Eat Right, Earn an iPod

TheMster writes "The BBC is reporting on the UK government's latest policy to tackle obesity - through offering iPods and XBoxes to pupils. The lucky lads and lasses of 29 Glasgow secondary schools will be part of the pioneering scheme, which utilises the newly introduced swipe-card canteens to create a system of the 'better you eat, the bigger the treat'."

Comments

Runners Up?

[LiquidCoooled]

Runners up in the competition get XXL t-shirts as prizes ;)

Re:Runners Up?

[Penguinoflight]

Problem fixed... your care is appreciated.

pioneering scheme...

[k4_pacific]

Nutrition... Free iPod...

Would this be a food pyramid scheme? /ducks

Re:pioneering scheme...

[Muhammar]

in school cantina, you often do not want to eat stuff that looks like it dropped on the bottom of the food pyramid. Haver you seen what goes there under name of fruit, salad?

In Limburg, Belgium, they have pilot program trying to swich kids from Cola to ...beer. Low alcohol low calory version of it. The dark kidbeer is especialy popular. iPods are not included.

Re:pioneering scheme...

[Big Mark]

This is Glasgow. The parts of it they are talking about are the most deprived regions in Scotland and probably rank amongst the most deprived regions outside the Third World. Light beer won't work as the dobbers are already on 15% "tonic wine" and have impregnated someone by the time they're sixteen.

This is just the first step. Giving kids status symbols for not being fat-guzzling, booze-swilling louts will do more for the crime figures and life expectancy than any amount of "zero tolerance".

Re:pioneering scheme...

[chesterjosiah]

You're lucky you ducked. :-P Seriously though, that was darn funny. =)

Re:pioneering scheme...

[Anonymous Coward]

> Would this be a food pyramid scheme? /ducks

Good thing you ducked, I just spewed Lagavulin 16 all over the fookin' monitor! (+6, wasn't ready for that)

sounds easy

[sven_eee]

sounds like fun, first you take a packed lunch, second you use your card for all the apples you can throw

Re:sounds easy

[ikkonoishi]

Or you beat up the class nerd and steal his card to buy your junk food.

Re:sounds easy

[ikkonoishi]

I should have expected this to get modded funny, but it is a valid question.

Why wouldn't the bullies use their cards to buy the approved foods and then make others buy them the food they would want to eat?

Re:sounds easy

[Weirdofreak]

There are photos on the cards to stop that happening.

As a Brit, I have just one question. If, for a meal costing £1.15 (about $2.30), you get 40 points, and if an Ipod costs 4000 points, that means you can get an IPod within half a year taking holidays and whatnot into account, or an Xbox (3,000 points) in less. So that's about one IPod for everybody in the school, on average. And next year, I'll be expected to pay for this rather than, say, buying myself an IPod. Why? I don't even care what these kids are eating.

Free Xbox?

[filterchild]

Here, kids, we'll give you a reason to sit on your ass all day if you get up and excercise!

Re:Free Xbox?

[Kent Recal]

Exactly my first thought.
Am I the only one who thinks that this kind of marketing doesn't belong in schools?

Re:Free Xbox?

[kurzweilfreak]

If they were really smart, they'd give away the Xbox with a copy of DDR.

Outside food

[tmbg37]

Hmm, what happens when kids buy healthy food from the cafeteria, but also eat unhealthy snacks from home?

Re:Outside food

[Kinky Bass Junk]

The schools introduce bag searches upon entry.

I don't wanna know where kids are gonna hide their fudge, though.

Re:Outside food

[MolBiolDoc]

There was an interesting study done with overweight kids in a metabolic unit that says a lot about how we eat and what it is doing to us. They split the kids into two groups, fed them all exactly the same amount of fat, carbohydrates, and protein during regular meals, but let them eat whatever they wanted between meals (and recorded it).

The difference between the two groups was high vs. low glycemic index....in other words, one group got carbohydrates that were absorbed fast (think prepared foods, instant oatmeal, etc.) and the other good complex carbohydrates (e.g. steel cut oats). Remember, the absolute composition of the diet was otherwise the same.

The kids that ate the simple sugars ate 500 - 600 more calories a day between meals, since the simple sugars induce a "stress response" and induced the urge to eat prior to the next meal. Those unhealthy snacks prime susceptible kids to eat more, and 500 calories/day in 7 days (3500 cal) is another pound of fat.

In Australia, they have the glycemic index on food labels. Our kids could benefit from that here.

Re:Outside food

[John Seminal]

Hmm, what happens when kids buy healthy food from the cafeteria, but also eat unhealthy snacks from home?

At least they won't turn as fat as quickly.

Say the school cuts out a 200 calorie pepsi out of the diet, and saves another 300 calories by baking the chicken instead of frying it, and offering a salad instead of fries. That is 500 calories, a pound of fat a week.

Toss in some vigerous PE classes, and that will burn another pound of fat a week.

Under those conditions, the kid could eat a big mac and suck down a milkshake, and he will still have a chance of not balloning to 300 pounds.

Plus, if the school encourages extra curricular activites, anything, the kid will have more of a chance to burn calories. Join track or basketball or even band. March around for an hour, or stand up for an hour. It is better than sitting in front of a TV with a bag of Freto's and a six pack of Old Style.

Re:Outside food

[Belial6]

I call bull. If your guys math were correct, The 160 lb kid that ate health at home would cease to exist before the school year was over, and the kid that doesn't eat healthy at home or at school would be well over a ton by the time they graduated. I have yet to meet one single person that literally weighs a ton.

The "experts" (which are almost exlusively funded by the packaged food industry) on nutrition are about as reliable as the "experts" that do funded research for Microsoft. Sugar (which includes complex carbohydrates) are easy and cheap to package, and thus produce very good profits. Fats on the other hand are much harder to package, and have a tendency to go rancid if they sit in a wherehouse too long. This really cuts into profits.

There is a reason that the Atkins diet has an almost 100% success rate. The few people that I have met that did not have success would describe a diet that wasn't Atkins when questioned about their eating habits.

Re:Outside food

[Anonymous Coward]

The math is right. 3500 calories in a pound. The poster just said that's a pound of fat better. Odds are he was overeating to begin with, so this could potentially change things from gaining 250 calories daily to losing 250. So he wouldn't necessarily cease to be.

And even if the poster did mean losing 500 calories of fat, what happens when losing weight is your Body Resting Metabolism(how much you burn naturally by doing nothing) gets lower as you lose weight. So while he may start off losing 500 calories per day, as the kid shrunk down, it would eventually get to the point where there's a balance since he's naturally burning fewer calories.

Re:Outside food

[John Seminal]

Truthfully, why should I care if a child weighs 300lbs.

You are gonna pay, directly or indirectly. There ain't no way around it. The kid turns 40 and has a heart attack, insurance or not. Who pays? In one case, premiums go up for all. In another case, the state pays.

Will we ever have a society where someone is dying and the doctors say "FUCK YOU, NO TICKEY, NO WASHY"???

I hate to tell you, but not everything is measured by the dollar. It is a poor measure of happiness. It is a great shiny thing that people chase. But you'll be suprised when you catch it, there is no big red bow, no party, no instant coffee.

What is it? Freedom to go places. Sure. But weather or not people like you in the new place, the money has little infuance over that.

So, you should care if the guy next to you ballons to 300 pounds.

Also, the same reasons why he turns 300 pounds could happen to you. Maybe you have a faster metabolism. Maybe your kids won't.

Thinking from the perspective of "me, me, me" is why so many hate Bush. Did you ever see the story of Scruge?

Re:Outside food

[jericho4.0]

Two words; Fat Chicks.

Re:Outside food

[chaotixx]

No way. There's nothing better than sitting in front of the TV with a bag of Fritos and a six pack of Old Style!

Re:Outside food

[HaloZero]

They already do this.

Not kidding, either. I'm not sure about the UK (though I probably should know better...), but one of thw two high schools I went to prohibited students from bringing backpacks of any size smaller than X - unless they returned a waiver signed by the student, and the students legal guardians (i.e. parents) stating that while on school grounds they had absolutely no reasonable expectation to privacy - were prohibited. Bags of or larger than size X were absolutely prohibited. I do recall being searched on my person more than once. I was even suspended for a week for having wire cutters (I was taking basic electronics and introduction to engineering design at the time). Being an AP/Honors student sucked when all you were allowed was a dinky little bag.

Searching for, finding, and seizing snacks wouldn't be a major step.

Re:Outside food

[mongbot]

In Australia, they have the glycemic index on food labels. Our kids could benefit from that here.

No they don't. There is no legal requirement, and even most foods that _are_ low GI don't have the actual GI figure stated, just "Low GI".

Also, FAT MAKES PEOPLE FAT. It's that simple. Under normal conditions, carbohydrates are not converted to fatty acids, even if they are high GI. Study after study (check Google Scholar) has shown that de novo lipogenesis (DNL) only occurs if very excessive levels of carbohydrate are ingested (i.e. 600g+ per day).

Regardless, explain why Asian countries are healthier and leaner than Americans and Europeans even though they have a high calorie intake, don't exercise much more and the staple of their diet is a high-GI starch (white rice). It's because they eat less fat.

I'm so tired of this ridiculous hysteria about carbohydrates.

Re:Outside food

[Alioth]

I've noticed that for ages - eat a bag of crisps when you just want to chew on something, and all of a sudden you're starving hungry. Same with certain sweets and snacks. I end up feeling more hungry at work doing nothing than spending the whole day outside without lunch.

Re:Outside food

[noamsml]

more like the other way around. cafeteria food is far from being healthy, and a lot of cafeterias have a contract with fast food companies. yes, there is a very dry, boring salad, and there somethimes is an alternative, but overall you can bring much healthier food from home.

