FOOD: There's an app for that!
Food. It’s vital to our survival but it seems we look at it more as a pleasure or even an emotional experience. For nearly 70 years, options have been on the rise and we’ve had a lot of luxury when it comes to choosing what we eat. When you are shopping, though, how do you know what you are getting is any good? With all of the additives, preservatives, and endless list of pseudo names for what we know isn’t all that great; what is your defense? Food labeling is not easy, and some things may be disguised or omitted altogether. By the way, we will be doing video series on food labeling to give you some insight and a baseline understanding. Watch for it in under the Nutrition pillar!
A few weeks ago, I was reading an article about an app for my phone that could help us make better decisions while standing in the aisle at the market. This, of course, comes after we spent nearly 30 minutes kinesiology testing me for ANY bread I might be able to consume without horrible after effects. The app the article mentioned was okay, but it set me on a mission and I ended up finding Yuka. It is a free mobile app that allows you to scan the barcodes of food and cosmetics to instantly see how they may impact your health. The best part: they are 100% independent! Meaning, they do not allow brands, manufacturers, or marketers to influence the results or recommendations. This is a major victory for the masses who are bombarded with advertising and false claims depicting products as “good for you”. In fact, when you download this app and begin using it, you will likely feel a little soul crushing when you scan what you thought was a healthy item that you absolutely love, only to find out it is doing more harm than good. We did. A lot, actually. That rule of staying away from anything in a bag, box or can...yeah…there’s a reason. Processed foods are designed to have a shelf life. This means they probably have additives; many of which are harmful. They don’t teach us any of this. Which is one of the many reasons why we started Vitalism Code. So stick with us for more!
The small but mighty team at Yuka has their hearts in the right place and we are proud to support them and share one more incredible tool to empower others and increase their health.
Yuka’s analysis scale: excellent = between 75 and 100, good = between 50 and 74, poor = between 25 and 49 and finally bad = <25. They also color code it to make it very user friendly. They even list options with better scores for those items that don’t quite make the cut.
Yuka is currently available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in the Unites States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain and Italy. The free version is fantastic, but we really encourage you to support their cause and upgrade to premium. We need more groups out there supporting humans and their health instead of corporate bottom lines.
You can also read more about the team, their mission and get the app by visiting their website: https://yuka.io/en/ We are not an affiliate and benefit in no way other than spreading good work to good people just trying to excel at this thing called life.
Happy shopping!
