Happy New Year! As 2015 begins so do New Year's resolutions. After time passes in the New Year, resolutions tend to start dwindling. A great way to stay on track is to literally track your habits that will encourage making small changes to lead to positive outcomes. A great way to track habits is to utilize health-related applications or "apps" on your smart phone or tablet. Many mobile apps will sync to web apps as well.

There are currently more than 1,000 apps out there. We now have apps to find apps! A recent Nielson survey estimates that 50 percent of mobile phone subscribers own a smart phone. Food and nutrition information is now at the fingertips of a large segment of the public. And this trend isn't going away anytime soon. Many people like being able to record and track their habits. Some research suggests that those who track their foods tend to be more mindful of their eating. The more a person stays on track, the more his or her positive behaviors become habits.

Here are several of the best picks for general health apps:

MyFitnessPal. This free app offers a food diary and exercise log with downloadable reports. It also has a bar code scanner built in to locate individual food items and nutrition information. You can customize your meals and recipes in this app.

MyNetDiary. This is my personal favorite health tracking app. You can track food intake, physical activity, body measurements, hydration, and much more. This app provides support from a registered dietitian. This app also has a bar code scanner to instantly pull up nutrition information on a product. Like MyFitnessPal, you can customize your meals, and add foods and recipes. MyNetDiary has a free app, but for more features it can cost up to $3.99 for the smart phone app and $9.99 for the tablet app.

SparkPeople Calorie Counter & Weight Loss is another free app and great choice for those who want to record their food intake and physical activity and use this for behavior tracking and motivation.

Fooducate is also free and helps individuals grocery shop. After scanning a product's bar code, it gives the user the health benefit and cost of that food item. Fooducate offers a grading system based on the nutrition facts label, with an "A" grade as the healthiest.

If you have diabetes, apps can be extremely helpful. This is especially true for smart app savvy young adults with diabetes who often fall of the grid when they leave pediatric care. Using a diabetes app can provide recipes, cooking tips and other assistance as they transition to adult care. Diabetes apps can be used to count carbohydrates, log blood sugar, track insulin and/or medication dosed, and communicate with your health care team. The diabetes apps worth noting and trying out are Bant, Blood Sugar Tracker, and Diabetes Companion, all which received high ratings by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In addition, the CalorieKing app is also helpful, which is a free database that contains calories, carbs, fat, cholesterol, fiber and sodium content of foods. Just about any food is in this app, including restaurant foods. For those who do not have a smart phone yet, the University of Idaho offers a "Healthy Diabetes Plate" interactive website at www.extension.uidaho.edu/diabetesplate. This site helps individuals understand diabetes meal management, meal planning and shopping in a fun and interactive way.

Apps mentioned in this article are just the tip of the iceberg. Which app is best? The answer is the one that works best for you! I encourage you to download multiple health tracking apps and use each app one week at a time to see which one is most user-friendly to you and your own needs. Please remember, if you have diabetes or any other health concerns, apps and websites should only be used to supplement the advice and instructions from your provider and health care team.

Happy Resolutions!

Kimberly Young, MS, RDN, LD, is a Registered Dietitian at Panhandle Health District and a graduate of the University of Idaho Dietetic program.