Living a healthy lifestyle is hard. Like, REALLY hard.
The first couple days you start your "New Year New Me" regime is pretty exciting. No more junk food. Focused goals. Six pack abs (coming soon). Today is the day. You prove it to yourself by doing everything you wrote on your To-Do list, and go to bed feeling like maybe, just maybe, this is that turning point in your life you've been waiting for.
But a week later you're back to where you've started, munching on a bag of chips watching old episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
What happened? Sometimes we just need a little help, an aide to guide us through our trials of tribulation. Luckily for us, here are Four Health Apps that will make you eat, sleep, exercise, and focus to your true potential.
RecipeGen
This is an app that takes the food you already have in your kitchen, and generates recipes that ONLY use those ingredients. Gone are your excuses to order take-out. Say you're too lazy to look up a healthy recipe and go buy those specific ingredients. Well with RecipeGen, you can just go to the grocery store and blindly buy stuff that looks healthy and lean, and voila, cook thousands of meals immediately.
The app is free to download for iOS and Android, and lets you see the first 10 recipes of any group of ingredients, with an optional in-app purchase of $1.99 to unlock the rest. Check out the trailer video for this app here.
Deep Sleep With Andrew Johnson
This app is a guided meditation intended to help you overcome insomnia and get to sleep. In our day and age of SO MUCH stimulation coming from all angles, it's no wonder so many of us are wide awake at 3 in the morning. Using a combination of hypnotherapy and meditation, Andrew Johnson has unlocked the secrets to knocking you out using his damn soothing voice.
For only $2.99, the man is literally curing a mental disorder through the power of this app. This app is also available for iOS and Android, and is definitely worth the small investment. Check out a sample of his work in this Power Nap video.
7 Minute Workout "Seven"
Don't have an hour for a daily workout? That's okay! All you need is 7 minutes per day and it is scientifically proven to aid weight loss and improve cardiovascular function. This fun little app turns your workouts into a painless game, where they give you 3 "Lives" at the beginning of every month. If you miss a daily 7 minute workout, you lose a heart. Lose all three and your "workout streak" gets reset.
It comes with a variety of unlockable exercises, making each workout not only good for your body, but rewarding as well. The app is free to download for iOS and Android, with optional features like funny coaching voices for $1.99.
Smiling Mind
If you've ever tried meditating, you know how calming and powerful it can be. You've also probably noticed how hard it is to meditate on a consistent basis. Smiling Mind brings us a guided meditation, with different sections for all ages. It provides a progression format, similar to the 7 Minute Workout, that rewards you for meditating regularly. Literally every time I use this app I feel refreshed, calm, and ever more present of the world around me.
It's easy for us to forget how beautiful the world is, and the Smiling Mind app gently reminds us of this simple but important fact. It's also completely free for iOS and Android. Check out a sample of this meditation app here.
Needless to say, the world is a polluted place. It's easy to allow ourselves to lead polluted lives, and difficult to pull ourselves out of bad habits. BUT, it's not impossible, so go out there with these 4 apps serving as your virtual coaches and lead the healthy lifestyle you've always wanted!