GB2399428A

GB2399428A - Slimming aid

Info

Publication number: GB2399428A
Application number: GB0305749A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian Arthur Ducane
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-03-13
Filing date: 2003-03-13
Publication date: 2004-09-15
Also published as: GB0305749D0

Abstract

A slimming aid comprises a plurality of pieces, each piece carrying indicia indicative of a food value, a first receptacle adapted to contain a piece indicative of the food value to be eaten in a predetermined time period, and a second receptacle adapted to contain a piece indicative of the food value already consumed in the predetermined time period. The arrangement of the slimming aid is such that a piece in the first receptacle can be transferred to the second receptacle to provide a visual indication during the predetermined time period of the food value to be consumed and of the food value already consumed in the predetermined time period. Each piece comprises a block. The indicia is provided by the colour, shape or size of each piece and/ or by a numerical number.

Description

SLIMMING AID

The present invention relates to slimming aids.

Many people diet to save weight. There are many methods available with the aim of assisting a person to lose weight. Most methods are based around the principle of controlling the amount of food eaten per day.

This can be achieved, for example by restricting the food value, total calories, weight, or fat content of the food eaten in a day.

However, such methods can still require considerable will-power to adhere to over a period of time and do not provide a visual indication of the amount of food eaten per day.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a slimming aid comprising a plurality of pieces, each piece carrying indicia indicative of a food value, a first receptacle adapted to contain a piece indicative of the food value to be eaten in a predetermined time period, and a second receptacle adapted to contain a piece indicative of the food value already consumed in the predetermined time period, the arrangement of the slimming aid being such that a piece in the first receptacle can be transferred to the second receptacle to provide a visual indication during the predetermined time period of the food value to be consumed and of the food value already consumed in the predetermined time period.

Preferably each piece comprises a block. In a preferred embodiment the block is cuboid.

Preferably the indicia is- provided by a colour, wherein different colours are provided for different food values.

Preferably the indicia is provided by shape, wherein different shapes are provided for different food values.

Preferably the indicia is provided by size of a piece, wherein different sizes are provided for different food values.

Preferably the indicia is provided by numerical value, wherein different numerical values are provided for different food values.

Preferably the indicia is indicative of a food value comprising a calorific value.

Preferably the slimming aid comprises a plurality of sets of pieces, the pieces in each set carrying indicia indicative of a particular food value.

Preferably there are six sets of pieces.

The first and second receptacles may be bowls or trays.

Preferably the slimming aid further comprises reference means listing food values associated with different foods. Preferably the reference means comprises printed matter. Alternatively the reference means may comprise a computer readable data carrier such as a CD ROM or diskette.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a plurality of pieces for use with the slimming aid of the first aspect of the invention.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a slimming aid comprising a data processor and a visual display unit, the processor being operable to control the visual display unit so as to display a first section capable of displaying a visual indicator of the food value to be eaten in a pre-determined time period, and to display a second section capable of displaying a visual indicator of the food value already consumed in the pre-determined time period, the arrangement of the slimming aid being such that a visual indicator in the first section can be transferred to the second section to provide a visual indication during the pre-determined time period of the food value to be consumed and of the food value already consumed in the pre-determined time period.

The data processor and visual display unit are preferably provided by a personal computer.

Such an embodiment of the invention may be provided by suitable software which is loaded onto a computer, and an associated visual display unit would display two distinct delineated regions. Suitably shaped, sized, coloured or marked icons or other visually discernible digital objects would be provided in a first region which are representative of the food value to be eaten in a pre-determined time and in a second region which contains icons/digital objects indicative of the food value already consumed. Preferably a user may transfer icons/digital objects from one region to the other by using associated input means, for example a mouse.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention there is provided a machinereadable data carrier carrying information which, when loaded onto a data processor, implements the slimming aid of the third aspect of the invention.

The data carrier may comprise a CD ROM or diskette.

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of

example only.

A slimming aid is provided having six sets of cuboid pieces in the form of six sets of dice of block form.

Set 1 has ten red dice of a first size (eg 12 mm along each edge), each dice having the number "100" printed thereon (such as on each face) to represent 100 calories.

Set 2 has fifteen black dice of the first size, each with the number "50" printed thereon (such as on each face) to represent 50 calories.

Set 3 has three yellow dice of the first size, each with the number "20" printed thereon (such as on each face) to represent 20 calories.

Set 4 has ten white dice of a second size (eg 10 mm along each edge), each dice having the number "10" printed thereon (such as on each face) to represent 10 calories.

Set 5 has sixteen blue dice of the second size, each with the number "5" printed thereon (such as on each face) to represent 5 calories.

Set 6 has ten green dice of the second size, each with the number "1" printed thereon (such as on each face) to represent 1 calorie.

The sets of dice make up a total of 2000 calories as shown below.

Set Number in Colour Calorie Total Set Value I Calories Red 100 1 1000 Black 50 1 750 _ 1 Yellow 20 1 60 4 10 White 10 100 16 Blue 80 1 Green 10 _ Total: 2000 The slimming aid is used as follows.

