Diet and nutrition are the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and keeping fit. For people obsessed with counting calories and perpetually on a diet, there are several apps available to track down what calories, type of proteins and carbohydrates are being consumed. These apps for iOS and Android are listed below:

Calorie counter & Diet tracker (iOS & Android) (free)

This app allows you to search through a database of 250,000 foods, popular exercises and healthy recipes, log nutritional data and track weight loss. It has a barcode scanner to log foods, compare your daily intake using their net calorie gauge. There are tools available to view current, past food activity and weight logs. For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/calorie-counter-diet-tracker/id367018196?mt=8 & Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.about.CalorieCount

CarbsControl (iOS & Android ($ 2.99)

This is an excellent paid app to track down your carbohydrate intake on a daily basis, and is perfect for people with low-carb diets and diabetes. It includes carbs for drinks, has carbohydrate details for over 100,000 types of food, and also has the ability to adjust serving sizes to regulate the precise amount of carbs, etc. There is an option to create a “favourites” list for the foods you regularly eat for quick entry. For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/carbscontrol-carb-counter/id344650210?mt=8 & Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coheso.carbscontrolpro

Food Intolerances (iOS & Android) ($5.99)

Food intolerances is a paid app which by its very name denotes its specialisation in helping people on restricted diet to select suitable foods in respect of the intolerances and allergies they suffer from. It contains information about 700 types of food divided into a range of subjects; for example carbohydrate malabsorption, fructose malabsorption, problematic fibres, lactose intolerance, etc. It contains an indicator that points out whether the food includes gluten, milk protein or egg. For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/food-intolerances/id419098758?mt=8 & Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.baliza.hifmco&hl=en

Calorie counter by MyFitness Pal (iOS & Android) (Free)

Calorie counter allows you to track your diet and fitness, and has a large food database over 500,000,000; it includes a recipe importer and can sync with a multitude of devices such as Fitbit, Jawbone UP, Runkeeper, Strava and much more. It allows you to create your own customised foods and exercises, record all major data for nutrients intake, progress reports based on an individual’s diet profile. For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/calorie-counter-diet-tracker/id341232718?mt=8 & Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myfitnesspal.android

The writer, is a freelance columnist with diversified interests in Technology, Finance & History and is associated with Digital Rights Foundation. He tweets @MohammadFarooq_ and blogs at http://mohammadfarooq.net

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 24th, 2016