The Knife and Fork Lift™

Posted By elissa on Jul 28, 2009 | 1 comment

No… it’s not a joke.

When we ran across an e-mail about a new weight loss product, we thought it had to be a joke — a knife and fork that weigh 1½ pounds each, the better to make you eat more slowly? Seriously?

This is quite serious, according to the Knife and Fork Lift’s inventor, Tom Madden. “Everybody approaches it as a joke,” he said, “but when you think about it, it does require you to eat more slowly.” Eating more slowly, say health experts, allows the brain time to register feelings of satiety, resulting in eating less.

The idea sprung from Madden’s own frustrating attempts, and those of his friends, at sticking with diets. “I’m always trying to lose a few pounds, and all the diets everyone has tried to my knowledge have failed. I thought, maybe I could make it more difficult to eat, and slow the process down.” Madden is the founder and chief executive of TransMedia Group, a Boca Raton, La.-based public relations firm.

He came up with a knife and fork encased in a dumbbell-shaped handle, several times the weight of most knives and forks. But he didn’t think this could be the next big thing since the Snuggie when he sent an early version to a friend — who loved it. “He said it was the most unique, creative, imaginative present someone had sent him,” Madden said. “And I thought, let’s make some more of these.”

For what it’s worth, I’ve written about the link between eating quickly and obesity before, so I can appreciate what Mr. Madden is trying to accomplish here.  But there’s no need to invest in…errr… creative (and somewhat pricey) silverware, when – at least for most Westerners – eating with a pair of chopsticks will do much the same thing.

I’ll give Mr. Madden points for ingenuity, however:  I expect the Knife and Fork Lift would make a great gag gift – for either the dieters or weightlifters in your life.