Tag Archives: technology

7 Health and Fitness Newsletters that aren’t Spam!

If you’re like most people, you receive dozens of emails each day that you never actually read before deleting. These are the messages you know are junk, yet somehow you keep resisting the urge to actually mark as spam. Maybe you actually took the time to subscribe to a certain email list, maybe you were added after making a purchase or signing up for a service. No matter why you get these messages, the beginning of the year is a good time for clearing out the clutter and your inbox is a great place to start.

Easier said than done, right? Wrong. Our own Brandi Koskie recently used unroll.me to see what subscriptions were lurking in her inbox and found 99 different email newsletters! She unsubscribed from about 65 of them.

reading email

Margo Donohue, aka Brooklyn Fit Chick, also sees a lot of surplus emails flow into her inbox. “On average I read and answer about 250 emails per day,” says Margo. “These are from people I need to deal with on top of the regular newsletters. I don’t always have the time to read even the newsletters I’m  interested in, but the ones I do read usually have snappy headlines linked to a few articles.” (Note to publishers: Keep it quick and simple!)

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Posted on January 9, 2024 by Elizabeth

The Only Fitness Tracker Review Guide You Need for 2024

2024 Fitness Tracker Review Guide Available Now!

Within the last few years, the market for wearable computers has exploded. Today, we’re looking at five such devices that help you monitor your physical activity, stay in shape, keep track of your sleeping patterns, and go everywhere you go. You see, the best innovations are those that are exceedingly simple to use and assume a natural place in your life.

I looked at the latest and greatest fitness gadgets for this post: the Fitbit Force, the BodyBugg LINK, the Jawbone UP, the Nike FuelBand SE, and the Ssmart Dynamo. By and large, they do many of the same things, so how do you decide which one is right for you? Here are ten key features about each to help you decide which fits your lifestyle.

fitness tracker review

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A few key takeaways from the data I gathered.

The Nike FuelBand SE has the longest battery life. If you’re on the go more than you’re at home, this is something to consider. With the FuelBand, you can expect 12 days between charges.

If you already use a smartphone app to track your fitness or food intake, you’ll want one that plays nicely with your favorite app. The Fitbit Force, BodyBugg LINK, and Jawbone UP are the three models to look at for this.

All models have a pedometer function to track your steps throughout the day. And all models, except the FuelBand, include sleep monitoring and calorie tracking. (more…)

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Mike

Feel the Burn on Skype: Video Chatting is Transforming Weight Loss

In 2003, a handful of young software developers from tiny Estonia wrote the code for a voice-over IP program and called it Skype. Derived from the words “sky” and “peer,” Skype was a video chatting and instant messaging application that allowed grad students studying abroad to chat with their significant others back home. OK, that wasn’t the only thing it was used for, but more than 10 years and $8.5 billion later—thanks Microsoft!—the uses of Skype have outgrown simple peer-to-peer communication.

skype

The live and instant nature of Skype holds the senders and receivers of information accountable, making the program perfect for dietitians and personal trainers. Citing affordability and optimum time management, both our resident nutrition expert Mary Hartley RD, and the wellness team at Retrofit, among many others in their shared industry use Skype to counsel patients on diet and fitness.

“I could base an entire practice around Skype,” said Mary, who meets with clients in real life and over video chat. Living in New York City, Skype saves her and her patients gas money, traffic time, and office expenses. “Their (patients) appointments are booked on their Gmail calendars, they pay via PayPal before their appointment, and then we’re on,” said Mary. (more…)

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Patrick

Digital Weight Loss Consultations on Expertory Virtually Eliminate All Excuses for Skipping Meetings

A lot of us these days are extremely busy. It seems as though we barely have time to do the important things in life, like taking care of our health (or those long naps on a comfy couch, who am I kidding?!). It is increasingly difficult to be able to budget our precious time to make it out somewhere to achieve our health goals. Being that we are so connected to those crazy interwebs these days, I figured I would try to take care of my wellness through an online format. Enter: Expertory.

skype-call
Expertory is a website dedicated to educating on YOUR terms, not the schedule of someone else you have to work around. I had no excuse like “Oh, I can’t make it at this time because of this, or this time because of that.” Your workouts or counseling sessions are achieved through video chats that you schedule with their enormous panel of experts, which range from fitness and nutrition experts to people who can teach you to speak Mandarin!

