Bite me!
Posted: August 4, 2011 at 7:00 amI enjoy reading different fitness magazines while working out on cardio equipment. During my recent 50 minute elliptical interval workout, I happily trod along reading about other women’s success stories or a cool new website for finding workout tunes. Suddenly, that all changed. Suddenly, I wanted to have a little Tazmanian Devil moment with the magazine, ripping the page to shreds in a whirlwind of annoyance.
Have you heard of the 80 Bites app?
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The mastermind behind this claims that it’s difficult to keep portion sizes in check, but counting bites makes it more feasible. The app has you tap your screen with each bite to count up the number of bites you take each meal. It will also make some sort of sound reminding you to tap the screen, and then gives a different sound after you reach your bite limit for the meal. That makes me picture the phone flashing red lights and shouting warning! warning! warning! at me. And is it just me or does it creep you the heck out that your phone would know how much you’re eating?!?! But that’s besides the point.
Well, I didn’t think I could fairly judge this app because I have no clue how many bites I eat per meal or per day. A couple weeks ago, in my What 2147 Calories Looks Like post, I took to measuring all my food for a day in order to accurately share the possibility of eating a higher calorie diet than generally recommended for women. If I could do that, then I could count my bites for a few meals.
I forgot during breakfast, so when lunch time rolled around I made a standard lunch plate and sat down to see how I compared to the 25-30 bite per meal recommendation.
Um, I eat baby carrots in two bites apiece because I like to take time with my food as much as possible. So, with this little app, I would end up with a lunch consisting of a handful of baby carrots. That sounds healthy, huh? Or I would have to learn how to open my mouth like Steven Tyler so I could make the most of my bites and actually eat a meal.
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It seems an easy way to maneuver around that whole 80 bites concept. Just eat bigger! But then, I wouldn’t really get to chew and savor my food. Hmmm. That doesn’t sound too healthy either.
I understand the points of it slowing down eating to make the user more aware of hunger and fullness cues. I understand that counting bites could make it easier than counting calories. I understand that the standard American diet doesn’t have a plate full of fruit or veggies to chomp through for meals. The whole 80 bites thing could be an easy way to help limit the consumption of Big Macs. Although, 80 bites of Big Mac certainly won’t give you the same benefits as 80 bites of salad. And preferably this warm goat cheese and cherry salad from Kristin. mmmmm…oh wait…sorry for the distraction, folks. Goat cheese gets me all warm inside.
Oh, and then the site talks about how it calms and relaxes you while you eat? Where do they get this stuff?! I would end up throwing my phone across the room and cowering in a corner with my breakfast for fear of being bleepity beeped at (warning! warning! warning!) for eating another small bite of oatmeal. And don’t even get me started on the screen looking like a scale and saying things like “your stomach is stretching”. Sorry for the tangent, but I just had to say…bite me, 80 Bites!
- Thoughts on the 80 bites app?
- Is there anything technology can do these days that creeps you out?
Tags: healthy eating, humor
There’s always something or someone that takes a helpful piece of information and completely manipulates it into something just the opposite. It’s twisted information like this that leads so many people, especially young girls, astray!! Ahh!
That is downright creepy! haha technology is just getting more amazing everyday. I agree with chewing your food properly, but counting it? I don’t think so…. 🙂
hahaha this is hilarious. I can just see myself sitting there with my cell phone trying to count and hit the button at the same time. Oh my goodness-can you imagine the distraction??! I wouldn’t enjoy a thing. No thanks!!
At first, I thought the app wanted you to count how many chews, and I thought that isn’t a lot of chews per meal! It would feed my OCD to have to tap a screen every time I take a bite. But I guess in this country of portion distortion, where the average person doesn’t know what a 300 calorie meal looks like, it could be a good training tool.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
wow what a ridiculous app!! i always chew each bite 20-30 times so i wont be getting very much food if i only got 80 bites. Or is it saying to chew each bite 80 times?? If i had to chew everything 80 times my jaw would be sore way before i was full!! Plus, like you said, just because you chew a lot or a little it has no bearing on the nutritional content of food.
No…you get 80 BITES a DAY. 20 or so bites per meal. It doesn’t mention anything about the number of chews. So basically you take as huge of bites as you want but can only have 80 total.
This is really twisted. Goes to show you how ridiculous people can get about how to lose weight. There is no focus at all on the nutrition of the food! I wonder how many total downloads the app has?
that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen!
seems weird. And in my opinion tooo much thinking about food makes me eat more.
Same here! I would feel restricted and over analyze and then end up without a satisfied feeling with my meal.
Wow! That is INSANE! I have not heard it of it, but I makes me cringe! Why in the world would they promote that app? Not only is it insane, but like you said, people could eat 80 bites of a big mac and think they are eating a ‘healthy meal’ because it was 80 bites or less. What in the world will they come up with next?!
ewwwww….that bites thing made me so annoyed too!!!! Ughhh!!!!!
