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt. In addition, it mentions the ecological footprint of the food, as well as whether it contains any additives.
This app is useful to compare two foods or products of the same category, but like the Nutriscore, it has errors and requires some basic notions of nutrition to make good use of it without falling into failures due to misinterpretation of information.
For example, healthy foods such as olive oil or nuts have a bad score, while cocacola or juices come out well.
2.4. The CoCo
This free Spanish app, El CoCo, offers its own index from 0 to 10 depending on the NOVA system (degree of processing and number of ingredients) and the warning seals of Chile.
It is the fairest, because it does not criminalize the presence of necessary and safe additives, but takes into account if the food has an excess of salt, sugar, calories and fat.
It is an interesting application to compare two foods of the same category and be able to make a healthier purchase.
- Click here to download it on iOS or here to download it on Android.
Other apps
These are other applications that you may be interested in considering.
1. Yazio
Yazio records food intake and offers graphs of weight evolution and calories burned. It also records your fasting hours, making it a very useful digital resource if you want to lose weight.
2. Ekilu
Ekilu gives recipes and diet plans adapted to each person, and gives the possibility to measure your progress taking into account the objectives of changes in eating habits and healthy living.
The premium version costs €8 if you pay all year round. This gives access to all recipes and also provides mindfulness exercises and coaching services for changing habits.
3. Nootric
From the Nootric app they give the possibility of benefiting from 7 days of trial for € 1, although to access online diets it is necessary to pay from € 69 per quarter.
On the other hand, they give meal plans for 6 months at lower weekly prices. In addition to providing a weekly menu, they send physical exercise routines to get in shape.
4. Dietfarma
The Dietfarma application allows you to obtain personalized diets through a monthly payment of from € 29, and offers a wide range of healthy recipes based on the information it has in its database.
Now, between the request and the moment in which the diet is obtained, 24 hours can pass, so its operation is not very fluid.