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Ask HN: Rewarding employees who eat healthy through a mobile app

1 points by kuwachi 14y ago

I currently have a mobile app called Foodsnap where users can enter a description of food, and get calorie and nutrition information back. We are thinking of creating an enterprise version where employees of Company X can enter their employee ID into the app and start using it. What we will do is assign positive points for good food behavior such as whole, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. No negative points will be issued. What we will do is give the point total to Company X weekly and then Company X can reward their employees however they want for good food habits (an extra PTO day, lunch, etc). For example, if you eat an apple, lettuce, and oatmeal today, we might give you 4 points for that. We will be following mainly the guidelines of Harvard's Nutrition Program. Any thoughts on this?

kuwachi 14y ago
App link for background information: http://www.foodsnap.mobi http://www.foodsnap.mobi
mchannon 14y ago
I could see people taking advantage if the stakes were high enough- buying two meals, taking pictures of the healthier one, eating the unhealthy one, and throwing the healthy one away off-camera. It does kinda seem like a solution looking for a problem, but maybe there are problems it solves that I don't see.
Mz 14y ago
I can see lots of problems with it. The first thing that comes to mind: Eat your usual crap AND then also down an apple to boot to get the rewards. Great way to encourage overeating. That's just the tip of the iceberg of what I see, but since my initial post was lost in cyberspace, I am taking that as a hint to be brief this time.
kuwachi 14y ago
So here is the logic in terms of the employer (company owner). Generally speaking, employers want their employees to be healthier so they use less pto, less health care, and to be more productive. I think there are already some other apps where users can self report their fitness and get rewards through their respective company. So the ultimate goal of the app is to get people to eat healthier. There are obviously many angles to this such as portion control, fiber intake, and meat, vegetables, and fruits ratio. As to what constitutes 'healthy', it is pretty controversial, where if you ask 2 doctors, you'll get pretty much 3 answers. Generally speaking our behavior goals for the user is to add more fruits, vegetables, and fiber specifically. When speaking with UCLA's head of oncology she pointed out that academic literature points out to most people lacking this in their diet and that consuming those items would lead to improved health. Now as a previous commenter about overeating, at the very least the apple contains 12% fiber and 10% of vitamin C you need daily.

1 points by kuwachi 14y ago

kuwachi 14y ago

App link for background information: http://www.foodsnap.mobi http://www.foodsnap.mobi

mchannon 14y ago

I could see people taking advantage if the stakes were high enough- buying two meals, taking pictures of the healthier one, eating the unhealthy one, and throwing the healthy one away off-camera. It does kinda seem like a solution looking for a problem, but maybe there are problems it solves that I don't see.

Mz 14y ago

I can see lots of problems with it. The first thing that comes to mind: Eat your usual crap AND then also down an apple to boot to get the rewards. Great way to encourage overeating. That's just the tip of the iceberg of what I see, but since my initial post was lost in cyberspace, I am taking that as a hint to be brief this time.

kuwachi 14y ago

So here is the logic in terms of the employer (company owner). Generally speaking, employers want their employees to be healthier so they use less pto, less health care, and to be more productive. I think there are already some other apps where users can self report their fitness and get rewards through their respective company. So the ultimate goal of the app is to get people to eat healthier. There are obviously many angles to this such as portion control, fiber intake, and meat, vegetables, and fruits ratio. As to what constitutes 'healthy', it is pretty controversial, where if you ask 2 doctors, you'll get pretty much 3 answers. Generally speaking our behavior goals for the user is to add more fruits, vegetables, and fiber specifically. When speaking with UCLA's head of oncology she pointed out that academic literature points out to most people lacking this in their diet and that consuming those items would lead to improved health. Now as a previous commenter about overeating, at the very least the apple contains 12% fiber and 10% of vitamin C you need daily.