Importance

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Abstract

A portable device helps a person control food consumption to eat in a more relaxed manner so time is provided for the 'appestat' in the human brain to signal the person that he/she is full before overeating, and to provide time for conversation when eating with others. The apparatus includes red and green lights (22, 20), a circuit (46) that controls energization of the lights, and a pushbutton switch (42) that operates a portion of a circuit. When the push button (44) is depressed the circuit energizes the red light (22) for a predetermined period such as 30 seconds (which can be varied), to indicate that the person should not eat while the red light is on. After the predetermined period, the circuit energizes the green light (20), to indicate that the person can take one or two bites of food at his/her convenience. As soon as the person takes the one or two bites, the person depresses the push button to cause the red light to be energized for the predetermined period. This cycle continues until the meal is over. When starting the meal, the person turns on the circuit, causing a timer display (24) to begin counting, in seconds and minutes, the time that the device was on. This encourages the person to delay taking bites of food, so the meal lasts at least 20 minutes, and reminds the user to wait until the 20 minute period is over before leaving the eating area or deciding whether to eat another serving.

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First Claim