On a lighter note..I am so excited to meet you in a couple weeks! Are you bringing your family into Philly???
Nope. It will be just me! What about you? I know you live relatively close, right?
Can’t wait to meet you too!
Yes, I live about 20 minutes or so from Center City…I’m a suburban gal 🙂
Ella and my mom are coming….since I am still nursing it will just be easier. My stock pile is very low these days….plus traffic on 76 Saturdays in the summer it would take me like 2 hours to get down! So Ella will be there!!!!
Oh, yay! Can’t wait to meet you BOTH then! And your mom if she comes around. 🙂
Ugh. And undoubtedly people will fall for this. That’s horrible! All that would do for me is take huge bites and then end up with stomach issues. I’m totally with you. I’d break my phone over that app….along with my good mood!
Eh, not a fan of this app.
I’m pretty confident that everyone takes different sized bites of food. I agree with you in that I understand the general concept of the app (to make the user more aware of the bites they take) but I don’t think I would ever be able to use this on a daily basis (nor would I want to.)
Also, what happens when you’re licking a spoonful of almond butter? Do they have a “licks” option? haha 😀
Ug! I’ve heard of this app! What a pain in the ARSE! Who wants to do that! Not to mention how unreaslitic it is! Aren’t we supposed to chew our food like 20 times before digesting anyway? EEK!
I feel like this is one of those instances (and these are becoming more and more frequent) where our technology is just kind of becoming…tedious. YOU DON’T NEED AN APP TO EAT!!!! Geez! 🙂
That sounds so strange! Jason uses his Droid phone to measure his heart rate in the morning — at first I thought it was creepy but now it is kind of neat!
I think the “turn your phone on and it will figure out the name of the song you are listening to” is really neat but kind of creepy. How does it know???
That one kind of creeps me out too. How does it know?! I still don’t get it. In fact, a lot of techonolgy kind of creeps me out. like how do these words show up on a screen and then suddenly anyone can see them. So weird!
hmmm…i totally see what you’re getting at, but i will say that for some people it might be a kickstart to a healthier lifestyle. i’m like you where i know myself and totally get that this would backfire for me, but if there’s someone out there who needs to lose weight and doesn’t have a disordered eating history? it might not be terrible as long as it doesn’t become a lifestyle!
for me though? no thanks, i’ll spend my time on quality apps like angry birds 🙂
Gah there is an app for everything! Why is something as basic as eating being made into something so trivial! Bites are SO individual and personally I think I really don’t think people get fat because of their bite count!
Oh my, this app would drive me nuts! And who has time to hit that button every time they take a bite? Meh.
I haven’t heard of this app but I will make sure to check it out. I had to laugh at the Steven Tyler mouth pic 🙂
Strategies like counting bites are for those who can’t handle actually learning anything about food or a healthy lifestyle. I remember reading once that Victoria Beckham eats anything she wants but only has 3 bites – equally insane and irrational.
Oh, that’s so stupid. It sounds like an ED app to me. Way to be obsessive about food and eating. Argh.
That 80 Bites app just sounds weird. It’s a good concept, but I don’t think anyone will actually use it. 😕
I haven’t heard of the 80 bites app but it sounds ridiculous to me and not accurate at all! I hope people really aren’t using it seriously!
That is the dumbest app I have ever heard of…..smh
I have heard of this app and I tried for one meal to count – I was WAY over the “limit”. maybe because I’m vegan and pregnant and pretty much live off fruits and veggies? I also agree on taking smaller bites – savor your food, and it’s better for digestion! definitely some weird apps out there 🙂
That app sounds miserable but at the same time I’m kinda curious now how many bites I do take in a normal meal…
That sounds weird. The more you chew your food the easier it is to digest and enjoy. Feel the flavors in your mouth and savor the food so you don’t over indulge. If I inhaled my food I wouldn’t taste it and end up eating more.
Hmm, that sounds distracting and a lot of work during a meal. Of course now I’m curious to try it anyway….
OMG! I can NOT believe that. Why not just create a disordered eating app… Makes me crazy! I think one of the things that bothers me the most is when these “healthy tips” take you further away from listening to your own hunger cues. Slowing down and chewing more is good for you, but that’s just too much!
Well, thank goodness I don’t have an iPhone, so I won’t be tempted, but I think all that tapping would annoy the heck out of me!
Wow…I would not want that app. The last thing i would wnt during a meal is a warning light flashing at me! ha!
oh wow.. I feel like this app is just reinforcing the obsession americans have with food. Counting your bites/using technology to eat your food takes out all of the enjoyment of sitting down to a meal!
Um, that is a WEIRD app…and I would hate it as well since I eat pretty fast (I try SO hard to eat slower though!). M, however, would kill it with this thing, he chews and chews and chews his food (he has a problem swallowing after a choking attack he got when he was 20!) like there is no tomorrow (thus why I try to eat slower since I am ALWAYS DONE FIRST!) 😉
Hmmm interesting. I’ve never heard about that app (namely because I have a Droid), but I don’t really like the idea behind it.
