'App-orexia': Can Smartphone Applications Be Bad for Your Health?

March 27, 2010— -- Dieters have a new secret weapon in the battle of the bulge. Thanks to the smartphone and its instant technology, eating right has finally become an easy choice. New applications can help calculate caloric intake and provide on-the-go nutritional information.

But while this tool is helping some people lose weight in a healthy manner, doctors are worried that in the wrong hands, it can be dangerous.

Lara Pence, a clinical psychologist and clinical supervisor at the Renfrew Center, an eating disorder treatment center in Dallas, is seeing increased use, and abuse of these applications.

"I think that it's tying into the eating disorder mentality of making sure that you know everything that's going into your body, having those obsessive thoughts of calorie counting, keeping track of your weight, keeping track of what goes in and what goes out through exercise," Pence said.

Application Addition: Calorie Counting Application Controls One Girl's Life

Growing up with two brothers didn't help Hannah Kula's relationship with food.

"Food was always clean your plate, finish it all up. There wasn't really another option," Kula said. "Looking at myself when I came to high school I felt like I was a little bit chubby. You start to notice maybe the girls don't eat as much as boys."

It wasn't until Kula, now 20, went away to college that her eating disorder fully developed.

"It was obsessive calorie counting," Kula said. "I pushed away friends I could have had and pushed away friends I still had and ended those relationships. My eating disorder just took over."

When she discovered an application that could help her keep track of her calories, she soon became hooked.

"Just having that technology right there at my fingertips, I could get everything that my eating disorder needed," Kula said. "I could cut down on my weight and control what my body looked like, and that's what I wanted."

The app soon took control of Kula's life. She checked calorie content at every meal, especially when eating out. And browsing nutritional information became a constant diversion.

"It's like, well, if I go to this place, what's the best thing to get when I'm there? You know, what's something that has the lowest fat in it when I go there, just to be safe?" said Kula.