Re:Outside food

[Lifewish]

Truthfully, why should I care if a child weighs 300lbs.

You'll sure as hell care if you're sandwiched between two such kids on a long-haul plane flight...

Re:Outside food

[Colin Smith]

Are you saying that excess sugars in the bloodstream are not converted to fat?

http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/modules.php?name= News&file=article&sid=2623

The whole reason the glycemic index appeared was to help diabetic people to regulate their blood sugar, the research does show that the body will convert excess to fat. Food with a high glycemic index will in general terms lead to more body fat, at least partially because it is digested quicker leading to feelings of hunger and subsequent snacking. Foods with lower glycemic indexes are digested slower, so less hunger and less snacking.

BTW, differnt types of rice and different preparations of it have different glycemic indexes, from low 40ish to high 95. Noodles are also low GI.

However, you're basically right, more calories in = more body fat and vegetable and animal fats have lots of calories, energy density is after all why we burn them in our cars.

Re:Outside food

[MolBiolDoc]

Thank you for your comments. I prefer to do my searching on Medline (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), and my comment was about the metabolic effects of junk food. I think you mistook my comments for a sweeping generalization,..I study the molecular biology of nutrition, and I don't have a stake in either camp.

My point was, however, simple sugars drive an increase total caloric intake, period. From an evolutionary metabolic perspective, this makes sense...to promote a seasonal weight gain when fruits were available, before the winter "starving time."

Glycemic index is linked in Asia as well, and you are right, the absolute number of calories is key (i.e., fat).

Eur J Clin Nutr. 2004 Nov;58(11):1472-8.

Correlation between dietary glycemic index and cardiovascular disease risk factors among Japanese women.

Amano Y, Kawakubo K, Lee JS, Tang AC, Sugiyama M, Mori K.

RESULT: The GI food list made for the current study calculated for 91% of carbohydrate intakes measured. The mean dietary GI was 64+/-6, and the mean dietary GL was 150+/-37. Individuals in the highest tertile of GI consumed more carbohydrate, mostly from white rice (P0.001), and less fat (P0.01). Individuals in all three groups by tertile of GL showed similar tendencies. In the lowest GI tertile, the highest concentration of HDL-cholesterol and lowest concentration of triacylglycerol and immunoreactive insulin were observed (P0.01). In the lowest GL tertile, the highest concentration of HDL-cholesterol and the lowest concentration of triacylglycerol were observed (P0.05). CONCLUSION: Calculated dietary GI and GL were positively associated with CVD risk factors among the Japanese women who consumed white rice as a staple food.

Re:Outside food

[mongbot]

Are you saying that excess sugars in the bloodstream are not converted to fat?

No, read my post again. Look up "de novo lipogenesis". Under normal conditions, 2-10g/day of fat is produced from carbohydrates. Only if subjects are force fed excessive carbohydrates (i.e. 600+g of carbs/day), are significant amounts of fat produced. Furthermore, this is an inefficient pathway with a significant number of calories lost (I believe it's 20%, but you'll have to check).

Simply put, DNL is a metabolic pathway of last resort. It cannot be honestly stated that, with regards to body fat, that macronutrient ratio does not matter. Carbohydrates are difficult to metabolize as body fat and easily oxidized if overeaten. Dietary fat, on the other hand, is simply released into the bloodstream and absorbed by adipose tissue.

The high GI/low GI issue is a red herring in the obesity debate. It cannot be understated: DIETARY FAT MAKES PEOPLE FAT.

Re:Outside food

[mongbot]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not saying that high GI foods are more healthful than low GI foods. Evidently they are not. However, the question at hand is not which foods are nutritionally imperfect but which foods are causing the obesity epidemic.

Dietary fat is obviously the primary culprit, for the following reasons.
- Decreases satiety (contrary to popular myth). Don't believe me? Check out the "Satiety Index".
- Slows digestion, leading to overeating.
- Is directly released into the bloodstream and (particularly in the presence of insulin) absorbed by adipocytes.
- Has low thermogenic properties.
- Is "tasty" and psychologically addictive (yes, just like sugar).

Telling the average person to avoid high GI carbs is like telling a smoker to take more vitamins. Yes, it will make them slightly healthier but they should cut out the smoking first.

In a perfect world, people should prefer low GI foods. But a far more pressing problem is the overconsumption of dietary fat. Why are we distracting people with this GI sideshow when they are killing themselves with dietary fat?

Re:Outside food

[RTMFD]

You are gonna pay, directly or indirectly. There ain't no way around it. The kid turns 40 and has a heart attack, insurance or not. Who pays? In one case, premiums go up for all. In another case, the state pays.

Nope, I won't. If he has risk factors like obesity, he will pay higher remiums than I do (that's what actuary tables are for, right?) Another point is who pays for the iPod? If I'm going to be paying for this incentive as a taxpayer, I would say buy the kid a jumprope or a bicycle.

My theory is that if you want to be fat, or your kids want to be fat, society shouldn't care, it should just cost you more to indulge in your lifestyle. Applying a band-aid solution to this problem will not solve it, just move it on down the road a bit.

Oh, and thanks for calling me selfish.

Re:Outside food

[pj_88]

Do you actually live in Australia? I DO, and I can tell you we DO NOT have the glycemic index on all our food labels. I know this because my sister has diabetes, and there's been a big push from Diabetes Australia to force manufacturers to put the GI on all food labels. So far, only a few have co-operated.

Rewarding healthy eating isn't inherently bad ...

[daviddennis]

but I would think this scheme would be exploited mercilessly by kids who simply brought their candy bars in from home, ordered the "good" food and threw half of it away.

If I can figure out that kind of scheme, a kid surely can.

D

Great

[Doomstalk]

So they can eat right, and then sit on their asses when they get their new Xbox. That's not self-defeating at all.

How smart

[ucblockhead]

Giving kids XBoxes so they don't get fat? That's a bit...counterproductive.

Now if it was an XBox wired so it only got power from an exercise bike...that'd be genius!

Re:How smart

[peculiarmethod]

until the kids get electrocuted for trying to splice the wiring back onto prongs. Then you have a big fat lawsuit on your chubby hands.

Re:How smart

[erick99]

Some kids actually do a good job of balancing outdoor/indoor physical activity with more sedentary pursuits such as playing with their gaming consoles or surfing the net. When my own two kids (11 & 14) start to bias towards sitting too much I shoo them towards "balance."

Re:How smart

[Kinky Bass Junk]

They keep off their weight by playing violent video games, then entering the real world and running away from the cops! It's the perfect combination.

Re:How smart

[LiquidCoooled]

Actually, in some environments this will be productive.

Just because kids have playstations and xboxes doesn't inherantly mean they are going to get fat.
Some of the parents of pupils in schools simply cannot afford high tech gaming kit, so giving them an incentive to get it is extremely worthwhile (kids feel more a part of playtime conversation if they have the latest fad).

Re:How smart

[reub2000]

If you read the comments after the article, the iPod their giving away is an iPod Shuffle. And the perect use of flash players is for a workout.

clearly....

[kinzillah]

the way to encourage keeping trim is to give kids video games

Interesting

[vga_init]

I think it would be interesting if this works out.

With a system based on incentive, the kids are going to have to buy certain foods in order to earn a nice toy. This can a child's eating habits on the basis of one or two meals a day, but that does nothing to preven them from filling up on junk at other times. Many overweight people who diet fail for this reason: they eat healthy foods IN ADDITION to extra junk on the side.

Eating healthy has lots of incentives that aren't obvious. People have a hard time realizing some key benefits of eating right, such as better health, more energy, and a thinner body, which is why these incentives tend not to work.

Substituting those for something like an iPod or XBox could give kids more drive, but only to earn the prize; the real benefits may only come as side effects, if at all.

We can only hope that such a program will help kids to develop a taste for healthy foods. I know from personal experience that eating something you find unappealing enough times will not only build tolerance, but actually lead to preference if done enough.

Re:Interesting

[LiquidCoooled]

Rmemember,

Eating healthy foods is not just for those who are obese.

I was 6 foot tall and weighed under 8 stone for a long time (into my 20s). Thankfully now I am more stable and have gained a few stone, but I know I'm not the only one.

I too hope it works, and that there aren't any side effects.

Another slight side issue, there is a famous English chef called Jamie Oliver, he has pushed for better school meals (because currently they are utter shite), and it is having major effects up and down the country, and those kids who have changed their school diets also push for better food at home.

I don't think in the majority of cases this will be a problem.

Re:Interesting

[NitsujTPU]

I can vouch for that, though my example isn't very healthy.

I used to always drink regular Bawls... except that I was pulling week long all-nighters, and the calories were adding up.

Now, I drink sugar-free Bawls. Let me tell you, the first bottle was mortifying, now, I can't drink the regular stuff, but love the diet!

Re:Interesting

[nb caffeine]

my mom fed me brocolli when i was a baby. Its one of my favorite vegetables. Try to get friends of mine to eat it, however, hasnt been so successful.

Re:Interesting

[MHobbit]

No kidding.

People tend to forget that eating right isn't the only part of losing weight/staying healthy. Exercise is an integral part. Now, if the people who were conducting the study added on exercise to this little "experiment", they'd hopefully get better results.

Re:Interesting

[d34thm0nk3y]

my mom fed me brocolli when i was a baby. Its one of my favorite vegetables. Try to get friends of mine to eat it, however, hasnt been so successful.

My Mom asked us once what vegetables we disliked the least so she could include them more often. I answered corn or something even though I actually liked brocolli. I figured if I actually liked it then it couldn't be a vegetable.

true story...

Re:Interesting

[alib001]

Tell them they can pretend to be giants eating small trees.

