Fooducate

One of my most favorite aids in living a healthy lifestyle is an app on my phone called Fooducate. Fooducate allows you to scan any food or drink item that has a barcode. After scanning, the app immediately provides you with information about that item including calories per serving, points value (for people on weight watchers or any other diet on a points system), and a letter grade. It also gives you a brief overview of what is good and bad for you about this product. 

You can also click on the list of information to view a more detailed description as to why, for example,  a product that is not 100% whole grain is a bad thing (as shown in picture). If the letter grade is not high enough for you, you can also view alternatives. It will show you a list of healthier items similar to the product that you scanned. I, personally, try to stay within an A-B range.

I absolutely love this app. I am the weirdo in grocery stores, gas stations, at school scanning EVERYTHING. I'm sure people look at me like what the heck is she doing, but I just don't care! In my eyes, our future restaurant menus will have barcodes next to each item on the menu.

This app has really opened my eyes to what is healthy and what is not. Forget all of the food labels (light, 100 calories, natural). I ignore those because most of the time they are worse for you than the real stuff or just simply not healthy like they advertise it to be (but that is a whole separate blog). So scan EVERYTHING. You will be shocked at what you find and I hope that it will open your eyes to how bad/good for you some products are.

Healthy eating requires reading food labels and ingredients and assessing all of this information to determine whether or not it is healthy for you. This app has done all of the work for us! No more excuses, you have all of the information in the click of a button! Download the app today and start Fooducating! 

Enjoy :) 

My Journey

     Hey y'all! I am going to start my first blog ever with a little bit about myself and why I have decided to start a blog. My name is Leigha and I am a full time nursing student at Marian University. I am sandwiched in the middle of two brothers. I have 3 bunnies, Vin the Chin, Dot, and her daughter Polka Dot. I wish I had a house/yard full of animals, but my busy school and work schedule puts that dream on hold for now. I am a country girl at heart- I love country music, line dancing, and just being in the country (fishing, camping, hiking).

     One thing I also love is NUTRITION! Nutrition changed my life! About three or four years ago, I weighed 35 pounds more than I do today. Let me tell you, 35 pounds on someone that is 5'1, is a lot of lbs! I ate fast food and frozen meals regularly, drank Diet soda like it was water, ate until I felt full, and rarely did I eat any fruits or vegetables. I cannot say for sure, but I think most of the blame is to be put on my lack of education in nutrition. Nutrition is briefly touched on in high school health, but does not exceed the basics (and I truly believe that if we were better educated, we would not be one of the fattest nations in the world). I knew what I was eating was bad, but I did not realize how bad. Thanks to my strong desire and dedication to better myself combined with the knowledge I have gained thus far in nursing school, I have learned about nutrition and how it can immensely improve your life. Nutrition is so much fun because I am constantly learning new things! I want to use this blog to share what I learn as well as ways to live a healthy lifestyle in this fast pace, advertisement obsessed, on-the-go society. I will share tips, recipes, facts, news articles, studies, etc. I want to inspire people to take care of their bodies without having to go above and beyond (strict work out regimes, ridiculous diets that only provide short term weight loss).

     "If you don't take care of your body, then who is going to live in it?"