There are many different fitness trackers on the market that work well and even more that aren't worth a look. The ones that are the most useful, especially for outdoor exercise are apps that utilize the GPS in smartphones to track the time and distance of your activities. As I mentioned last week, the new iPhone 5s even offer a passive tracking chip in it so it can monitor your every movement and Moves offers this same type of tracking on older iPhones and Android.

MapMyFitness has become one of the main contenders in the fitness app arena and with 20 million users, they definitely have to be doing something right. The free version is extremely useful by itself, but also offers a paid version for $5.99/month that gives you expanded capabilities such as mobile coaching and interval training.

Green bean casserole used to be something I tolerated, but never got super excited about. It was one of those recipes created by a food manufacturer (specifically Campbell's) to promote the sale of their products. When's the last time you thought to yourself, "I've got to have me some cream of mushroom soup for lunch?". Who the heck eats cream of mushroom soup unless it's added to casserole? Nobody.

After last week's recipe, you already know what I think about soup from a can. Green bean casserole is born of nothing but food from cans - green beans from a can, fried onions from a can, and a solid gelatinous mass that some call soup from a can. Loaded with preservatives and sucked dry of any nutritional value, it really is a culinary nightmare.

Passive tracking. If you haven't heard this term yet, you will be hearing alot about it since the release of the iPhone 5s. That's because the new iPhone now has an M7 "motion coprocessor". This tiny new addition to the 5s means that it is now able to track all sorts of movements including sitting, standing, running, walking, biking, and more - all in the background without you needing to do anything but enable it once. While this may sound big brotherish to some, this is a great thing for health tech since it allows for much more accurate logging of your activities.

When there's a chill in the air I'm always craving something warm, hearty, and in a bowl. Soups and stews generally take the place of salads and sandwiches. Herein lies the problem, though - Time. You can throw together a salad and sandwich in a few minutes, but your only quick soup and stew options are from a can, right? Wrong.

Soup From A Can Sucks

Where do I begin with the suckage that is soup from a can? How do they pack so much sodium and preservatives in canned soup yet it still tastes like dishwater? Flavorless and containing few quality ingredients, you're lucky to get the amount of veggies and meat inside the whole can that are floating in the picture on the label.

New Direction

Hi, I'm Aaron Hoffman and I'm taking over this blog from now on. Why, you ask? Well to talk about the things I'm passionate about - health tech and cooking great food. In order to understand why I'm qualified to talk about such broad subjects, the founders of Nudge decided I should write about where I come from and how I got here. It's a bit long because I'm old. Really old. I promise all future articles will be much shorter and to the point.

With Fall upon us and a nice chill in the air it's time to get ready for holidays. Everyone is pulling out their decorations from storage, putting grocery lists together, and preparing for gatherings of friends and family. It also happens to be squash season and the king of all squash is our friend, the pumpkin. You are most likely going to be inundated with pumpkins this time of year - Jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, and pumpkin ice cream are just a few things you might be surrounded by.

So we’ve all downloaded various apps to help us keep track of our busy lives. I have apps that track my calories, my workouts, my moods and cycles, my daily to-dos, ect. It can all be overwhelming and time consuming to access these apps several times a day. Sometimes I even long for a pen and paper! When Nudge and Runkeeper merged I was stoked! Two of the apps I access numerous times a day are now one in my world. Now when I take that afternoon run using Runkeeper, it simultaneously syncs into my Nudge account, meaning I no longer have to log my workouts in Nudge. How awesome is that!?

The cool days of Fall are now upon us and that means one thing to me - chili season. I love chili in all of it's traditional formats. Meat, beans, tomatoes, and strong flavors of cumin and dried chiles are what I consider to be key for a delicious bowl of red. Lately however, I've been leaving out the meat to make the dish lighter and I really haven't missed it.

Severe gum disease can cause your gums to start pulling away from your teeth. You may also form pockets between your teeth and gums and develop infections, cavities and even begin to lose your teeth. Poor oral health can lead to heart disease, kidney disease and even stroke. Many people may be surprised to know that gum disease and oral health can be negatively affected by having diabetes. On the flip side, poor oral health can lead to poor glucose control and eventually diabetes. Essentially, understanding the link between diabetes and oral health can help a person maintain proper oral health. This is necessary in order to stay healthy and keep diabetes at bay or under control.

The dog days of summer are officially over and I'm not missing the heat at all. I will, however, be missing all of the fresh local produce at our farmers market on Sundays. It's such a great experience to go buy locally grown and produced products from small farms and purveyers of goods and it's become a staple of our spring and summer. Aside from the excellent prices, quality, and sustainable methods, it's great to meet the actual people that are producing your food and who take pride in bringing you their best. To read further about our love of buying local, check out our recent blog post.