Re:Interesting

[Ricwot]

That would be in another country to this inititative, namely England, and, its principality, Wales, Scotland's school dinners are apparenly fairly healthy and well funded, or rather "healthy choices" are "avaliable"

Re:Interesting

[Fallen_Knight]

ok... wtf is 8 stone?

metric is awsome, and i'll deal with imperial, but what in gods name system is "stone" from?

Re:Interesting

[complete loony]

My 5 year old daughter also loves brocolli. She can have all of mine as far as I'm concerned, and she often does.

Re:Interesting

[Trepalium]

A stone appears to be 14 pounds. I have no idea why someone would intentionally reduce the precision of their measurement by using stones instead of pounds or kilograms. I guess 8 stone sounds "lighter" than 112 pounds?

Re:Interesting

[Trepalium]

Or if they just gave prizes that encouraged exercise instead of these. Bikes, inline skates, etc would all be good choices. The iPod isn't bad, per se, but the X-Box is a pretty poor choice.

Re:Interesting

[Alioth]

1st is 14lbs. It's a measure that's only really used for informally talking about people's weight in Britain. Doctors in Britain will record your weight in kilograms. However, in informal conversation everyone uses stone.

I weigh about 11 stone.

Re:Interesting

[Alioth]

No, the original poster didn't use it to sound 'lighter' than 112lbs, the stone has been the colloquial way of talking about a person's weight in Britain probably for centuries.

Doctors in Britain (or anyone formally weighing you) will use kilograms, but in convesation, no one talks about kilos or lbs for people's weights, it's always stones. (Bloody hell, look at that fat bastard, he must weigh at least 25 stone! But him over there is so skinny he can only weigh 8 stone soaking wet)

Re:Interesting

[pmc]

Ah - but they are (if it is the same scheme as my friend worked on several years ago). Your card gets charged up with points which allow you free entry into sports centres etc if you kept a weekly balance above a certain amount (I think it was something like two healthy meals in the last week). This gave a good element of peer pressure because if a group of kids went to play five-a-side football (basically indoor soccer for our transatlantic cousins) on only one of them had to pay then the next week if that one was you you'd make sure that you had your two health meals.

Basically they have made it cool to eat healthy food - great psychology..

Re:Interesting

[adpowers]

Oh god, I've been there. I used to do that all the time. Actually, I think I pretended I was a large, long-necked, herbivorous dinosaur. Maybe that is why I liked broccoli when it seemed so despised. I also like spinach and asparagus (now that I eat them, it used to only be broccoli).

Re:Interesting

[glesga_kiss]

Nah, the school dinner thing was aired on UK national TV, so there are similar moves in Scotland, in fact you'd likely win a bet that said this initiative is coming off the back of the show. I didn't catch it myself, but the jist was that the pre-processed (cheap) crap currently served is not only bad for you, but it also hurts concentration as well.

I can't imagine the dinners being particularly better here already. Like everything else, it's all lowest-bidder territory. In England it got so bad that school canteen staff don't have the skills or resources to even cook things on the premises. Reheating breaded chicken reformed into animal shapes isn't really 'cooking'. My memories of school canteen food in Scotland, granted 10 years ago, was far from healthy. Hot-dogs, chips, toasties, can't remember ever seeing a salad.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of this recent 'reward' culture, where folk get incentives to do what they should be expected to do. In other news, there was talk of giving vouchers to people who pay their rent on time! Just throw them out if they start to take the piss for fucks sake, when did everyone become a downright pussy? If teachers were allowed to hit back if they are assaulted by a pupil, not only would teacher violence end overnight, the problem kids might learn something about not hitting people. Before they really go to far and put some innocent person in hospital...

Re:Interesting

[kurzweilfreak]

I'm sorry, but I can't help but finding the fact that you put Bawls in your mouth for week-long all-nighters extremely hilarious in a jr. high immaturish way. :P

Re:Interesting

[NitsujTPU]

All good. Even better is when we're on the couches in the lab and I ask my friends to grab my bawls for me.

Re:Interesting

[kurzweilfreak]

teh win

Re:Interesting

[aslate]

And our school currently serves:
Chips with Turkey Twizzlers (Yes, those): £1.05
One sandwich: £1.10

What's better value to you? Oh, the sandwich (If, say, it's ham) is two slices of bread, thin spread of butter and one or two slices of ham.

XBoxes?

[Mensa Babe]

"The BBC is reporting on the UK government's latest policy to tackle obesity - through offering iPods and XBoxes to pupils."

XBoxes? To tackle obesity? What else? A new TV set? Why not offer bikes and musical instruments instead of XBoxes and iPods? This is the most stupid idea I have ever heard.

Re:XBoxes?

[EnsilZah]

Wait 'till they unvail the Fucking For Virginity campaign next week.

Re:XBoxes?

[Jorkapp]

Can you think of a better way to make more virgins?

Thought so.

Re:XBoxes?

[Quantum Jim]

XBoxes? To tackle obesity? What else? A new TV set? Why not offer bikes and musical instruments instead of XBoxes and iPods? This is the most stupid idea I have ever heard.

Well, iPods can certainly make jogging more enjoyable. Running can be incredibly boring without the diversion of listening to music on my iPod. In fact, I mostly use my music player in the gym rather than at work, which usually involves a computer that has a sound card. So I don't need a dedicated device except when exercising/doing paperwork.

I agree with you about the XBoxes though.

Re:XBoxes?

[Tim C]

The point of a bribe is to offer the bribee something they want. If they offer bikes or musical instruments, there's a better chance of the bribees thinking "Sod it, who wants a stupid bike anyway?" and giving up.

Re:XBoxes?

[samael]

Because they have to offer rewards kids _want_.

Re:XBoxes?

[tintub]

Wait 'till they unvail the Fucking For Virginity campaign next week.

Well they've been "fighting for peace" for a while now

XBOXes?????

[a_greer2005]

I dont know much about health, but I thought health nuts say video games help make you fat...this is a classic case of WTF?!?

Re:Oh fuck you!

[LWATCDR]

Well not if you are in the US.
This is the UK's bright idea.

Why XBox's???

[QuietLagoon]

I can see the point of offering an iPod. iPod is mobility -- walking, running, exercising, not sitting on your gluteus maximus.

But what's an XBox about? Spending endless hours sitting in front of you TV.

Reward the correct behaviour.

Re:Why XBox's???

[QuietLagoon]

Next time I won't take four minutes to figure out how to spell gluteus maximus.... :)

Re:Why XBox's???

[Fallen_Knight]

20$ says microsoft is giveing them a GREAT eal on them. why else would it be an X-BOX and not a PS2 or gamecube?

Re:Why XBox's???

[Jeffrey0]

Because people actually want XBoxes. It's the newest fad (of some sorts). If you have one, you're cool and not going to use it much.

Well, that's how it works over here in the Netherlands...

xbox?

[sven_eee]

don't you think that if you give a kid a Xbox they will spend more time in front of a TV, and less time burning off that fat.

Bribing..?

[ZeroExistenZ]

So these days one has to bribe or buy someone's good behaviour / habits that benefit the *self*? They just will, if they actually have some selfcontrol, put out to get their Xbox or Ipod or whatever they're offering to forget about it all together afterwards.

Hate to point to the guardians again, but kids / teens get their habits from somewhere. If your guardians haven't got the selfcontrol to leave that other twinky or don't take proper time for preparing proper food, how could you expect a teen to fight that and know better?

Re:Bribing..?

[pmc]

Well, have a read of this article and see what you think.

Finland in the 70s decided that enough was enough, and bribed the nation back to health. The Glasgow experiment is based on this (on a very small scale). Hopefully it will take off over the entire UK as the dietary situation is grim.

What happened (and what is still happening in some areas) was "a rush to the bottom". School meals were contracted out to whoever could provide them cheapest (subject only the the most rudimentary controls). The net result is that the cost for a child's school meal is less that that of an army dog. And the dog's meal is probably more nutritious.

The population has been forcibly reminded of this recently (courtesy largely of Mr Jamie Oliver, whom I didn't like, but kudos for this) and has almost been embarrassed into taking action. Well, embarrassed into talking about taking action at the moment - we shall see.

Re:Bribing..?

[ZeroExistenZ]

Wow, that's really fascinating!

My initial reaction on the subject is "what? The state again has to protect people against themselves and need bribes to actually get rid of terrible (eating-)patterns? (wherever or not lured and seduced by marketting or not)".
But if this helps I only can applaud it, lets hope there could be a simular effect (with this 'bribe' or another campaign) as the Fins experienced.

Re:poms

[neon-fx]

English???? In Glasgow???

They wouldnt have the nerve ; )

Xbox?

[Bananatree3]

After this weeks E3, everyone would be clammering for an Xbox 360! Xbox or Xbox 360? You decide.

Re:Rewarding healthy eating isn't inherently bad .

[Mr. Flibble]

but I would think this scheme would be exploited mercilessly by kids who simply brought their candy bars in from home, ordered the "good" food and threw half of it away.

And if they DONT get candy bars from home? What if this is the only method they have for lunches - this is what I had in college when I basically lived in a box (although they called them dorm rooms...)

The meals cost money - and I had to eat them. I suspect that not all these kids have the dispensible income to just "bring" candy bars. If they did, then they would probably not even bother with the good food at all.

Re:My problem is that I eat excellent food --

[Kinky Bass Junk]

Here I am, eating entirely junk, and still about as thin as you can get... I'll probably gain a massive amount of weight any day now.

Government and Obesity

[linguae]

Even though an iPod or XBox would be a very nice incentive if I were a kid participating in this program to eat healthy, where does the prizes come from? That kid's parents' taxpayer dollars. As a Libertarian, why should the government have to use the possibility of an iPod in order for them to eat healthy, or, better yet, why should the government even be involved in health issues such as obesity? The rise of obesity is a societal issue and it is best dealt with by society, not government.

