Chaz
This project came about when thinking about how to stop myself from eating everything on my plate at every meal. The concept is similar to brushing teeth then drinking orange juice. Brushing your teeth overall isn't unpleasant, but eating or drinking right after is usually inadvisable. This project builds on that understanding and uses it to help curb your appetite during meals and elicit behavioral changes in your eating habits. I have tried lots of mints and configurations. So far mouthwash strips have won out as they pack super dense, are strong but not unpleasant and relatively inexpensive. As for configuration I have found that any additional steps hinder the effectiveness of the solution. Yes you could use your phone and a timer and have mints on you but all of those are extra steps that take more time and therefore make it less likely for you to remember to do them. A physical wristband has seemed to act a good reminder and allowed for easy one button access during the start of a meal. Having the appetite suppression supplement right there when you silence the alarm makes it very easy to pop it open and grab one. From there you just don't feel like eating your delicious delicious 2nd half of gigantic burrito. You are still happy and remember how good it was but, It is just like you brushed your teeth. Sure if you wait 10 minutes you may want to have another bite, but usually by then your stomach has signaled to your brain that you are full.
So the idea works, how to get it out there.
Without a ton of capital I can't make millions cheap. I can however release plans and parts for people to make them at fairly low prices with almost no skills needed. Hopefully this will aid in spreading the word and help adoption of the method. If this helps 1 in 100 people struggling with obesity it is still 6.5 MILLION peoples who's lives could be better.
Simple design: Off the shelf watch band and mints. A simple timer PCB, case and open code.
Ideally if I won the HAD prize then it will be much easier to manufacture machined cases in bulk and get the assembled PCBs cost down. Then I could have finished units for the laziest among us. Myself included.
License details:
The Github Repo is set as Apache 2.0
I did file a provisional patent on the device months prior to deciding to submit it to the 2019 HAD Prize so..."USA Patent Pending" however at this point it is more of a precaution to keep it "open". This is something that everyone should be able to make for themselves and improve on. This competition is considered public disclosure and It is unlikely I will actually followup and file the real patent as my main intent at this point is to collaborate and help people. Plus the public disclosure of this would make getting a patent in the EU very difficult given the timeline.
BART
jens.andree
Tim
Eric Wiiliam
That's a great device. I'm currently studying the topic of bad eating habits and I was wondering about what kind of devices there are in this field. I read about similar ones in the papers on the site https://samploon.com/free-essays/bad-eating-habits/ but I think it is interesting to find all sorts of new and multifunctional developments in the field. I want to include a list of such devices in my essay on bad eating habits.