The fork of the future: could cutlery be an answer to the obesity crisis?

A new gadget utilises the humble fork as a method for losing weight.

The first person to suggest the fork as a way of controlling your diet was, surprisingly, Sir Alan Sugar. In his 2011 book ‘The Way I see it’ he titled one of his chapters ‘The Tiny Fork Diet’. The idea gathered momentum last year when a French book called ‘Dîne Avec Une Fourchette’ was released. The concept behind both is that by eating foods with a fork and foods that are prepared by a fork – you will avoid the fattening delights of ice cream, butter, yoghurt etc.

The idea was taken one step further last week with the unveiling of the Hapifork at the CES electronics and technology fair in Las Vegas. Giving the fork a hi-tech makeover, the Hapifork is a ‘smart’ piece of cutlery that tracks how often you put fork to face and even vibrates if you’re eating too quickly. You can also plug the Hapifork into your smartphone to track your progress.

This clever piece of cutlery is set to go on sale in the US this April, selling at $99. Despite it sounding like a truly bizarre way to lose weight, the Hapifork joins a line of ‘out-there’ smart products including blood-pressure monitors that log your claret levels and the Withings Wi-Fi scales that create a chart of your readings and can even tweet your results every time you step on!

With so many new ways to monitor your diet, which way do you think is best? Do you use any ‘smart’ products to lose weight? Let us know in the comments section.

If you are looking for more conventional ways to lose weight, speaking to a nutritionist may be helpful. For more information, take a look at our Weight Management page.

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