In this particular case, if I had a choice, my taxpayer dollars should go toward the replacement of the school's unhealthy food items with healthy food. No bribes necessary; the kids would eat better. Besides, there are plenty of healthy foods; one can snack on fruits instead of chocolate candy bars, for example.

Re:Government and Obesity

[Monkeman]

Interesting how anorexia and obesity are supposedly on the rise in America. Soon the two will collide and we'll have girls with huge thighs and waists thinner than their legs. Her profile will look like a stock market graph, or my ping.

Re:Government and Obesity

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Obesity is recognized as a disability in the USA. Thank god, or else how would the majority of us USians afford our triple patty heart attack swiss special from Wendy's? Or our Deep Fried Artery Clogger Burger With Extra Mayo and Cheese from Burger King?

McD's introduced Salads to their menu and removed the Super Size.. and at the same time Wendy's added a few patties to a normal burger and covered it with Mayo.

I wonder why we're all so huge?

Re:Government and Obesity

[Anonymous Coward]

The rise of obesity is a societal issue and it is best dealt with by society, not government.

When society fails, what happens then?

Libertarians never seem to think any farther ahead then the CEO looking to see whether axing the research department this quarter will give enough of a boost on the financial report to dump his stock next quarter and run.

Government exists because society is not self-sustaining.

Re:Government and Obesity

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

"why should the government have to use the possibility of an iPod in order for them to eat healthy, or, better yet, why should the government even be involved in health issues such as obesity"

Because they have the power to do something.

That's what separates liberals and liberatarians. Liberals believe that the government has a responsibility to serve the public, and that it should do so by funding programs that are effective.

Things like standardized healthcare, public roads, public schools, police services, fire departments, and many other government services are both necessary and effective ways of increasing the standard of living.

We're not hearless bastards. We shouldn't act like it for some foolish ideological belief in what government "should" do.

Next time you turn on the lights, you can be damned glad that the government bothered to subsidize the deployment of the power grid that makes them work. The next time you want to drive to the store, you can be damned glad that the government bothered to build roads. And the next time you get in an accident, you can be damned glad that the government will ensure that you get the healthcare that you need.

Unless, of course, you live in the United States. In which case, I hope you have good health insurance.

Re:Government and Obesity

[linguae]

You might be shocked when I say this, but I actually have no problem with basic health care, public roads (other than they can use some repair, widening, and better planning), public schools (even though it is long overdue for a dramatic reform), police and fire protection, and some other government services. That's when "state's rights" and the idea of state/county/city government steps in. When we Libertarians speak of "big government," we speak of the federal government providing every service under the sun. If we had a Libertarian-controlled congress and presidency, some of the federal programs will be removed, but the states will decide whether to fill in the void with state/county/city government programs or not. (Now, a Libertarian as a state governor would take a different approach since s/he can't cut any federal programs, but can start making the state adopt some of the society-related Libertarian issues; the economic aspects of Libertarianism are more geared toward the federal government, even though state governments can use a bit of financial conservatism these days).

You stated that the government should be involved in health issues because "they have the power to do something." However, power can always corrupt. For example, we don't mind the government requiring public schools to only give out healthy foods for meals. Their schools = their rules. However, I have a problem when the government tries to act like my parents. For example, I would be upset if the government told me that I can only have so much food per day, and that it was against the law to eat more than the legal limit of "junk food" per day. All of these restrictions on my liberties because they claim that "stopping you from eating 'too much' would result in saving lives like yours."

I personally believe that the government should just let people be free, and stay out of people's private lives. If I want to eat so much that I'm 600 pounds and close to death, well then, the government should let me. I just don't expect the government to pay for my medical bills, and I expect to be fully responsible for my own actions. That's why I'm a Libertarian.

In the case of this iPod for eating right thing, I still believe that since the government controls the schools, the government should change the schools' meals to healthy choices. They don't need to attach iPods and XBoxes in order to convince people to pass on chocolate bars and switch to fruit; rather, the schools should stop serving junk food and start serving healthy meals. In fact, as I think about it, this argument isn't about libertarianism vs. [insert other political ideology here]; that's irrelevant now. This is about attaching incentives in order to get kids to eat healthy foods versus the school just offering only healthy foods in the first place.

Thanks for making me think.

Re:Government and Obesity

[Strontium-90]

Something to keep in mind is that *if* this program works, the cost of the iPod/XBox will easily be offset by the health benefits. And I'm not talking about the "Yay, people are healthier!" type of health benefits. I'm talking about the "Yay, people are healthier and thus my insurance costs are lower and the government has to spend less of my tax money on keeping our overweight population alive" type of health benefits. I agree that schools should provide healthier foods, but that won't always be enough. An active incentive like this program would have certainly gotten me to eat healthier as a kid. Forcing me to eat healthy food would probably just have resulted in me eating unhealthy food later on. However, making it *my choice* to eat healthy teaches me something that I can continue to do throughout life. Of course, multiple approaches to the problem is probably the best way to go.

Re:Government and Obesity

[Anonymous Coward]

Government exists to manage society, without government society would collapse. Of course you are probably in the US where you don't actually give a damn about the others in society, hence the lack of a national health care system, who cares if 10,000 people a year die due to lack of insurance, so long as that damn government is kept out of our lives and doesn't provide cover for everyone, 10k people is a small price to pay.

Re:Government and Obesity

[16K Ram Pack]

Next time you turn on the lights, you can be damned glad that the government bothered to subsidize the deployment of the power grid that makes them work.

Yeah, thanks. That's because government magically makes the funding for such things appear out of thin air. It's out of my taxes, so I won't be "damned glad", I'll be more concerned about why they aren't delivering services that I have been forced to pay for.

Some services make sense to be government run - the stuff that's national and basically has to be monopolized. Roads, fire services, police, defence, emergency health care are good examples. As a libertarian, I declare these as practical and you won't find many libertarians suggesting introducing customer choice in these.

But, you don't need government to run schools or hospitals. And you maybe shouldn't. Government comes loaded with ideological baggage. The educational curriculum is shaped by government, and therefore is likely to be taught partly based on the ideology of the government at the time.

Re:Government and Obesity

[arkhan_jg]

In this particular case, if I had a choice, my taxpayer dollars should go toward the replacement of the school's unhealthy food items with healthy food. No bribes necessary; the kids would eat better. Besides, there are plenty of healthy foods; one can snack on fruits instead of chocolate candy bars, for example.

This is already happening - in no small part due to a campaign by a celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver who basically started revamping some school's menus as an experiment.
The biggest problem he encountered is the kids are used to their unhealthy foods, and won't even try the healthy options - they just bring in snacks and junk food. Incentives are one way to get them to switch.

As for the Government getting involved; the nation's health has a direct impact on productivity. In the UK, we also have a nationalised health care scheme, the NHS, because we rather like the idea of everybody getting healthcare, not just the wealthy. Obesity is shaping up to be one of the biggest killers with heart disease. Healthier kids means healthier adults. Healthier adults mean better quality of life, and longer life, and less expense for the NHS.

The purpose of government is to improve the life of a country's citizens, and the health of those citizens is a big chunk of it. It's certainly no worse than farming the issue out to corporations to make profit on.

Re:Government and Obesity

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Don't you just love fast food?

Re:Government and Obesity

[rsynnott]

There's absolutely nothing about the concept of fast food that requires it to be massively unhealthy (or lethal; see "Super Size Me"). That's just what makes the food companies the most money.

Re:Government and Obesity

[rsynnott]

The problem is that the schools do apparently offer healthy food already (I'll believe it when I see it, but Scotland is meant to be good at that sort of thing). People aren't going for it. Thus, an incentive may work. No harm in trying. It'll be cheaper that a massive "Eat Less Food" advertising campaign, and I wouldn't be surprised if it works a hell of a lot better.

Re:My problem is that I eat excellent food --

[Anonymous Coward]

You are probably giving me the weight through some inter-dimensional wormhole. Just wait until I figure out how to reverse the polarity on my caloric intake manifold, and boy will you be sorry.

Re:poms

[Jane_Dozey]

Glasgow's in Scotland not England. A large percentage of British people are not english so if you want to throw around rubbish insults please try and get it right.

I'm going to swipe...

[EMIce]

...and then throw that shit out unless it tastes like a chocolate candy bar.

Re:I can't believe it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Does Kim Jong-il know you are surfing the net on his computer?

Re:poms

[Ithika]

LOL. Ah, you just made an Edinburgh laddie very happy :)

iPod-onomics

[clem]

And so the world takes another step towards an iPod-based economy.

Re:iPod-onomics

[YouHaveSnail]

Having recently returned from a trip to London, I can tell you that they're pretty close to an iPod-based economy already. Seemed like every third person I passed on the street had a MP3 player, and I only noticed one MP3 player in an entire week that wasn't an iPod.

Re:iPod-onomics

[arose]

Non-hip people don't have to make their digital music players visible to thieves.

Re:How about some COMPETITION???

[poopdeville]

So the kid comes home and watches TV, gets to see Janet Jacksons tit, the whore from Desperate Houswifes get bannged by a black, and every nutjob with a gripe a venue on TV.

So when is your Fox special?

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[Kinky Bass Junk]

Schools make a shitload of money off soda and snack machines. When I was in school, we did not have a pepsi or coke machine.

Here in the land of oz, we don't now (at least in my school we dont).

So schools must come up with money. They can only tax the people so much.

Too bad they divert all the taxes to an infalted military budget, and to allowances for private schools.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[merreborn]

I'm so confused. Usually all I hear about is underpaid teachers. Now, you come along and tell me teachers are grossly overpaid?