Being several years off of the Biggest Loser, I have a stubborn 20 pounds I wish to lose which have crept back on me (much better than the 213 pounds I had to lose originally!). I am pretty happy where I am now, as I am fit and healthy beyond my wildest dreams, but just want to tone up a bit more. Since I work out like a fiend, I know it is my diet that needs cleaning up, which is why I decided to book a session with Amy Goldsmith, a nutritionist, whose session was titled “Boosting Your Metabolism.” (more…)

Posted on October 3, 2023 by Mark

Help Fund BluFit, the Smarter Water Bottle That Keeps You Hydrated

A new start-up is attempting to see that we’re all hydrated properly and have some fun in the process. The bottle is far from the ordinary, as it is equipped with a Bluetooth LE chip that takes readings from the water flow sensor inside. All of these functions sync with the accompanying app, which allows users to enter their weight, gender, and age for customized hydration goals. A sensor on the bottle can even detect temperature and humidity to adjust and give you an accurate hydration-needs assessment.

BluFit Water Bottles are trying to drown one of our country’s biggest health woes, which is coincidentally one of our most under-publicized health issues – hydration. Many people subsist on soda and coffee almost exclusively and, as a result, many children and adults are often mildly dehydrated on a regular basis. A host of side effects can occur as a result of dehydration, but know that it can slow down thinking and even impede weight loss efforts.bluefit

We could just tell you to drink more water, follow that eight, eight-ounce glasses a day rule, but it’s really not that simple. The hydration needs vary quite a bit by individual, so it’s kind of cool that this new company has emerged with some flashy new ways to get you excited about hydration. (more…)

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Lacy

Retrofit Announces a New Half-Price Advisor Program, Debuts New Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KVdk5YIb5o&feature=youtu.be

The word retrofit means to add new technology or features to older systems, and the weight loss company of the same name has done exactly that. With the use of state of the art fitness monitoring technology and a team of wellness experts offering hands on instruction to clients, Retrofit has experienced a 90 percent success rate and revolutionized the way people lose weight. There’s just one problem, it costs a lot of money to provide high tech gadgets and 24/7 client support, so Retrofit’s 12-month package hovered around the $3,000 range. In an effort to reach a broader audience, and make it less cost prohibitive for the people who need Retrofit most, the company recently announced a new, more affordable product – Retrofit Advisor.

Retrofit Advisor will feature the same successful products and services as the premium packages, but will cost half as much. Retrofit’s two high tier packages guarantee a 10 percent weight loss and a 15 percent weight loss, respectively. With the Advisor, there is no guarantee, and clients are assigned one weight loss advisor as opposed to three weight loss experts. (more…)

Posted on August 19, 2023 by Patrick

Retrofit Finds That Tech Gadgets Make Weight Loss More Manageable

Weight loss is rarely a walk in the park, and some plans are so complex they can be downright intimidating. The strict dietary limitations and harsh fitness regimens of a new weight loss plan can conjure feelings of anxiety and can cramp the process entirely. A study involving the weight loss company Retrofit has revealed that their state of the art data tracking technology limits stress and confusion while producing positive weight loss results.

fitbit

Retrofit uses a 3D motion sensor called a Fitbit to track steps, calories burned, and sleep patterns to be analyzed by their team of weight loss experts. Retrofit employs a wi-fi Withings scale that calculates BMI and body-fat percentage. The data can be viewed online via software on a computer, tablet, or mobile device. In a 12-month study, lead by Retrofit, those using the technology lost an average of 19 pounds, while zealous clients who weighed themselves everyday lost an average of 26 pounds.

