In an increasingly digital world, most things are now dependent on technology. Recently, calorie counting apps such as MyFitnessPal have become popular as a way to log food and become more cognizant of what you’re eating. However, these apps have led to the development of eating disorders and other unhealthy habits in many users.
According to Jack Henderson, a MyFitnessPal user, he would avoid all foods that could not easily be tracked when using the app. This caused him to eat a lot of packaged foods, which was unhealthy. Equally unhealthy was his reliance on the numbers in his phone controlling his perception of his hunger levels, and not his body.
When it comes to something as individual as eating and hunger levels, the calories we require ranges from individual to individual from day to day. By using an app with strict levels set, it leads to a discorded mindset.
In fact, in a recent study it was found that a substantial percentage (~75%) of participants used My Fitness Pal and that 73% of these users perceived the app as contributing to their eating disorder.
That is a vast majority. Calorie counting apps are not inherently bad, but they cause an unhealthy reliance on numbers and cause people to become out of tune with their natural hunger cues. This perpetuates eating disorder culture.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5700836/
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-48842898
“According to Jack Henderson, a MyFitnessPal user, he would avoid all foods that could not easily be tracked when using the app. This caused him to eat a lot of packaged foods, which was unhealthy. Equally unhealthy was his reliance on the numbers in his phone controlling his perception of his hunger levels, and not his body.”
I found this paragraph extremely relatable. I am an ultra runner and during race season I need to take my diet very seriously. I am also a hunter and eat primarily wild game. I have tried using various meal/nutrition tracking apps and find the same problem with all of them. It is very difficult to judge the nutritional content of the game I was eating and it pushed me toward eating more pre packaged/processed foods because they were easier to document. This led me to eat a smaller quantity of bad for me food that in the long run was worse for my body than eating the healthy wild game I normally ate.