I just don't know who to believe anymore!

Re:Scottish People Are Fat

[Ithika]

They are doing... people who eat unhealthily aren't given iPods!

(Oh yeah, and I'm not fat, baw-sack.)

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[Monkeman]

Regarding PE: Uniforms and such should be abolished altogether as they're completely useless, and the overpaid PE teacher should set up his stuff before class rather than waste the students' time. If a History teacher spent 20 minutes gathering the papers for his lesson plan he'd get fired. Why isn't the same logic applied to Physical Education?

A better way?

[Jane_Dozey]

How about eliminating unhealthy foods from schools? Sure, the kids can get it elsewhere but why spend a load of money (taxpayers money) on a scheme that has so many obvious holes it's unlikely to DO anything?

Re:A better way?

[Xugumad]

They did that already, and the kids do indeed just go elsewhere.

i-toy

[sven_eee]

xbox? i wounder if that a marketing move, i thought an i-toy would be a bit better,

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[Kinky Bass Junk]

Uniforms and such should be abolished altogether as they're completely useless

Untrue, uniforms do many useful things: main school uniforms increase the behaviour of students, make them feel part of a 'team', and make the school look better; PE uniforms make sure that the main uniforms don't get dirty. Simple as that.

Every action...

[Crash Culligan]

...has an equal and opposite government program. Or at least that's what it feels like.

Any day now, I look forward to hearing how the music and software industries are trying to discourage P2P piracy by giving away candy.

Re:Every action...

[Monkeman]

Or, more relative to this situation, the RIAA giving away highspeed internet access and access to Russian proxies for taking a pledge not to share music.

Re:Oh fuck you!

[t_allardyce]

Not everyone on slashdot is in the US...

Eat right in whose definition?

[iamacat]

I hope they don't give out iPod photo for eating only grains and vegetables, because then many children will eat diet unhealthy for them just to get a shiny toy. Low carb diet is over-hyped, but it sure worked for some people. And if you are an athlete or have an iron deficiency, you don't want to skip red meat. I would never be in reasonable shape or have a good energy level if I followed the stupid food pyramid. Better to reward exercise and knowledge of health issues rather than specific food.

Re:Eat right in whose definition?

[eMago]

This http://med.umich.edu/umim/clinical/pyramid/index.h tm food pyramid ist NOT stupid.
It's a "blue & green based" pyramid - contrary to those old "grain based" pyramids.
Even as an athlete you need only little meat - preferable "lean meat".
You can get B12 from dairy products and proteins and iron from both dairy products and legumes.
If you eat quite a lot of sea food you dont need any other meat at all.

Physical exercise and a well balanced food pyramid usually play hand in hand. To neglect one factor or the other is always not a good idea! Specific food IS an issue in these days of abundance and nearly unlimited food choice.

Re:Oh fuck you!

[timmyf2371]

If you pay your Council Tax to Glasgow City Council then yes actually it is.

Being a Glaswegien myself and having read all about this in our local press I think it's a truly brilliant idea. For those of you who are unaware of the reasons behind this, Glasgow and most of the west of Scotland is commonly called the "sick man of Europe" due to the high amount of fatty and junk foods we consume. By junk food I'm not talking about McDonalds, BK and their ilk but in fact such delicacies as deep fried Mars Bars and friend pakora suppers.

This scheme is designed to encourage Glasgow's school children to start eating healthier and to raise the average life expectancy of Glaswegiens which is currently the worst in the UK at 72.9 years, compared to the highest of 82.4 years.

In short, you might not like your taxes going towards incentives for Glasgow's kids to eat healthier but then again I'm sure many other citizens don't like their taxes going towards services that you use and they have no use for. Guess it's a two-way street, hmm?

WARNING

[Espectr0]

Do NOT eat IPod Shuffle!

Re:Well, it's an XBox

[Monkeman]

Why didn't I see that coming?

Furthermore, why did I laugh?!

Re:Oh fuck you!

[LWATCDR]

True but the sig and complaining about taxs sounded very much like someone from the us.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[cleverhandle]

If you actually follow school policy rather than just make brash generalizations, you might notice that many large, influential districts have taken significant steps in the last couple of years to improve student nutrition in general and cut out the vending machines in particular.

I teach in one of the largest public school districts in the States, and our district has followed the trend as well. There are still vending machines, but now they're filled with fat-free muffins, low-sodium low-cholesterol chips, pop-tarts, and similar fare. Not exactly broccoli, but it's a giant step away from years past where students ate through crates of Flaming Hot Cheetos and other utter crap every week. No more soda either - Gatorade is as close as it gets, and there's one machine that has a good selection of genuine 100% juice, which would have been unheard of before. Coincidentally, it also means that students buy less - much less - from the machines than they used to. And so we make less money to pay for expenses.

The difference in student energy levels is noticeable. And that leads to better student achievement which, contrary to whatever tinfoil hat theories you espouse, is what the vast majority of teachers and administrators actually care about.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it'd be a lot cheaper to get a bunch of hungry dogs and have them chase the kids for an hour. PE class would just consist of the order "Release the hounds!" and anyone can do that.

Plus, fat kids would have more of an incentive to get into shape than some crummy iPod.

XBoxes can help

[77Punker]

Is there a DDR game for XBox? If so, that'll tackle the fat! They should make it a bundle!

Re:Scottish People Are Fat

[Col. Bloodnok]

Banning the deep frying of mars bars in commercial premises would be a good start.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[Monkeman]

If I had to wear a uniform everyday (I don't, thankfully) I'd loathe going to PE in the first place, and loathing the class I'm in inevitably equals bad behavior. Also, I'm sure a lot of (annoying and stupid) students are "refusing to behave" because they feel like, with the uniforms, they're being "forced into conformity". Also, what's more important: "school spirit" (a term I despise, and school spirit itself is essentially usseless) or health for students and more money for education that doesn't have to be spent on uniforms? Obligatory extremist stupid point: Also, if the government is against gay people (or seems like it), wouldn't the government want to keep people from seeing members of the same sex naked and showering together in order to keep them from becoming attracted to each other? WE HAVE TO ABOLISH UNIFORMS TO KEEP OUR PRECIOUS YOUTH FROM BEING BANISHED TO THE FIERY DEATHS OF HELL

Re:Rewarding healthy eating isn't inherently bad .

[daviddennis]

True, for non-affluent kids this is not an issue.

But overall, kids have more control over money and disposable income than ever, so I suspect that for the bulk of them it's a real possibility to bring junk food from home so they look virtuous in school.

D

what a sad day

[POds]

So now the school system is steeping in where parents have failed? This screams fucking ridiculous to me! What schools should be done is providing more physical activity and probably putting the fatter kids into more physical activity. That is if they are so concerned about children's health.

This latest method sounds like we're treating our kids like dogs. Sounds like their spoiling the kids. Need i ask, just what type of students attend this school? That is, students with rich or poor parents????

Woof fucking Woof

God dammit

[jackcarter]

I go to a private high school in Massachusetts. There are no fat kids here. Maybe one or two overweight ones per grade, but NOBODY "obese," certainly nobody "superobese." There is junk food sold on campus. How do they do it? Mandatory sports after classes. I get out of school at 3:05 and have sports at 3:30. They end at 5:30. Sometimes the time is juggled around a bit, but for the most part the sports last at least an hour and a half. This, my friends, is the way to do it. We sell junk food in campus, but the machines are in the basement. I have to go down and up a couple flights of stairs to eat a candy bar. It works, I'm fit, I'm not complaining.

Re:God dammit

[Monkeman]

Maybe I'm just an IGNORANT YOUTH, but there is no way I'm staying until 5:30 every day because my school wants everybody to stay fit even though they aren't gonna help.

It's not counter-productive...

[Mister Impressive]

XBOX IS HUGE. Therefore it will be a weight lifting exercise getting it home, assuming their arms don't fall off. Also, having an iPod will also have to improve their cardiovascular capacity, having to run for their life when being mugged for being recognised with the white earphones.

I don't know what you guys are thinking, this DOES help the kids.

Re:nutrition

[Jukashi]

Hell yeah, mod this mofucka UP!
atom and his package++

Re:Oh fuck you!

[LWATCDR]

You mean the Canadians that pay for the rest of Canada? At least that is what they tell me.

Point is being missed

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Okay this is misleading. The idea is NOT to make them lose weight, it's to get them to EAT BETTER. The idea is this way kids will at least try fruit and other healthy options and hopefully stick with it. Most news channels covering it today had kids saying they liked fruit and would stick with it.

So this isn't "go on a diet you fat fucks" it's "try this, it's nice".

predictable

[Internet_Communist]

this is such a school-like thing to do. For example:

remember something long enough just to pass a test, pass it, forget.

lose weight long enough to win a free ipod, win it, gain weight back.

another win for the education system.

Re:predictable

[trime]

remember something long enough just to pass a test, pass it, forget.


This is kind've short sighted. If you're going as far as high school, then fine. You better remember how to change that tyre. I received my postgrad degree yesterday, and one of the speakers said something quite interesting:

I have no doubt that the graduands in front of me will already have forgotten everything your lecturers will have taught you. But I hope that we have taught you one thing: How to think.

If you use long division every day in your maths classes, you don't forget how to do it. If you're using Zorn's lemma every day, you probably won't forget that either. But for many careers the important thing is not that you're a walking encylopedia, but that you can think constructively about a problem and come up with a solution.

More and more education is being transformed into training for the workforce. Whatever happened to learning to learn? Understanding is the abstraction of which knowledge is a trivial subcomponent.

