Foodstand powered by Diet ID app serves as digital alternative to counting calories

(FOX 2) - Diet after diet, you keep trying and nothing works. Now a Detroit startup says they have a high tech answer to become healthier.

It's not about counting calories. It's about your doctor, friends and family helping you along the way and all you need is your phone and some will power.

"80% of chronic diseases are preventable or reversible through a healthy diet and/or lifestyle," said Dr. Robert Graham.

We know that what he says is true and we know we have to do better. There are apps out there to help you keep track of your calories. But:

"Food diaries and food journals are great when people do them but unfortunately many patients don't adhere with that kind of journaling so this is a very simple way to assess quickly at the point of care of what their dietary pattern looks like," he said.

The doctor is talking about something new he's using with his patients at his fresh medicine clinic. It's called Foodstand powered by Diet ID. The nerve center is in Detroit. It's a startup that's gaining steam and serves as basically a digital alternative to counting calories that loops your score in on what you're doing every day.

"It helps them assess diet within two minutes and put their patients on a path to behavior modification for how they eat," said Rachna Govani.

So instead of that lengthy intake appointment answering a load of questions, the doctor already knows where you're at by tracking the app. 

"Our solution comes in with a two minute assessment. Once he has that baseline we then help him guide that patient on a daily basis to make those changes they need to make to meet those health goals," Govani said.

The reason this startup moved to Detroit is simple. Foodstand wanted to be in a city where they was a need and Detroit is undernourished. Dr. David Katz, a leading expert in preventative medicine is the brains behind Diet ID, which helps runs the app. One huge piece that makes this app different? The buddy system, tying in loved ones and coworkers into your daily habits.  

"We know that if we have that social pressure or that concept of somebody else watching us, somebody else caring if we succeed, we will be more successful. We saw from the initial rollout of that feature, 50 percent improved success rates if you just had one buddy. And we have people adding multiple buddies. We have people doing this in a workplace, where their coworkers become their buddies and that success rate is so much higher than when you try to go on journey by yourself," Govani said.

Visit DietId.com for more information.