Last week, many people turned the f * ck out when WW (previously Weight Watchers) revealed it had actually acquired and was relaunching the app Kurbo , gone for kids ages 8-17. While WW firmly insisted the app was not a weight-loss app, many individuals ( us ) seemed like WW was not being totally transparent, and the app was simply a very finely veiled weight reduction app. Gary Foster, the chief clinical officer at WW International, called Kurbo “ an app that teaches in a game-ified, enjoyable, interesting method what are the fundamentals of a healthy consuming pattern. ” But in a main declaration, WW described Kurbo as a “ scientifically-proven habits modification program developed to assist teenagers and kids age 8-17 reach a much healthier weight. ” Hmm, so which is it? Are we teaching kids to reduce weight or nah?
Kurbo utilizes a”traffic control system “to categorize foods as red, yellow, and green. App users can play video games to figure out which classification numerous typical foods fall under, and there’s likewise a tracking element where they can tape-record the foods they’ve consumed. As somebody who did Weight Watchers as a “kid” (I resembled, 15 or 16), I was at first torn when news about this app came out. On the one hand, the CDC declares youth weight problems has more than tripled because the 1970s, and almost 1 in 5 kids aged 6-19 are overweight. When I went on Weight Watchers, I would have most likely done Kurbo in 10th grade. On the other hand, kids currently have body image concerns, and attracting that and motivating weight reduction for actual 8-year-0lds is early and quite outrageous, and as numerous explained, it might lead or promote to disordered consuming. I chose to download the app to see for myself, and truthfully? It’s even worse than I believed.
I downloaded Kurbo, input my info (I pretended I was a 4’8 kid who weighed 100 pounds, which is technically categorized as obese). I played a video game called “Red Raisins”, where the app reveals you photos of numerous foods and then you have to identify which are red, yellow, and green through a range of workouts. (Sometimes you’ll drag a fork to the “green” food, often you’ll remove the “yellow food”– things like that.) Not going to lie, the video game was in fact quite enjoyable and might change my desk routine of mindlessly scrolling through dating apps. I was seriously gobsmacked at some of Kurbo’s categories. The red and green foods didn’t shock me (carrots are green; fried chicken is red), however the yellow foods were another story.
From the Kurbo app, green foods suggest “healthy foods– consume!”, yellow methods “enjoy parts”, and red methods “consume 4 or less” (I think each day, though it does not define). Appears like a user-friendly and quite rational system, up until you get to what Kurbo thinks about foods you ought to see your parts for.
Baked chicken breast?? Are you sure?? The very same baked chicken breast frustrating physical fitness brothers swear by? Definitely that baked chicken breast can not be a food kids require to look out for. And, to be clear, this is chicken without skin. Now, here’s the insane part. I am on Weight Watchers (I’m Lifetime, which implies I’m not losing any longer, I’m simply keeping), which deals with a points system. Essentially, depending upon elements like your height, objective weight, age, whether you are pregnant, and so on, you get an everyday allowance of points each day. Each food (and drink) has a specific points worth, depending upon things like calories, protein, sugar, carbohydrates, and so on. Think the number of points chicken breast is on the WW app. No, actually. Think.
Zero. No f * cking points. Do not think me? Here’s a screenshot from my app:
I do not understand what psychos are consuming raw chicken breast, however the point is that grownups can consume a serving of chicken breast and not have it count towards their everyday points allowance. Why are we informing kids that this is not a “safe” food? You would believe we would be more lax towards kids, who are still establishing and growing. Nope! Keep away from the chicken breast, kids!
Check this out! Unsweetened applesauce is a yellow light food on Kurbo. Now, I sort of get that, due to the fact that undoubtedly no kid (or individual) ought to be consuming, like, 10 pounds of applesauce daily, sweetened or not. And you’re most likely getting much better at this video game now, think how numerous points WW designates to 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce?
Correct! No points!
Even crazier? A baked chicken sandwich (which they illustrate as baked chicken with lettuce and tomato on a bun– no cheese) is a red food. That’s wild, thinking about that in my WW conferences, we constantly state that a baked or grilled chicken sandwich is a quite safe choice when you’re heading out to consume. Crab is a yellow food, when swelling crab meat is no points on WW. It simply does not make good sense.
To be reasonable to Kurbo, a few of the video games were valuable. I played one that had you think what correct serving sizes are for foods, utilizing things like the palm of your hand for referral. That’s beneficial, thinking about many people can’t appropriately eyeball 3 oz. of meat or 1/4 cup of nuts or whatever. The food categories were another story. You would believe that an app owned and run by WW would correspond for grownups and kids. You ‘d likewise believe, once again, that they would be more forgiving for kids, due to the fact that they’re growing and I ‘d venture that kids are usually more active than grownups. Nope! You ‘d be incorrect on both accounts. Rather of mentor kids how to make healthy options (an objective I type of take problem with in the very first location, considering that a great deal of the time kids do not have much control over what they’re consuming, and it’s up to the moms and dads to offer well balanced meals for them), we are teaching kids to demonize the very same foods that grownups are allowed to consume easily! To obtain from Ramona Singer, wow. Wow, WW. Wow.
Images: Dan Gold / Unsplash; Kurbo (2 ); WW (2 )
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