Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Trashcan rewards you for tossing out food

A person goes on a slimming diet. already existing apps sense the calories in the food they prepare, this trashcan apps tells you how many calories you save when you leave food unfinished on your plate.
 
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I mean well, yet my portion sizes seem a little larger than I intend. What if I had the diet idea "just eat some of it." Then the talking trashcan could say "you saved 200 calories" when I pitch the mac n cheese in the trash, making me feel i had accomplished something?

Now the rational approach would be to make less food in the first place. The thing is how many people are rational? Planning meals requires sustained purpose, while just tossing it might be an impulse, so easier to generate. Globally the largest predicted health problems are associated with overweight, so a system that verbally congratulates when tossing food could actually be beneficial.

I know it seems wasteful, yet if they made one and tested it, it might cause people to be slimmer.

beanangel, Oct 10 2017

They're trying to get birds to do it https://www.designb...e-butts-10-07-2017/
Not so much for tossing out food, but if a bird kept trying to steal your cig, you'd probably quit smoking pretty fast [mace, Oct 11 2017]

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       //the rational approach would be to make less food in the first place. //   

       No. The rational approach would be to make more food, so that a larger portion could be consigned to the intelligent trashcan. Supermarkets could, in fact, sell "trashcan ready" meals that were calorie-packed and unpalateable. Oh, wait...
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 10 2017
  

       The great thing about this idea is that it's not in public: ecology: fauna
normzone, Oct 10 2017
  

       Eat the right food and you won't have to count calories which is a horrible way to lose weight.   

       Just don't eat sugar and grain products. Your body didn't evolve eating concentrated sugar and grain any more than dolphins evolved eating Twinkies. Eat plenty of healthy fat and protein and get your carbs from low glycemic index foods like green vegetables.   

       Then eat whenever you're hungry till you're full. If you get off the sugar/bad carb addiction your hunger hormone, ghrelin, won't be all out of wack sending you "eat" messages when you shouldn't be eating.   

       If you want to start out slow, just cut sugary drinks out of your diet, that includes fruit juice which is no different than Coke or Pepsi to your body.   

       If you need more information you didn't read this correctly. Go back and read it again as many times as you need to.   

       That's it. Good luck.
doctorremulac3, Oct 10 2017
  

       Well, I will make half this annotation on topic RE: trashcans, and half off topic on diet advice   

       humblebragging/hubris: actually Im BMI 23.2   

       Diet advice: go vegetarian   

       Drug advice: Take metformin, it makes lab mammals live longer, and makes people weigh about 12 lbs less.   

       Trashcan content: If the app that measures how much food you have on your plate collaborates with the smart trashcan and you are 300 calories under maintenance calories then you could get free videogame levels.
beanangel, Oct 10 2017
  

       Throwing out (still-good) food is a bad idea. Put it in the fridge!
(Aside: some weeks it's not worth the effort for me to put my bin out for collection; there's so little in it, because I try to be efficient in my rubbishing.)
neutrinos_shadow, Oct 10 2017
  

       //cut sugary drinks out of your diet, that includes fruit juice which is no different than Coke or Pepsi to your body.//   

       ...unless you are suffering from the effects of scurvy.
Ok, carry on.
  

       //Waste is the enemy.// Sp. "Waist"
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 11 2017
  

       It might be recursive to have a bin that thanks you, and produces rich compost for your garden that grows your healthier food or fattens the chickens ( soon to be deep fried).
wjt, Oct 11 2017
  

       //Diet advice: go vegetarian//   

       Disproven bad science. We're not yet adapted to the agricultural revolution that was only a couple of seconds ago on an evolutionary time frame. We're omnivores adapted to a meat and vegetable diet in keeping with what we foraged and hunted as, remember what we were called? Hunter gatherers.   

       We took over the planet because of our ability to eat and adapt to anything. We can survive on candy bars and maybe someday we'll adapt to thrive on those, but in the meantime, our bodies are wanting the same thing they've always wanted: Meat, fat, and to get our vitamin C so we don't get scurvy, green vegetables, which have plenty of vitamin C.   

       Ask the primative eskimo societies with zero heart disease or metabolic syndrome about vegetarian diets. (Next time you find yourself chatting with a primative eskimo society.)   

       And if anybody ever suggests eating "heart healthy grains" (a slogan dreamed up by the grain industry, the same people that invented the debunked food pyramid) don't listen to anything else they say about anything ever.   

       That being said, grains and the agricultural revolution allowed us to have cities and indeed civilizations. But your body isn't impressed.   

