You're More Than a Body: Why Kurbo Is a Bad Idea and What To Do Instead
Have you heard of the new Weight Watchers (excuse me, I mean WW) app called Kurbo? Created and marketed as an app to “help kids and teens ages 8-17 reach a healthier weight,” its foundation is in the well-intentioned but harmfully-executed push to combat childhood obesity. I’m an eating disorder therapist with specialized training in working with adolescents so alarm bells start to go off for me anytime I see weight loss mentioned, especially for kids.
I downloaded the app myself to see what experience kids and teens will have themselves and I’ve spent the week since feeling sick to my stomach over what’s being purported as healthy and beneficial to children.
The purpose of this app is for kids to log their food and activity patterns and receive ratings on a stoplight system: GREEN is for “good” foods to be eaten freely, YELLOW is for “okay” foods in small portions, and RED is for “stop and think” foods to be avoided. When entering in different foods to the app, it quickly became clear that the only GREEN foods appeared to be fruits, veggies, and skim milk. Believing firmly that fat is crucial for both brain development and satiation, I was appalled to see that whole milk, butter, and even hummus were considered RED foods. Almost anything with fat or calories was YELLOW if not RED. Most breads were labeled RED. And according to the app, you’re only “allowed” 3 RED foods a day. Comments from coaches encourage swapping whole foods for “light options” (light cheese, applesauce instead of butter, etc.) even though choosing diet and low-fat foods has been shown in study after study to promote later binge eating behaviors.
The good/bad food mentality is demonstrated to cause harm to our relationship with food. It links good food with feelings of pride and bad food with guilt and shame. At best, this is an unhealthy dynamic. At worst, it leads to restriction and/or eventual binging and purging of forbidden foods. Logging exercise in relation to food that’s been eaten sets up a mentality that you earn food through exercise (and conversely without exercise you should restrict). These attitudes show up full force in disordered eating and eating disorders.
On top of this, Kurbo has the ability to log before/after pictures to not only encourage but celebrate weight loss and only weight loss as the picture of health. If you’re familiar at all with the Health At Every Size (HAES) movement, you’ll know how ridiculous and unfounded this idea is. And if not, please please please check them out. We’re only beginning to understand how little we’ve known about the connection between weight and health. What we know now shows the strongest relationship between health and healthy behaviors NOT health and weight. One of the strongest predictors of poor health (heart disease, cholesterol, type II diabetes) is actually weight cycling which almost always begin with early dieting behavior and poor body image. Most adolescents gain an average of 40-60 lbs throughout puberty – this weight gain is vital to health as an adult. How will the Kurbo mentality interfere with normal adolescent development?
If you think my reaction is extreme, I’d like to share some statistics highlighted recently by Evelyn Tribole, co-author of Intuitive Eating.
1 out of every 4 people who diet (and yes, this is a diet) will develop and eating disorder.
The prevalence of eating disorders has more than doubled from 2000-2006 to 2013-2018.
Dieting predicts more weight gain and perpetuates stigma.
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
This stuff is serious and has long lasting consequences - it’s worth paying attention to and taking a stand on.
So how do we help kids develop a healthy relationship with food and their bodies? Here’s a few tips we hope can help:
Remember - no food is good or bad, all food is good for us in moderation. Make this your family motto, inscribe it on a plaque in your kitchen, sharpie it on your kids’ hands before school lunches. (I’m only half kidding.) Balance and moderation in everything, including in moderation.
Choose your words carefully. Instead of good/bad, junk food/healthy food, try talking about nourishing choices. Nourishing foods are foods that give us the most physical energy, emotional satisfaction, and social connectedness. That can look like grilled chicken and veggies, pizza with friends, or cake at a party. Nourishment is flexible to the circumstances and doesn’t promote guilt or shame.
Involve the whole family in activities that boost confidence - movement and exercise are to celebrate what our bodies can do and how good it can feel to move and be strong - it’s not about changing the shape or size of our bodies or earning a treat.
Speak positively and respectfully about YOUR body - talk about all the amazing things it lets you do and feel. Focus on function over form. Avoid negative self-talk, counting calories, or reading labels and redirect conversations that turn in that direction.
Make compliments about the whole person, not just appearance.
Get rid of your scale. Seriously, just get rid of it.
