Here is a really interesting app that is supposed to make kids think twice about eating junk food and other unhealthy snacks and it’s called Smash Your Food. What they do is pick a food, guess how much sugar, salt and oil are in there, and then smash them too bits. Smashing them will yield the correct answer so that they can compare their own with the actual one. This helps kids see what is exactly in those unhealthy foods they eat.

Press Release

Back in 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama and the USDA launched a campaign to find software developers that could make software programs which would encourage kids to take another look at the food they were putting into their bodies and try to eat healthy. The contest was called “Apps for Healthy Kids” – except it wasn’t “apps” in the way you and I think of them today (mobile apps) it was mostly web software.

Today, Food N’Me, one of the winners of the contest, took it’s “Smash Your Food” app and is launching it to the world on the iPad (NOW you can call it Apps for Healthy Kids Mrs. Obama!) and can be found here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smash-your-food-hd/id502316034?mt=8

The basic premise is simple… but fun and engaging for kids. Take a commonly abused food that kids love, stick it in the virtual machine…. and SMASH it. (After first guessing how much sugar, salt and oil are in it). Even at 32 years old I myself get a kick out of watching a soda can explode or hamburger get demolished by a massive piston. (this is not animation… each of these items were actually put into a giant smashing machine and pulverized – check out the ‘making of’ video below). The gamification of the app with stars for good guesses, advancement through levels with new food and special “Crazy Foods” to smash like a stack of five jelly donuts helps keep kids engaged and playing, while on the back end parents get customized emails with information on healthy eating tips for their children matched to their age range and activity level.