Re:predictable

[Internet_Communist]

no one ever taught me how to change a tire, I figured it out myself. It's not that hard. Same with computers, same with learning to put things together, etc.

infact, no one taught me most of the things I know, I taught myself. Even things like reading and writing I didn't really learn at school. Infact I hated writing before I stopped going to school, it wasn't until I had free time of my own to explore my own paths that writing became interesting to me.

I don't want to get into details but let's just say my experience with school was more like a conformance torture chamber packed with immature kids and teachers who teach out of a book.

maybe it is short sighted, maybe there are teachers who aren't so terrible, and maybe there are some things school is useful for, but the school district I was in was supposedly one of the best districts in the entire country, with some of the highest paid teachers to boot. So if there are good ones out there, I haven't ran into any.

and at this point there's no chance I'm going to put myself into a classroom ever again. I've gotten this far without any help from it, so why go back to something I have proven once and again does not work for me?

I used to think I liked math in school. I don't anymore, and did forget much of it, despite using it every day while in school. Not like I'm interested in any fields where it'd be necessary to be a math expert anyway.

what ever happened to learning to think by yourself? To reinvent the wheel, but only so to discover it's inner workings for yourself. For if you're just told that's how it is, that's fine if you believe it, but some people need to experience things for themselves to truly learn, and the current education system does not really satisfy this at all. That's why I got nothing from it, my entire life I learned simply through trial and error, finding out what works and what doesn't work, and why. No school ever taught me this.

....I want a free xbox... *cry*

[John Pfeiffer]

Damn! One more reason why the US education system sucks! D:

Re:How about some COMPETITION???

[Cruciform]

the whore from Desperate Houswifes get bannged by a black,

James Earl Ray, is that you?

If you think interracial sex is a threat to today's children, don't let any of them see what you do with your sister. :)

Doesn't work in the long run

[EnsilZah]

Our Intro to Psychology professor told us once about this program where kids got free icecream or somesuch for reading books.
Apperantly, when the program stopped, the kids had no interest whatsoever in reading.

Giving Xboxen and iPods to kids so they eat healthier is not going to work.
Once you stop giving those out, or a kid gets one and has nothing left to work for, they'll just drop it.

For them to keep eating healthy they need to understand why they are doing it.
And even that might not help that much.

Cool!

[Spy der Mann]

Then I can sell my iPod for LOTS of pizzas! :D

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[cdcarter]

My school has two machines, a soda machine in the teachers lounge where pop is sold at cost, but you need a code to buy sida, and a Dasani Machine, the machine carryies only water and lemon water, also sold at cost.

XBox

[Aggrav8d]

I can't imagine why anyone would sit around with an XBox. The small selection of quality games makes the system an ideal free weight - once you drill a hole through the center for a bar.

On second thought, maybe you could trade it for a small set of free weights... or toss it back and forth like a fragile medicine ball.

Its Simple.

[nighty5]

1) Just get rid of all junk food in school canteens.
2) Only deal with food distributors that embrace healthy eating.
3) Get rid of soft drink vending machines - period. (replace with water & fruit juice)

Re:Its Simple.

[Jus ad Bellum]

The only probem I've seen with #3, is that alot of times the water or juice comes in a larger and more expensive bottle. Many vending machines I've seen H2O sold, sell pop at about 60-70% that cost.

But I agree with what you say there is no need for junk and fast food in schools. I think brown bagging it is the best way to go; and usually cheaper.

In response to the people complaining about the Xbox give away: This is making one healthy meal a day, which is worth it. If the food plan is combined with one hour a day of exercise, as students should have, they well be better off in the long run.

Re:Its Simple.

[Strontium-90]

Something that I didn't realize until a few years ago is that most fruit drinks have as many calories per serving as most soft drinks, due to all of the added sugar, I assume. As a result, I usually drink water... or beer.

Re:Its Simple.

[madhippy]

in the UK at least, kids (probably 13+) are free to leave the school grounds for lunch - to go home, to other shops, cafes, parks etc...

Re:Its Simple.

[adpowers]

They should install a machine that puts out free purified water. Hell, I think even a drinking fountain would work (assuming the water tastes good from it). A lot of people in my old high school brought water bottles. Just encourage that.

Re:Its Simple.

[gedhrel]

"Only deal with food distributors that embrace healthy eating."

It's nice in principle, but unfortunately in the UK the cat's already out of the bag due to something called the PFI (Private Finance Initiative). This is basically a scheme where fatcat companies (like Jarvis) get ludicrous contracts to supply "public" services. Many schools, post the Jamie Oliver wake-up call, discovered that they were stuck with the cheap and nasty greasy lardburger-serving PFI suppliers foisted upon them by local councils.

Unfortunately, these contracts have usually been negotiated with whopping penalty clauses should the council decide to pull out of the scheme. This means that councils and schools cannot _afford_ to do the right thing.

Great if you're on the board of Jarvis; not so great if you're anyone who actually cares aobut the state of public services: the privatisation of these services was intended to cost-cut and promote competition. Exactly the opposite occurred: every privatisation thus far has been botched. I'm not claiming that public services are paragons of efficiency - however, I've never heard a coherent explanation of why a private company could be able to provide the same level of service for less money AND make a return for its shareholders. Something doesn't compute.

Re:Its Simple.

[empvirus]

I see what you're saying here, but maybe we shouldn't force healthy foods down the kids' throats, man. I'm pretty sure that the schools would loose a signifigant amount of revenue when getting rid of the pop machines, too.

Re:My problem is that I eat excellent food --

[d34thm0nk3y]

Just wait until I figure out how to reverse the polarity on my caloric intake manifold, and boy will you be sorry.

Wait, that's easy, just turn 30.

Oh wait.....you meant the _other_ direction.....

Re:Oh fuck you!

[bladesjester]

What's with the deep fried candybars anyway?

They just sound disgusting to me...

The right incentive...

[jvanschoick]

To all of those who say, "Why give an Xbox? That just encourages you to sit in front of the TV..."

The goal is to get the kids who are already in front of the TV a reason to stop watching the TV. So you offer an incentive of something they would want. The couch potatos don't want a mountain bike, even if it would be good for them.

The ideal situation would be you get the kids who aren't into physical activity an incentive to go out an try it, then they like it, and it becomes part of their lifestyle. By offering an incentive that fits into their existing lifestyle, it would be more likely to get them involved...

Plus, I would say an iPod can definitely be part of an "active lifestyle". People use them while working out all the time.

Offer them candy, sweet candy

[Urusai]

I bet the kids would eat their greens if they could have a big chocolate bar chock full of nougat, caramel, and peanuts. Kids love candy, I like to keep my van well stocked when I cruise by the schoolyard.

What ever happened....

[HerculesMO]

to smacking the shit out of your kids when they pick up a candy bar?

Hey Tommy, you fat little shit, put that fucking Snickers down before I whack your ass blue!

Worked for me and my 6 foot, 187lbs of glory today, at 24 years of age.

Food Distributors

[patdabiker]

The problem, in my perception, is a lot of food distributors deal primarily in unhealthy food. It's easier to produce, package, and store mass quantities of the stuff. All-natural, preservative-free food is harder to keep, harder to make, and, above all, expensive.

How has humanity survived this long...

[RexRhino]

...Without a central-planned nannie state to control and legislate every single aspect of people's lives?

If working 10 months out of 12 to pay off taxes, and putting up with an overbearing totalitarian government, and destroying diversity by enforcing a monolithic one-size-fits-all concept of health on people regardless of body type and culture is the price we have to pay in order to keep kids from eating twinkies, then so be it.

Fortunatly, western governments are doing their best to regulate our economy, agriculture, and society to a point where we will have the healthy low-calorie diets that more progressive nations like North Korea, Zimbabwe, and Zambia enjoy.

It is about time that governments stop this food-terrorism. Like our glorious crusade in Iraq, no sacrifice is too great, no cost too high, no tactic too extreme, in order to protect our children from... soda and chips!

Re:On the irony of an X-Box combating obesity

[Monkeman]

Did you read any of the earlier comments? They were all the same.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd just like to add in my 2 cents.
By all rights I should have been in honors student programs all the way through school, I opted out of all but the one in elementary school...

My grades were vastly worse, I never tried hard, and because I never liked school, and my parents were very liberal about making me do things, I ended up dropping out of college, and working at fast food places instead of getting involed in technology.

I'm 27 and unemployed right now, and I damn well know if I had applied myself in school I'd likely be the CEO of some multi-million dollar computer company, If I'd had to crush a few competitor on the way up there...

schools could do a lot more to improve education and help kids get better diet and exercise.. the japanese education system is a lot more refined IMO, uniforms are a Good thing for schools, they prevent a lot of self esteem issues related to what kids are wearing etc... if it's just the rules that everyone has to dress a like that's just one less thing for kids to pick on one another about ;)

Re:How about some COMPETITION???

[pcmanjon]

"the whore from Desperate Houswifes get bannged by a black,"

Why must you bring race in to the issue? I thought your points were credible until you brought race in to the issue.

BTW, I'm a white as #ffffff american here, but I don't appriciate anti inter-racial suggestions like that.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[QuaZar666]

Now I can agree with having a set of clothes for PE, but I never have agreed with school uniforms and I went to a school which required me to wear a predefined uniform each and every day. I did not feel as part of a 'team' and well to me it made the school look tacky. No matter what people in high school will still fight no matter what clothes are being worn.

What a bad idea...

[ThunderRiver]

I think it is a bad idea. It promotes the idealism of anorexia and bulimia. The government is too stresed on obesity, but loosing sight on people that lose the ability to eat. Sad world it is.

Re:How about some COMPETITION???

[Cruciform]

I didn't. He did. I was quoting him.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[Kinky Bass Junk]

Actually, I'm a high school student, and I agree with the notion of uniform. Yeah, kids still fight it, but we have really gotten over it - we can express ourselves through the uniform, and remain looking professional and all that.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[aduzik]

I wore a uniform for 13 years of my life. From kindergarten until I graduated high school, I got the distinct pleasure of wearing uncomfortable polyester pants and scratchy polyester shirts.