What a weird app!
I did hear on the radio today that people who chew slower eat less. Ummm…apparently that’s news?
I tend to eat to fast (and take big bites!), but I remedy that was trying to put my fork down between bites. Seems like you don’t need any technology for that 🙂
Are you SERIOUS??? Oh the things people come up with….
This would totally take the enjoyment and satisfaction out of eating! Also, it would totally distract someone from actually learning how to eat according to their fullness cues. If they’re full at bite 40, they’ll just keep eating…cause HEY, they still have an allotted 40 bites!!!
This just seems like another tool doctored up to try and fix a problem that so many people have, without actually facing the real problem. It’s another one of the “bandaids” that covers up the sore and protects it, but doesn’t actually heal it. I’m really against things like this. Because honestly, will someone live their entire life off of the number of bites that enter their mouth?
Who knows, maybe I’m being too judgmental. Maybe there’s some sort of freaky scientific reasoning behind it that I just don’t understand or know about. But….I just don’t like the idea. At least not for myself. For me, this would turn eating into a TASK, a JOB, a science. If I counted my bites, eating would not feel natural, or be seen as a form of fuel, or enjoyment. I wouldn’t even pay attention to how good my food tastes, because I’d be meticulously counting every bite! lol
that app sounds quite disturbing!! i’m a bit of a vaccuum cleaner. i usually wait too long to eat and then just scarf it all down in about 3 bites. oops!
Frankly, facebook creeps me out and gets my ethical panties all in a bunch. But this app, how horrifying. Last night for dinner, I had a mixing bowl sized kale salad, with a veggie burger and a schmere of sweet potato and hemp seed hummus. It took me many more than 20 bites and I’d never want to be made to feel guilty about a single one.
Honestly, it sounds pretty stupid! 🙂
I find it a little out there…
Seeing as how everyone is different and everyone has a different capacity for food and a different eating habit. Not to mention exercise comes into play. So no I don’t think it’s really followable. I mean, I take really small bites! Haha.
This is the weirdest thing I have ever heard!
Twitter kind of creeps me out, so does ‘checking in’ on facebook and those things on phones where you can tell the location of your friends.
Thanks for the laugh (especially the comment about Steven Tyler’s mouth). It amazes me the lengths people will go to just to avoid making healthy, sensible changes to their diet. Too bad there’s not an app for *that*.
Tapping the screen for each bite?! That’s a little much, too obsessive, and … how does one enjoy their meal while doing this?!
Craziness!
That app sounds absurd! Given all the advice on slowing down let’s all switch our fork to the opposite hand, put the fork down between each bite, drink a sip of water between each bite, and now count each one of those bites. It would take forever to eat a meal and you’d be a basket case. No thanks!
…What? That sounds way too difficult. I’ll stick with chewing until my food is in small enough pieces to swallow, thankyouverymuch.
I keep seeing ads on TV for apps that I think are ridiculous. I can’t think of a specific one right now, but there are several apps and stuff like that that just seem ridiculous–there are a couple that I think promote laziness! Which is just dumb.
This is just another one of those crazy ideas that makes eating more complicated than it needs to be.
Eat when you’re hungry. Stop eating when you’re full.
Its that simple.
thta’s hilarious! people just love apps. This one makes no sense to me.
This is hilarious! I too take more smaller bites than large bites because I like to savor and enjoy my meal instead of cramming it in. Imagine a serving of grapes. I eat them one at a time… so clearly I would be overeating 😉
Oh my God. This thing is up there with the high school teacher who made kids post their bmi’s on the board and offered extra credit for losing 10% off them!
What about all the recommendations to take small bites and eat slowly? That app, especially with the irritating noises, is going to encourage people to eat fast and unconscious. And that screenshot? Even for someone in the depths of an eating disorder and trying to self-destruct, that’s too much self-hatred channeled through a phone.
It takes me three or four bites to eat a baby carrot–I guess I don’t get to eat anymore. Speaking of which, what about all the calories from _soda_ and other liquid calories???
Having just eaten a lunch complete with a handful of baby carrots – I can totally understand. I eat mine in two bites each too. And I probably ate about 25 of them. and a pickle, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. I wonder if I went over 80 bites? I am almost curious enough to download it…
but as you said – this seems really weird to me – as the number of bites can’t be nearly as important as WHAT you are eating. I mean come on – I bet I could eat 4 big macs within the 80 bites (if I ate big macs – which I dont – actually I dont eat burgers of ANY kind)…
I am always looking for fun fitness type apps though for my ipad – I would welcome some less silly suggestions if you have any 😉
You definitely went over their “recommended limit” since the 80 bites is 80 bites for the entire DAY! Madness! LOL