       As for exercise, nothing beats heavy weight lifting. I run as well but it's pretty un-natural and can be bad for you. We're designed to walk long distances and sprint for short periods of time, (forage, stalk prey, run it down) but there's no reason in nature for us to run at medium speed for two or three hours. Though I do it anyway sometimes because... well... other people do it.   

       As for my body type, I had a fat person call me a "gym rat" once, judging me only by my physique to which I responded "Better than being a couch slug."
doctorremulac3, Oct 11 2017
  

       Clearly what we need to do is to buy twice as much food and have happy garbage cans, and immediately throw out anything that appears to be mac and cheese. Vile stuff. And I even like cheese.
RayfordSteele, Oct 11 2017
  

       //there's no reason in nature for us to run at medium speed for two or three hours//   

       Actually, there are some tribes that still hunt by running animals to exhaustion over many, many hours.
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 11 2017
  

       // This is insane. The thing we must avoid is throwing away anything that has potential. We must find ways to make use of everything as far as possible. Waste is the enemy. //   

       So very true. Every year, literally hundreds of perfectly useable explosive devices are destroyed out of hand by gumment agents, on the grounds of "safety" (allegedly). HAH ! They just want to spoil everyone's fun. Just because a device is over seventy years old, corroded, potentially unstable, and in an awkward spot is no reason to just waste it.   

       There has to be a better way, by which the full entertainment value of such treasure trove can be extracted. Sadly, so far, all our efforts in that direction have met with nothing but obstruction by the authorities. Mean, we call it.
8th of 7, Oct 11 2017
  

       // Ask the primative eskimo societies with zero heart disease or metabolic syndrome about vegetarian diets. (Next time you find yourself chatting with a primative eskimo society.) //   

       That is true but I bet you would find that their diet would kill most people not used to it... oh and they call themselves Inuit. Eskimo means "one who laces snowshoes" and they find it insulting I hear.
If you were to take inuit babies and force them to eat a Polynesian or Indian diet they would probably not live a long and healthy life.
  

       There was a study done not too long ago involving full-blood American natives with diabetes. They were kept on a strict diet of what their ancestors would have eaten before Wallmart, nuts, wild meat and fish, corn, pemmican, bannock etc. and to a person their diabetes was not only controlled but disappeared. Can't find the actual study anymore of course, but it was a good one.   

       //Actually, there are some tribes that still hunt by running animals to exhaustion over many, many hours.//   

       Hmm. Somebody show these guys how to throw a spear.   

       //they call themselves Inuit. Eskimo means "one who laces snowshoes" and they find it insulting I hear.//   

       Well, were did we get the name from? If eskimo is Inuit for "Dirty snowshoe lacing bastard" or whatever, we didn't make it up, they did. They shouldn't have introduced us to the term. There I go, blaming the Eskimos for everything again.   

       But yes, modern Inuit have horrible health just like everybody who's adopted the grain / sugar based diet.
doctorremulac3, Oct 11 2017
  

       // Well, were did we get the name from? If eskimo is Inuit for "Dirty snowshoe lacing bastard" or whatever, we didn't make it up, they did. They shouldn't have introduced us to the term. //   

       It's French... of course.   

       Why not just put this doodad on the fridge so that it rewards you for caching more food instead of throwing it out?
Cuit_au_Four, Oct 11 2017
  

       //That only applies to Type 1 diabetics. Sugar spikes are only relevant to not overweight people. GI is just such rubbish for Type 2's and is actually very dangerous as it promotes unnecessary snacking.//   

       So eating vegetables is dangerous if you've got type 2 diabetes and high blood sugar isn't an issue as long as you're obese?   

       It's this kind of revolutionary going against the prevailing wisdom that sells books! You've got a big future in the publishing game!
doctorremulac3, Oct 11 2017
  

       I like the fridge that rewards for not removing food, also cup boards
beanangel, Oct 11 2017
  

       Just add a feature to those existing apps to measure the remaining food when you're done eating, and subtract it from the measurement taken before you started. Then you don't have to throw away the excess food, but can keep it for tomorrow. As a bonus, tomorrow, you already know how much energy you're going to eat and can plan other eatings around it.
notexactly, Mar 09 2018
  

       Instead of the trash can, put it on the compost heap.
Wrongfellow, Mar 09 2018
  

       A trashcan that rewards you for tossing out food is a dog, isn't it? It also encourages you to take exercise.
pertinax, Mar 09 2018
  

       Yes, it is.
8th of 7, Mar 09 2018
  
      
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