World's first camera phone nutrition service launches

MyFoodPhone www.myfoodphone.com a nutrition-coaching application and the first camera-phone/-and-web-based system that includes personalized dietary advice from Registered Dietitians, is now available in New York and will soon be available everywhere. The public can sign up for it at www.myfoodphone.com. For a limited time, the service is offering a 15-day money-back guarantee.

MyFoodPhone is simple to use. "You take pictures of what you eat with your camera phone and they get sent automatically to your own Registered Dietitian," says MyFoodPhone spokesman Marc Onigman. "Once a week, on a personalized web page, where you keep track of your weight and other biometric information, you get video feedback from your dietitian on how to modify your eating habits. Follow the advice and you get results, slowly and permanently, the way the experts say you should."

Dietitians are already raving about the results. "MyFoodPhone has completely changed the way that I work with many of my clients," says Amanda Carlson, MS, RD of Athlete's Performance in Phoenix. Instead of requiring the old-fashioned written food diaries, MyFoodPhone dietitians view the pictures, and then grade that person's food intake, resulting in a clear, concise, color-coded "dashboard" that shows users how many portions of each of the major food groups they are consuming.

Adds MyFoodPhone's Onigman, "It's like having a personal nutrition coach packed into your camera phone."

So if you're a doughnut-eater, the "fat dial" on your dashboard is going to squeal on you. The essence of the dietitians' feedback is to help people learn how to make proper food choices and control portions - the lifetime skills that all of the experts say are the key to long-term health. Weekly video-feedback sessions address each individual's specific eating habits. "The technology gives my clients the feeling that I am always there watching and supporting their choices," says Carlson. MyFoodPhone user Jacques Gregoire agrees: "MyFoodPhone is a very good tool to manage food intake. The camera phone becomes your own little "conscience."

MyFoodPhone's chief dietitian, Lisa Cohn, who is also President of Park Avenue Nutrition in New York City, likes the fun aspects of the product.

"Eating should be engaging," says Cohn. "Learning what foods contain protein and carbs and fat should be entertaining. MyFoodPhone has no meal plans, no unbalanced eating, and no restricted foods. It's easy to stay with the program. Plus, when people see pictures of all of the carbs they consume in a week, that's pretty powerful. They take one look at their pictures and say, 'Wow. I had no idea I ate that much.' A picture may be worth a thousand calories.