Logging the food one eats is a tedious task using existing health apps. Yet, it is quintessential to getting an accurate picture of one’s health. Fitness logging is already ubiquitous as a result of cheap fitness trackers, smartwatches, and sensors in phones. But, more importantly it’s uptake is due to the fact it is an automated task. Syncing is done automatically and some apps can guess what physical activities you did.

However, people rarely log food because it is a hassle. There’s no way to automate all the foods we eat throughout the day. When you think about it, people eat weirdly. We snack frequently and we mix and match when we prepare meals. Currently, the easiest solution is taking a picture of the food’s barcode and then filling in the servings. But, people do not eat following the servings suggested by labels.

The solution is clearly not people shaping their cooking to labels. The solution, in fact does not involve people changing anything.

Rather, the solution lies in big technology and advanced image recognition. For example, Google’s. Their latest consumer Photos product already has the ability to recognize objects such as cars, flowers, and food. Research done by the company “has greatly improved object detection, classification, and labeling.” Recently, “[they’ve] developed a machine-learning system that can automatically produce captions to accurately describe images the first time it sees them.”

Imagine, if all you have to do to log food is take a simple picture of it and have Google’s servers figure out what you ate and about how much of it. It’s a difficult task which only a company like Google can achieve, but fortunately it already has a head start.

Google Photos

Taking photos of food is a less invasive task, privacy-wise. People do it all the time already when posting to social media. The feature could very well be automated, prompting you to log meals anytime Google recognized you taking a picture of food.

Food logging is a big problem and it’s Google’s game to solve. Technologically, it’s not too far a stretch and they’ve already started. Furthermore, this is exactly up their alley — what better a way to solve death? After all, we are what we eat.