Applis Clean Eating WE ARE CLEAN CLEAN EATING

Clean Eating: apps to get your teeth into!

They fit right in your pocket and do what you want them to do. Yes, we’re talking about apps – of the nutrition, health or girly variety, that give you edifying (or less than edifying) information about what you’ve put on your plate. Let us break them down for you.

First and foremost, a few tips. If you use apps to decode what you’re going to put in your trolley or what you’ve put your plate, healthy eating is important to you. A minor drawback – if you have heaps of barcodes to scan, that means (on the face of it) that you have bought a lot of processed products. Because there are hardly barcodes on bananas or fresh spinach. Unless you opt for certain organic fruit and vegetables that come in wrapping. In summary, you can be happy if you have fewer barcodes than anticipated and don’t worry if you have quite a lot… These apps are there to “healthy up” your life. And this has been made possible because since 2016, producers have been under the obligation to have the following appear on food packaging: the product’s nutritional breakdown and more precisely, the amount of sugar; fat; salt; protein; and even the number of calories, per 100 grams or 100 millilitres.

Buy or Not

buyornot logo WE ARE CLEAN CLEAN EATING

Food products, in the App Store and on Google Play

How? By scanning barcodes. 

Why?To get precise information on the impact of the scanned product on human health, with rating systems like Nutri-Score (product make-up and qualities, all assigned scores from A to E), or Nova (which indicates how processed a product is on a scale of 1 to 4). It also encompasses societal impact of various kinds which, although not measured in a quantitative way with scores, is indicated in line with any ongoing boycotts. 

The plus: Combining nutritional and societal information is an advantage that encourages the consumer to gain awareness of issues surrounding products in a broader sense. 

Open Food Facts

openfoodfacts logo WE ARE CLEAN CLEAN EATING

Food products, in the App Store and on Google Play.

How? Ditto – you scan the product. If it has no barcode, you simply enter the name and look it up. Handy!

Why? To get a real product analysis through a whole host of criteria and metrics like Nova, Nutriscore and Eco-score (here, the product’s environmental impact is assigned a score from A to E).

The plus: The app brings together information from the WHO and the French Programme National Nutrition Santé (national nutrition for health programme), not least to run its analyses and arrive at precise scores. 

Quel produit (‘Which Product’)

quel produit logo WE ARE CLEAN CLEAN EATING

Food products, beauty products and household products, in the App Store and on Google Play.

How? By look-up or by scanning barcodes. 

Why?  This app, developed by French consumer magazine Que Choisir, provides Nutri-Score information on the products featured and information on the risks that they pose to the consumer, with very clear colour coding. 

The plus: The app also warns of the presence of additives in the scanned food product. The issues of toxicity and health hazards are particularly prominent. 

Save Eat

save eat logo WE ARE CLEAN CLEAN EATING

Food products, recipes.

How? In this case, it’s not a case of analysing foodstuffs based on the barcode. You simply enter ingredients, either by scanning them or typing their names, and the app brings up recipes. If there are ingredients missing, the app suggests them to you… It’s the ultimate smart app, since it helps you avoid generating food waste by bringing up recipes based on what’s in your fridge.

Why? To cook using easy recipes and most importantly without generating waste, nor breaking the bank. To log what’s in the fridge beforehand and then do your grocery shopping accordingly. You won’t be doubling up on products any longer, unless it’s on purpose to double the quantity of a home-cooked dish.

The plus: With this app, you avoid food waste and you can share recipes with your network of friends easily. Another plus: the diverse nature of the featured recipes.

Siga

siga logo WE ARE CLEAN CLEAN EATING

Food products, in the App Store and on Google Play

How? By scanning barcodes.

Why? Here, the degree of processing is taken into account. The food item is assigned a score from 1 to 7 (7 being a un product so processed that it’s far removed from anything healthy). It cross-checks studies run by several referral bodies like the WHO, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the British Food Standard Agency (FSA). Based on these criteria, the app assigns “Siga” scores.

The plus: This smart app also awards medals to certain products with particularly solid credentials.

Yuka

yuka logo WE ARE CLEAN CLEAN EATING

Food products and beauty products, in the App Store and on Google Play.

How? You scan the product’s barcode. Premium subscribers even have access to a search module for products without barcodes. 

Why? To see the score assigned to the selected product, and most importantly the product’s shortcomings (too sugary, too processed too high in fat, etc.), In a word, why it’s good or not good.

The plus: If the Yuka app considers the product scanned to be bad, it suggests an alternative. Hence the absolute necessity for this app to be wholly independent. 

Although we always advise putting the phone somewhere far away you during meals for the sake of eating mindfully, we like these smart apps that make it possible to choose healthy environmentally responsible foods. And we like that!

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