Get your monsters fast.

Today’s featured monster is a fried food fan!  In honor of him, a quick sneak peak of one of four Playnormous health games in the works: Fast Food Fumble.  I can’t give you too much detail on how this game will play simply because we don’t know the final details yet.  Things evolve over time, and our original ideas for this game are no exception.  We do have a very lovely title screen though, courtesy of our wonderful graphic designer Iva.

Health food choices…faster.

Are you a fast food fan like today’s monster?  Well, if you are, I found a site that has some nice fast food dining tips.  Want to eat healthy (or at least healthier) at your local fast food joint?  Here are some options.

Unhealthy Choice                                                  Healthy Choice

Double-patty hamburger w/ cheese                          Regular, single-patty hamburger

Fried chicken sandwich                                               Grilled chicken sandwich

Salad w/ bacon and/or ranch dressing                    Garden salad w/ grilled chicken & low-fat dressing

Breakfast burrito                                                           Egg on a muffin

French fries                                                                    Baked potato

Milkshake                                                                       Yogurt parfait

Chicken nuggets or tenders                                        Grilled chicken strips

Adding cheese, extra mayo,  special sauces            Adding mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, onions

Scabs, warts and boogers.  And I forgot my spoon.

This morning one of my favorite health blogs, Well: Tara Parker-Pope on Health, ran a fun post today about Dr. Beth Ann Ditkoff, a former New York surgeon, that decided to write a book about all the crazy questions kids ask medicine.  Her book is entitled, “Why Don’t Your Eyelashes Grow? Curious Questions Kids Ask About the Human Body.”

Test your own knowledge about weird medical trivia by taking the Weird Body Quiz.  Can you beat my 6/10 score?  Can your kids beat your score?  I bet they can!  Then try Playnormous’ own trivia health game Brain Gain to test your less gross health knowledge.

Is playing a video game really worse than under-aged drinking?

Online game magazine Gamasutra posted an article today which highlights a recent online poll conducted by a family-centered consumer game site, What They Play. The survey revealed that, when asked for a single choice, parents are more concerned about their children’s exposure to games such as Grand Theft Auto than alcohol, violence, and pornography.

Honestly, these results kind of shocked me. I haven’t read the full study myself, but here are the details. The poll was conducted August 1-6, 2008 and asked over 1,600 respondents what they’d be most concerned about their 17-year-old child indulging in while at a sleepover.

• 49% are most concerned about their child smoking marijuana.
• 19% responded that they are most concerned with their children playing Grand Theft Auto.
• 16% answered that they are most disturbed by their children watching pornography.
• 14% are most concerned with them drinking beer.

But I’m not a parent, so does my opinion really count?

Although I think these poll results are absolutely RIDICULOUS, at the same time, I’m not a parent. I’ve played Grand Theft Auto, and I know it’s not designed for kids like Playnormous games are. And we know that parents are concerned about the safety of their kids where gaming is concerned, whether it’s an online gaming site or a console game….hence our careful creation of the made-especially-for-kids Playnormous site. But is participating in fantasy deviance really worse than deviant behavior in the real world? Furthermore, if parents really believe that games like GTA can be so influential, why aren’t there more games out there like Food Fury, Bubble Trouble, and Juice Jumble that use this to better the lives of kids?

Parents: I’d love to hear your thoughts.

We’re one of the cool kids now.

Playnormous was featured in an article written by Shayna Glick of Slashfood, a site for all things food…fun, zany, and original food that is. As always, the comments are very interesting.

The Slashfood site is very cool, and I’m honored to say that Playnormous has made it to Slashfood.com. I’ve kind of become a pretty big fan as I’ve been looking at more and more blogs. The site is not necessarily all about healthy food (unless you look in the Healthy Eating section), but some great food info nevertheless. I learned how to make my own tuxedo and wedding dress strawberries today! They always have useful tips of the day, kitchen essentials, and a daily cookbook. Ever seen a meatloaf cupcake? Well, in Slashfood’s gallery you just might.

Have some fun playing with your food.

Slashfood features a section for kids and families called Play With Your Food. This site includes food trivia, family friendly recipes, funny food news, and fun food activities. Try taking the Snack Cake Quiz. Do you know the difference between a Swiss Roll and a Ho Ho cake?

All I have to say is Slashfood.com is an original–just like Playnormous.com!

Boy howdy do they give you a lot of food at restaurants.

This afternoon I went with four members of the Playnormous team and had lunch at a Brazilian steakhouse. Ever been to one of those? It was my first time to experience so much meat on a stick. They just bring skewers and skewers of meat to your table. They slice, you eat, they slice some more, and you eat some more.

We all agreed at the end of the meal that we had no idea how much we’d eaten that afternoon. That got me thinking. I’ve read a lot about calories and portion size, but how much do I really know?

Were you paying attention last week?

Last week I gave you a little information on portion size. Let’s see how much you remember this week.

Try this question out for size (pun intended).

A cheeseburger 20 years ago had 333 calories. How many calories do you think are in today’s cheeseburger?

A) 560

B) 620

C) 700

The answer.

No clue? Too easy? Test your knowledge about portion size and calories with the Portion Distortion Interactive Quizzes.

These quizzes were created by the US Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.