“Yeah, in the daytime I’m Mr Natural, Just as healthy as I can be. But at night I’m a junk food junkie, Good lord have pity on me!” – from Junk Food Junkie by LARRY GROCE.
What if there were an iPhone app that would help you conquer your junk food cravings, help keep you from eating that quart of ice cream at bedtime, or that whole bag of popcorn while watching TV? Enter CraveMate from Primitive Response Technology, LLC.
Overview
CraveMate is designed to tap into the knowledge of how our minds are guided by powerful and instinctive food cravings. I don’t know about you, but if I watch a movie, I need a bag of popcorn, a box of Sno-Caps, and a bladder buster Coca-Cola, or it’s just not the movie going experience I know and love. CraveMate helps you avoid bad decisions like the one just described via “Crave Goals.”
On the home page of the app, you customize your Crave Goals and enter your Goal Descriptions, telling yourself how you will accomplish your Crave Goal. So, if, like me, popcorn is one of your Crave Goals, your description might read limit eating popcorn to once a week. You can repeat this step for each Crave Goal you want to add or adjust.
After setting your goals, you can edit/change reminders and alarms for the times you’re usually tempted. So, if you like to eat a chocolate bar before bed, and you typically hit the sack around 10PM, set a reminder, such as “Hey! Go Easy on the chocolate!” Then set the alarm for 9:55PM. This will set off an alert that will remind you of your goal, and hopefully help you fend off your craving.
When the craving does hit, you can also use CraveMate to “capture the moment” by taking a photo or video of the moment, which you can then share via text, email, Twitter or Facebook. When you share it, you can include a caption to let the world know how good you feel after resisting that entire chocolate bar.
As well as the above mentioned features, CraveMate includes some positive reinforcement built in to the app.
“Insight” is a nice little page that explains what you may be up against in your fight to conquer your cravings, it also shares what the app can do to help you in your battle.
The “Tips” screen contains helpful tips about how to reach your goals by keeping it realistic and simple. It helps to visit this tab occasionally just to remind yourself that you’re not the only one who’s been in this battle, and it’s a fight you can win.
Verdict
I like this app, and if you’re the type who has has a certain time of day when certain cravings hit, the alarm reminder system could genuinely help you remember your goals, and help you resist temptation.
The ability to share your triumphs, and maybe even your defeats gives you the chance to receive some positive “attaboy” type comments, or in the case of a set-back, some “you’ll get ’em next time” encouragement.
If your cravings don’t really follow a schedule, and seem to be random, you can still set CraveMate to go off with various alarms during the day to give you some reinforcement you’ll hopefully remember when the cravings do come to call.
The tips and insights features are a nice touch. Positive reinforcement like that can help you achieve your goals, even if the reinforcement comes from a handheld device.
If you’re trying to win the fight against your junk food cravings, and truthfully, who isn’t, give CraveMate a try. For the small price of $0.99 it just might give you that extra boost that puts you in the drivers seat and allow you to take control of your junk food cravings.
Rating:4/5[rating:4]
Price: $0.99 – Available for the iPhone Now in the App Store. [DIRECT LINK]
Pros:
- Easy to learn, easy to keep using.
- The tips and insights feature is a welcome boost.
- Positive reinforcement is always a good thing.
- The ability to share your victories, and yes your defeats, is a great incentive to fight your cravings.
Cons:
- The alarm system requires you to know when your cravings are going to hit.