I didn't go to school to be part of a team. I went to learn. (Truth be told, I went because I had no other choice) There was not a kid in the school who didn't recognize that, on some level, the uniforms were simply an arbitrary form of social control. The "official reason" was to prevent some form of coutoure-based class warfare, but the rich kids always had ways of looking better than the "poor kids". Diamond earrings were a favorite among girls and boys alike. And, when you go to a $2000/year fully private school, you can bet that the poor kids ain't so poor.

That's not to say that I'm opposed to a dress code. There's nothing wrong with drawing the line at how much cleavage a girl can show, or saying that guys' pants must cover their asses at all times. That is a matter of trying to teach kids the danger of objectifying themselves, and that what you choose to wear reflects upon your self-image.

Oh, and the PE uniforms? You've never been so hot and sweaty in all your life. Whose genius idea was it to make them out of unbreatheable polyester?

Here's what I learned from wearing a uniform: every time you strictly enforce a rule for which you can provide no convincing rationale, you inspire otherwise well-behaved individuals to rebel against it. I know I rebelled, and I honestly haven't thought about wearing anything simply to be offensive since then.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[blahplusplus]

You said: " But back to fat kids. Why do they get fat? Is PE so value-less that the bright kids no longer want to take it. Is PE a time when 50 kids sit around for 10 minutes waiting for the teacher to set up the game, play for 15 minutes, then get 10 minues to go back and change?"

I say:

Kids hate PE for a number of reasons, but many kids in PE are teased and bullied to death and thats why they want out of Phys-Ed in the first place. You got to keep the culture of fucked up and dominant asshole kids in the first place from from picking on those and shunning those less athletically inclined then they are.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[Chrispy1000000 the 2]

So let me get this straight:
You had a shot with the system, and you said screw it.
You *think* you are smart, yet you don't want to learn.
So why are you complaing? You never even gave it much of a chance.

Just remember, a lazy bastard who has a +160IQ is still a lazy bastard who will never amount to anything.

Earn Right - Eat an iPod

[Muhammar]

"UK government's latest policy to tackle obesity - through ... pioneering scheme, which utilises the newly introduced wipe-card latrines to create a system of the 'better you eat, the bigger the treat'."

The more sensible solution...

[levity island]

...would be simply to make tastier food. But I guess this is unimaginable for the British.

Perhaps...

[mkiwi]

Maybe Apple should get into the food or drink business.. there would be an interesting lawsuit over "Apple" Juice.

Re:How about some COMPETITION???

[Anonymous Coward]

As someone who was abused as a child by a father who consistantly thought I was not giving my all, I can tell you that anyone in any public school who strikes my child with anything on any part of their body for any reason other than he got violent first, will have the distinct pleasure of me doing it back to them in front of a large group of students.

That attitude belongs in the dark ages. If a person doesn't want to give their all, they shouldn't have to. Society exists for the freedom of its people, not vice versa.

Eat an ipod

[Bobsledboy]

Did anyone else read that as Eat Right, Eat an iPod?

Can't they read? It clearly said not to eat the iPod shuffle!

stay out jail get a car avoid drugs get a house

[iamhassi]

soo.... if do what i'm suppose to do anyway, i get free stuff?? What's next, if i stay out of jail i get a free car? What if I dont do drugs, do i get a free house??

this is the stupidest thing i've ever heard....

Re:poms

[reub2000]

Aggred. A bag of dorritos looks a lot more appealing than any school food.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[IANAAC]

I'm 27 and unemployed right now, and I damn well know if I had applied myself in school I'd likely be the CEO of some multi-million dollar computer company...

Coulda woulda shoulda.

What's stopping you now? Honestly, I don't consider myself a very "smart" person, but I do (honestly) believe that I'm capable of doing anything I desire. Education doesn't stop at college. Maybe by the time you hit forty you'll realize there are things you still want to learn and will be able to apply in your daily life.

It took me a long time to realize that I'm still capable of learning.

Education system at work - Pavlovian conditioning

[fbg111]

Whatever happened to supplying people the facts - obesity is one of the leading indicators of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and your basic miserable life filled with various afflictions, and eating well and exercising regularly prevent it. I hate it when people give up on doing the right thing, or things the right way, or both in this case, b/c they weren't working. Frikkin figure out a way to make them work. Hack the problem and solve it. Don't go running off willy-nilly on some hairbrained scheme like bribing kids with Xboxs and iPods to get them to do this. And besides, giving videogame systems to obese kids to bribe them into exercising? Logical contradictions? Yes we've heard of them somewhere...

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[John Seminal]

Kids hate PE for a number of reasons, but many kids in PE are teased and bullied to death and thats why they want out of Phys-Ed in the first place.

They must learn to play with others.

I got bullied by an asshole. Over and over. One day I said, fuck it, if I go down, I go down, but I am throwing a punch. Turned out he was a big pussy with a glass jaw. I beat his ass for a good three minutes before the teacher pulled me off him. Even as the teacher was pulling me up, I took a good horse kick to his testicles. When I could not reach him with a limb, I spit on him. I told him, don't sleep tonight, we ain't done, I am going to burn down your motherfucking house.

Then the alarm went off and it was time for school again.

The horror. The horror.

Point of the story? I don't want to be Dr. Smith. I don't want to say "Never fear..."

Here is a lesson for you! Later in life you might become dominant because of money you accumulate. How will you treat those with less? Will you be like that dick bully. Will you give a damn? Will you hold your hand out in friendship, will you turn your back?

The great thing about PE, is it levels the playing field. The janators kid can kick the crap out of the CEO's kid and it is normal. We need more of it. We need to punish the rich. They have all the money, let them use it on psychiatrists and prozac.

And then the next big boss comes in

[melted]

And then the next big boss comes in and shuts down the program. Kids quickly regain their lost weight and then some, while enjoying their ipods and xboxes (and twinkies, too)

Eat an iPod?

[wackymacs]

At first I thought it said ",eat an iPod" :P

good idea

[tofu2go]

we should offer a similar program on a national level, i.e. offering incentives for overweight people to bring down their weight to normal levels. aren't diseases and ailments resulting from obesity a big problem in the US, and doesn't it cost us a LOT of money and lost productivity? while perhaps it shouldn't go to the government to setup such a program, maybe health insurance companies should consider offering good incentives that would motivate people to tackle their obesity problems.

Speaking as a Glaswegian.....

[The Famous Druid]

I'd have to say that any attempt to get Glaswegians to eat healthily is doomed to failure. /me wanders off to eat a deep-fried Mars bar.

But remember kids

[FidelCatsro]

Don't eat ipod

Or to be more accurate....

[fairyliquidizer]

Couple of points... this is the local government (City Council) not a UK Govenment scheme. In addition Scotland has a seperate education system to England and Wales so the this has nothing to do with the UK government. Glasgow is the least healthy city in Europe. It also has many of the poorest areas in Europe. This scheme is working very well, and if it works does anything else matter. PE is compulsary in Scottish state schools. After the age of 16 some allow an opt out. Perhaps these adverts would help... http://www.rudefood.org/

Re:Rewarding healthy eating isn't inherently bad .

[Tim C]

I would think this scheme would be exploited mercilessly by kids who simply brought their candy bars in from home

Preventing that would be the responsibility of the parents. If the parents can't stop it, then there are probably larger issues than the kid just eating healthily.

Re:Oh fuck you!

[timmyf2371]

They're actually rather tasty - the Mars Bar is deep fried in a nice coating of batter and the inside of the chocolate bar is all gooey and makes for a rather nice taste.

Something like this is absolutely fine in moderation, but when you have a fish n chip bar, kebab shops, curry takeaways and the like on almost every street it does take the "moderation" part out of the question hence why we have such a large number of cases of heart disease and other conditions which come as a direct result of our diets.

Re:Oh fuck you!

[t_allardyce]

Oh well if its Glasgow council tax knock yourself out. but to me it just sounds like bribing kids, they're not stupid, they can right through it, they will do just enough to get the prize, probably going to McDonalds on their way home. a better way would be to just sit kids down and show them what happens if they continue with their current diet

-get them to watch some videos of those super-obese people who cant fit through their doors and who explain how they got like that

-show them operations and people with various illnesses (drop smoking into it while your at it) and how they started off and how much pain and suffering they are in because of it

-make sure they understand that this isn't just "one of those things that will never happen to me"

-show kids the bloody facts and figures, the reasons why they should not lead an unhealthy life-style

-give them a view of the opposite end, interview various athletes and stars and see how they live

I absolutely would not expect someone to just drop their burger because you tell them to, that's a sign of a sheep. Bribing them is just as bad because they learn nothing but "if you eat this crap for a month you win something but probably only once cos there's a limit of one win per kid". Telling them to eat healthy for no reason is stupid, you have to show kids why, otherwise why should they do it?

Re:Oh fuck you!

[t_allardyce]

Im the same person lol.
Im in the UK, it was just that time of year for an American sig.

Re:How about some COMPETITION???

[a whoabot]

No no no, we have to kill all the freeloaders, they're just bringing us down. No one deserves to live unless they're slaves to society.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[Anonymous Coward]

the point of the story is you are a complete psychopath who needs serious help, spitting on him? threatening to burn his house down? This is the problem with society that leads to the bullying in the first place, headcases like you. he bullied you, fine beat the shite out of him once, but the spitting and threats? sounds like you need to use your money on psychiatrists and prozac.

Bunch of idiots

[Bloater]

The UK Government is a reactionary bunch of idiots that can't get anything right because they never think further than the indended consequence such that they rarely even cause *that*.