Retrofit CEO Jeff Hyman claims the program is effective for individuals as well as corporations looking to lower health care costs. “This statistical data proves that in personal wellness, you can manage what you can measure,” said Hyman. “In order for employers to reduce health care costs due to obesity and its related diseases, companies simply must have a weight loss program that seamlessly collects and monitors employee data.” (more…)

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Patrick

3D Food Printers Backed by NASA Could End World Hunger

Imagine sitting at your computer telling a program what you want to eat and how many calories you want your meal to have, then hitting print and feasting on a pizza from your 3D printer. It’s not one of Willy Wonka’s prototypes, but a legitimate concept being developed by mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor and NASA.

nasa 3d food printer

Contractor’s company, Systems & Materials Research Corporation, was recently awarded a six-month, $125,000 grant to develop the sci-fi printer, which could help eliminate food waste and worldwide hunger. The new technology could also help provide a sustainable food source for lengthy space missions, as the printer’s ingredients will have a shelf life of up to 30 years. It works by synthesizing a meal one layer at a time, using proteins, carbohydrates, oils, water, and powdered foodstuff.

Mechanically engineered food seems like a counterintuitive concept considering the prevalence of foodies and food porn, but Contractor thinks we need to change our perception of what we see as food. Experts agree the earth’s population will reach full capacity toward the end of this century, topping off at a standing room only 12 billion people. “I think, and many economists think, that current food systems can’t supply 12 billion people sufficiently,” said Contractor. (more…)

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Patrick

Boycotting Monsanto? You’ve Got the Buycott App for That

Are you one of the millions of Americans hell bent on putting this monster of a company, and its peers, in their place? There’s now an app for that. In fact, Buycott, which launched this month to much consumer excitement, will help you boycott products from brands you’ve no interest in supporting. So many consumers want to vote with their dollars, but because of the tangled web weaved by mergers and company ownership, few people know that when they innocently buy a box of Duncan Hines cake mix that the brand is owned by Monsanto.

Now with Buycott, you can simply scan the bar code of any product at the grocery store and find out which company is behind it. The idea is certainly not to complicate your grocery experience, what with the reading of ingredient and nutrition labels, too, but rather to arm you with more information to make a most educated decision. If this is your thing.

buycott app
“A buycott is the opposite of a boycott. It is an active campaign to buy the products or services of a particular company or brand,” they say in the introductory pages of the app upon download. This suggests that while you may scan one brand and learn of its corporate heritage and choose not to buy it, you’ll likewise scan a different product and choose to support that brand instead. The Buycott app can work either way, obviously. (more…)

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Natalie K

The iYoga Premium App Provides a High-Tech, Virtual Yoga Teacher for Anatomy Enthusiasts

Anyone who attempts an at-home yoga practice is familiar with the many distractions that can get in the way of our time on the mat. If it isn’t the telephone ringing, the neighbor’s dog barking, or the baby waking, it’s the lack of having a teacher to follow. Even the best yoga DVDs may leave us bored and uninspired after hours of viewing the same personality guiding us through the same practice.

Today, the advancement of technology enables at-home yoga enthusiasts the ability to bring a virtual yoga instructor into their living rooms. For those interested in a no-nonsense yoga teacher stripped down to the nuts and bolts of muscle and movement, a new app called iYoga Premium delivers your high-tech option.

Brought to you by 3D4 Medical in collaboration with Yoga One studio in San Diego, iYoga Premium provides more than 190 different yoga poses skillfully captured and demonstrated by a model that looks like she stepped off the page of your Grey’s Anatomy book. (more…)

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Jill

LifeKraze App Launches for Android, Improves for iPhone

Since September, the LifeKraze App has gained more attention and made some improvements. Just today they released updates making the application available for Android users.

The Android platform allows users to share photos or links from any share-enabled application, helping them get in to the “team” aspect of LifeKraze. The Android app will function with several screen sizes, including tablets.

LifeKraze has added updates to the iOS app as well. Those Apple users can navigate on a rebuilt format that includes a new custom photo function with LifeKraze filters. The app is up to 4.5 times faster on the iPhone 4 and 3.5 times faster on the iPhone 5. (more…)

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Lacy