Let us suppose a person has decided to have a calorie intake per day of 1200 calories. That person will select a number of dice at the start of each day and place them in a first location in a receptacle such as a bowl or a tray on a work top. That person will select, for example, the following pieces from each set to make up the calorie intake decided upon for that day.

l Set Number Colour Calorie Total from Set Value Calories _ Red I 1 600 _ Black 50 400 3 _ Yellow 20 60: 4 8 White 10 80 Blue 1 l 50 _ 10 Green I 10 _ I Total: 1200 Every time food is consumed, the total "calorie" value of the food is estimated and the dice representing that calorie value is transferred from the first receptacle to a second receptacle also comprising a bowl or tray.

During the day and as food is consumed, the first receptacle will be emptied of dice, and the second receptacle fills with dice. The user will need to ensure that the total calorie value of food consumed does not exceed the value of the dice in the first receptacle at the start of the day.

In use of the slimming aid, the transfer of dice from the first receptacle to the second receptacle provides a visual indication of the food to be consumed and of the food already consumed in a predetermined period of time. With continued use the dice start to represent food and the slimming aid begins to have a psychological effect on controlling food consumption.

It will be appreciated that the invention may take a form different from that specifically described above. For example the sets could be different in number. The colour, number, and/or size of each piece could also be different. Any indicia may be used to represent the food value of each piece in the slimming aid. The food value indicated could be calories but could alternatively be saturated or unsaturated fat content, protein, carbohydrate or any other property of the food to be consumed.

It is envisaged that the slimming aid would be sold as a pack of pieces, optionally with reference means such as an instruction book. A user could use soup bowls or the like as receptacles or the slimming aid could comprise suitable receptacles.

It is preferred that each piece be in the form of a dice so that they can be stacked and thus the total in the first and second containers can be seen easily. However, other shapes could be used such as counters.

Alternatively, the slimming aid may comprise electronic pieces that are implemented by software and shown on a VDU screen of an electronic device such as a PC or a purpose-build device.

The screen would be split, for example, into first and second distinct regions corresponding to the first and second receptacles of the abovedescribed embodiment. The first region would provide a visual indication of the food value to be eaten in a pre-determined period, whilst the second region would provide a visual indication of the food value already consumed in the pre-determined period.

The electronic pieces in the first region could, for example, be dragged to the second region using a mouse or other associated input means. l

The reference means listing the food values associated with different foods would be provided by the software.

Claims

1. A slimming aid comprising a plurality of pieces, each piece carrying indicia indicative of a food value, a first receptacle adapted to contain a piece indicative of the food value to be eaten in a predetermined time period, and a second receptacle adapted to contain a piece indicative of the food value already consumed in the predetermined time period, the arrangement of the slimming aid being such that a piece in the first receptacle can be transferred to the second receptacle to provide a visual indication during the predetermined time period of the food value to be consumed and of the food value already consumed in the predetermined time period.

2. The slimming aid of claim 1 wherein each piece comprises a block.

3. The slimming aid of claim 2 wherein the block is cuboid.

4. The slimming aid of any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the indicia is provided by a colour, different colours being provided for different food values.

5. The slimming aid of any one of the preceding claims wherein the indicia is provided by shape, different shapes being provided for different food values.

6. The slimming aid of any one of the preceding claims wherein the indicia is provided by size of a piece, different sizes being provided for different food values.

7. The slimming aid of any one of the preceding claims wherein the indicia is provided by numerical value, different numerical values being provided for different food values.

8. The slimming aid of any one of the preceding claims wherein the indicia is indicative of a food value comprising a calorific value.

9. The slimming aid of any one of the preceding claims wherein the slimming aid comprises a plurality of sets of pieces, the pieces in each set carrying indicia indicative of a particular food value.

10. The slimming aid of claim 9 wherein there are six sets of pieces.

11. The slimming aid of any one of the preceding claims wherein the first and second receptacles are bowls or trays.

12. The slimming aid of any one of the preceding claims further comprising reference means listing food values associated with different foods.

13. The slimming aid of claim 12 wherein the reference means comprises printed matter.

14. The slimming aid of claim 12 wherein the reference means comprises a computer readable data carrier.

15. A plurality of pieces for use with the slimming aid of claims 1 to 14.

16. A slimming aid comprising a data processor and a visual display unit, the processor being operable to control the visual display unit so as to display a first section capable of displaying a visual indicator of the food value to be eaten in a pre-determined time period, and to display a second section capable of displaying a visual indicator of the food value already consumed in the pre-determined time period, the arrangement of the slimming aid being such that a visual indicator in the first section can be transferred to the second section to provide a visual indication during the pre-determined time period of the food value to be consumed and of the food value already consumed in the pre-determined time period.

17. The slimming aid of claim 16 wherein the data processor and visual display unit are provided by a personal computer.

18. The slimming aid of claim 17 comprising software which is loaded onto the computer, and an associated visual display unit displaying two distinct delineated regions, suitably shaped, sized, coloured or marked icons or other visually discernible digital objects being provided in a first region which are representative of the food value to be eaten in a pre- , determined time and in a second region which contains icons/digital i objects indicative of the food value already consumed.

19. The slimming aid of claim 18 wherein a user can transfer icons/digital objects from one region to the other by using associated input means.

20. A machine-readable data carrier carrying information which, when loaded onto a data processor, implements the slimming aid of claims 16 to 19.

21. The machine-readable data carrier of claim 20 comprising a CD ROM or diskette.