Tag: Diet

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness

Track bites instead of calories with the Count Bites connected wristband

Counting calories is a drag. Common methods are usually pretty cumbersome, and apps don’t help as much as it seems. Plus, who likes having to do math every time they eat?

The Count Bites band and app aim to shift the user’s focus from calories to bites instead. While no one method is inherently superior, bites are far easier to track than hundreds of daily calories. Both the Bluetooth wristband and companion app feature a single button for tracking purposes, so dieters can use it to set goals and monitor portions over time. The campaign is looking to raise $25,000 by March 3, and have the $30 band shipped out in June of this year.

Although the campaign does admit to the potential of cheating, it insists that beginning a diet by focusing on reducing the amount of food rather than micromanaging the type of food being consumed is far more beneficial for those with a BMI over 25. Instead of other fitness bands like the Jaha or Arcus that keep fit people fit, Count Bites seems like it could be a good fit for a larger swath of the population that doesn’t have the healthiest of habits.

Categories
Cooking

FAB cuts cooking fat, lets you control taste

When people see or hear ‘reduced fat’, it often translates as reduced taste. FAB (Fat Absorber) reduces the fat in the skillet as the food is cooking and the fat is hot, and gives the user control of how much fat gets absorbed, impacting the taste of the food. The triangular device is made of FDA approved cotton that soaks up the fat and works with most any meat. FAB can absorb a whopping 20-25 grams of fat (equivalent to 150-200 calories), and works best when moved around in the skillet and dabbed on the meat to absorb excess fat. Another nice benefit to this is that it saves cleanup since there’s less fat left in the skillet. Once food is cooked, the item can be pitched in the trash.

In all of its eco-friendliness, too bad it’s not reusable. One will also really have to use this product in order to see if it really works, but the description sounds a little dicey. This campaign seeks to raise £45,000 (~$70,500). For £10 (~$16 USD), backers get two packs of 10 FABs and an expected delivery of March 2015.

Categories
Connected Objects Cooking

MAID smart oven trades in a cookbook for digital display and an app

Burnt brownies? Melted macaroni? Catastrophic couscous? Fear not, intrepid culinary explorer, as the MAID Oven is here to guide you towards gastronomic glory. Let the smart oven be your personal kitchen assistant with its touchscreen display and ability to recognize both gestures and voice to tell you exactly what ingredients to use and how to prepare a dish from a database of crowdsourced recipes.

Don your apron with pride when you expand your talents by discovering little-known recipes from around the world, and share yours with the world when you feel experimental. Don’t get lazy though, and make sure that apron continues to fit with the dietary and exercise suggestions provided by the companion iOS/Android app which interfaces with your smartphone to track your activity during the day and suggests appropriate foods. These recommendations are tailored to your culinary habits and caloric needs over time, factoring in the adjustments you personally make to recipes as well to make them all your own. Throughout all of this, you still retain control over every part of the process , but when the MAID Oven can automatically set time and temperature during cooking, why would you care? The MAID Oven can be had for a donation of $449 for delivery in November 2015. The campaign is seeking to raise $50,000.

Having been in production for about two and half years now, the time and effort put into this product shines through. It’s incredibly robust and fully featured, offering a full oven that can make sizable amounts of food. Here’s hoping the build quality is something that will last. The box is mighty big, too, and finding space for it in smaller places might pose a challenge. To be honest, the only thing the MAID Oven is missing a 3D printer capable of creating the food itself, but we’ll wait around to see where subsequent versions lead before getting ahead of ourselves.