You may have heard of calorie counting before and thought, “food takes long enough to buy and cook, who has time to record what’s in it too?”

That’s a reasonable observation, and one I’ve made too.

But what if I told you that keeping track of not only the calories, but more importantly, the nutrients in the food you eat, can actually save you time?

Many smartphone apps now allow us to keep detailed diet logs. I’ve been using MyFitnessPal on my Android, but it’s on iOS as well. This app boasts a database of 5,000,000 food items, can scan anything with a barcode for easy entry, and gives helpful visuals of your food’s nutritional breakdown.

Today, we’re going to look at the time-saving benefits to using nutrition-tracking apps like MyFitnessPal.

Planning ahead

My favorite way to use nutrition tracking actually isn’t so much logging my food after I eat it, but before. You can use your downtime the night before a big day to plan your meals, avoiding the hassle when things get hectic. When I’m busy running to and from school and work, the last thing I want to do is get slowed down trying to think of how I can squeeze in a nutritious meal. Or worse yet, settle for something quick and unhealthy.

More energy

Worse because eating unhealthy can worsen your mood and slow down productivity. So you may have saved some time eating that quick snack, but you may lose some later, when you’re feeling down or unable to focus. Planning and analyzing what you eat can ensure you’re getting what you need to perform your best.

Better intuition

Nutrition tracking will also show you what you need to feel your best. It’ll shed light on your ratio of “macronutrients”—carbs, fats, and protein—which you can play around with to see what works best for you. For example, I used to eat a much higher carb diet and found myself needing to pack tons of food for long school days. Once I noticed this through nutrition tracking, I upped my protein consumption, which fills the body up quicker and breaks down slower than carbs. Now I don’t have to eat so frequently. Similarly, you can find what kind of food works best for you, and that makes deciding what to eat that much easier. And who knows, you might spend less time packing and lugging around food too!

If you haven’t tried nutrition tracking, I highly recommend you do for the reasons above and more. Feel free to use the app I’ve been using, MyFitnessPal, or check out this list of other apps you could use. If you do use other apps, or if for some reason you don’t want to track your food, go ahead and share your thought in the comment below!

Thanks for reading, and stay healthy!