Children will not eat healthier for an ipod because their food habits are formed by how their parents treat food. Fat kids will still be fat, but now they will be pushed out of the fashionata. It will only serve to increase bullying and increase the value that children put on being *in*.

As a result of this, I predict that happy slapping will worsen and somebody is going to die.

They should give gifts to the parents of children that eat healthily - children see fortunate parents as a sign of luckiness rather than betterness. The gifts should be meaningless to children so the children don't feel it should belong to them and pressure their parents into passing it on.

Jobs, Ballmer unavailable for comment. [n/t]

[mobby_6kl]

NT!

good food 'tolerance'

[adpowers]

I've noticed the same thing. Much healthy food used to taste mild to me. When I first tried an Honest Tea I didn't like it because it tasted almost sour. However, once I stopped drinking pop, sugar loaded ice teas, processed foods, and other really unhealthy stuff, I came to appreciate this other stuff more. Now I'm really turned off by pop/soda because it has a really strong sugary acidic taste. Yuck. Also, whole grain and less processed foods provide more texture and are more filling. I made a cake with part whole wheat/part unbleached floor and also with "Sugar in the Raw" and it was very filling. It was really heavy and thick, yet sweet and rich.

Another thing I found that makes vegetables so much nicer to eat is cooking them right. My parents used to steam most of our vegetables, since they were just a side dish to the meat and they didn't want to spend all night cooking. Now whenever I'm home (almost every weekend), I help cook dinner (dinner without meat), and I insist on fancier foods. Cooking together as a family can be a lot of fun, and you don't mind spending more time in the kitchen if you are socializing. Anyway, my point was that if you make the vegetables really tasty, they are more likely to get eaten. Invest in a nice vegetarian cook book to find good vegetable recipes. My current favorite cookbook is the Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. The recipes in it contain lots of veggies and are well balanced (protein from beans, carbs from bread, potatoes, or pasta, nutrients from veggies, good fats from olive oil). Try one of the minestrones, it is to die for. In conclusion: cook the veggies well and you'll have no trouble eating them. Also, cut out the super sweet foods (like soda) to lower your sugar dependance .

Andrew

PS: Hey, I just noticed some cool new features on Amazon while looking up that book. They do statistical analysis on the books and give you uncommon phrases ("drizzle the remaining olive oil") as well as a Flickresque "Concordance" of the most popular words. Pretty hot.

Re:Oh fuck you!

[bearded_dragon]

Being a Glaswegien myself and having read all about this in our local press I think it's a truly brilliant idea. For those of you who are unaware of the reasons behind this, Glasgow and most of the west of Scotland is commonly called the "sick man of Europe" due to the high amount of fatty and junk foods we consume. By junk food I'm not talking about McDonalds, BK and their ilk but in fact such delicacies as deep fried Mars Bars and friend pakora suppers.

I disagree. Such schemes sell easyily to the public and the political decision-makers because they sound reasonable and fancy. The cost incurred is comparatively low and of a singular nature, i.e. very well calculable.

The problem with such schemes lies with their inefficacy. They will not change behaviour, especially so considering the incentive which will inhibit more physical and mental passivity. Changing behaviour (aka 'education') takes time and labour - expensive, but worth the 'investment'. I mean, c'mon, why on earth did they chose electronic gimmicks? Why not inline skaters, sports course vouchers or even bicycles?

Dirk.

Re:Oh fuck you!

[bearded_dragon]

[...] which will inhibit more physical and mental passivity [...]

sorry, mental booting had not finished. I meant 'promote' instead of 'inhibit', of course.

Dirk.

Change Xbox to PS2 perhaps?

[Ezel]

Really. . .
Wouldn't a better prize than the Xbox be a PS2 with a copy of DanceDanceRevolution?
(No, I'm not aware of any DDR-clones for Xbox but am willing to be educated)

I mean, atleast that's showing some consistency.

Mvh: Ezel ... Malmoe, Sweden

Re:Change Xbox to PS2 perhaps?

[SuiteSisterMary]

Who needs a clone? Konami published Dance Dance Revolution: Ultramix for the xbox at least a year ago, with or without dancepad, and I believe theres an Ultramix 2 out.

Even comes with an exercise mode, which counts calories burned.

In France...

[ElGanzoLoco]

In France you can't get anything but a 3-course meal (salad - main dish - cheese OR dessert) + a slice of bread at the school restaurant. Most school meals taste like crap, depending on which private company is responsible for the restaurant (my school was lucky ;) but they are healthy at least.
During meal, you can only have water, no Coke, diet Coke, Dr. Peppers, or any of all that crap.

Snacks & sodas are available in the school through vending machines, but they are rather expensive, which limits the consumption. Also, the legislators are thinking about forbidding the vending machines, and they probably will succeed. We saw some fruit vending machines appear, which I think is rather nice.

There is no such thing as a "cafeteria" in schools.

Also, no school is sponsored by Coke, Pepsi, or anyone at all for that matter (forbidden).

The obesity rate is extremely low, albeit rapidly growing among the youngest (due to unhealthy meals at home & junk food everywhere, which is much more difficult to control).

Another mixed message

[fallscrape]

I'm not entirely sure this is the right message for politians to be broadcasting - rewards (bribes) work? What happened to the 'if you don't do games and eat properly you'll be fat and everyone will laugh at you' approach? And even if they get their ipod, that'll just mean there will be more thefts and muggings on school grounds. Ah, society!

Re:Education system at work - Pavlovian conditioni

[Jellybob]

This is high school kids we're talking about - most of the time telling someone who's 15 that doing something may lead to unpleasantness later in life is going to make no difference at all, because they don't really believe that things like that happen to real people.

Re:Oh fuck you!

[LWATCDR]

I had a friend that lived there for two years. So this is what he told me. Alberta makes most of the wealth that keeps the other provinces going. They really seem to dislike Quebec. I have been to BC but just for my Honeymoon. Victoria was a nice place but I was not all that interested in politics.

A dumb thought

[DrXym]

If merciless teasing and bullying by their peers doesn't get fat asses to lose weight, what chance have the government got by offering an iPod?

If the kiddies in a school are too fat, there is a simple solution. Tell the dinner ladies to stop deep frying everything and produce something healthier.

Re:The Schools are the PROBLEM!!

[empvirus]

This is true. Back in my middle school days, almost everyone hated P.E. Except for those who were already in sports like basketball and whatever. This is why we need to think up funner ways to exercise than just making the kids run around the track or college style wrestle until they fall over. I mean, is it that hard to see that the kids aren't having any fun?

At least they had healthy food

[Colin Smith]

At some time during the day. The other option is unhealthy food at school *and* unhealthy food at home.

Gaming Bra

[Perf]

I wonder when Sears will start offering bras for boys. Maybe they'll offer several styles to coordinate with your preferred gaming console.

Hey world, wake up. Virtual reality sucks. Instead of watching exotic places on TV, go out and experience them for real.

Re:Rewarding healthy eating isn't inherently bad .

[daviddennis]

The trap with healthy eating habits is that they don't affect you for a long, long time.

I was thin through my high school and college years. I'm not sure exactly when I put on fat, but it was such a gradual process I didn't notice until I was in the 60 pounds overweight class.

Now turning that around is extremely difficult for an adult with set ways, at least in dietary terms. I can still learn new programming languages and environments with the drop of a hat, but not overeating is extremely hard. I know that because I now have a beautiful girlfriend who really, really wants me to get thin. So I have motivation I never had, but changing habits is STILL very hard.

D

Re:Rewarding healthy eating isn't inherently bad .

[daviddennis]

Excellent point!

On the other hand ... I know someone who's a compulsive gambler with scratcher tickets. I'd never seen something like this before; she buys the expensive $20 tickets, five or six a night, consuming her entire income and sometimes (often) more. About one in three of those tickets pay back $20.

She keeps on telling herself she'll get a $400 winner and that will be worthwhile. So I looked up the odds. Turns out that on the average, you will buy $3,200 worth of tickets to win $400.

I told her this and it has not affected her gambling one whit.

All of this to say that clearly there are many people who behave irrationally. It's a lot more exciting to win something than it is to save up the money and buy it, especially if you're a kid and enjoying candy bars in the meantime :-).

So I still think this contest could well be scammed. After all, so many people want to get back at "the man", no?

D

US chould learn a thing or two.

[DiamondCloud]

The BBC is reporting on the UK government's latest policy to tackle obesity - through offering iPods and XBoxes to pupils. The lucky lads and lasses of 29 Glasgow secondary schools will be part of the pioneering scheme, which utilises the newly introduced swipe-card canteens to create a system of the 'better you eat, the bigger the treat'.

After reading the entire BBC article, I was struck with the thought that perhapps the US could take a leason here. The US leads the world in obesity and this could offer one solution. Having been a child once myself, I can somewhat remember how the mind works. Bribe them, and they will come. Any parent will agree.

Re:Oh fuck you!

[csteinle]

Glasgow is probably the most socialist part of the UK by a long stretch. No parliament constituency goes any direction but Labour, and it's the power base of the Scottish Socialist party. Preaching capitalist ideals to the majority of the public there will get you nowhere.

Re:Great

[diabolo-nerd]

you, we don't need to nessicarily give them x-boxes. We could find some other reward instead. The idea is a reward for healthy eating.

yeah

[pj_88]

yeah right, get them to eat healthy, then sit them down in front of an xbox all day! makes sense!!

Re:Great

[rsynnott]

This idea that lack of exercise is the prime cause of wobble-bottom-ness is largely fostered by the food industry. Sure, exercise is a factor. Not a large one, tho. People have been sitting in offices for centuries, now. It's only lately that they've started to weigh more than a small car in any great numbers.