The Solution: How Yumeats Works
The Spark: How YumEats Began
YumEats began with a conversation between Eric, a father and strength coach at Lehigh University, and Canaan, a student-athlete at Lehigh. Eric shared how his sons struggled with eating, and how mealtimes had become a battle worsened by unstructured screen time. Canaan, passionate about problem-solving and entrepreneurship, saw Eric’s frustration and wanted to help. Together, they teamed up to create the app YumEats, a solution designed to make mealtimes smoother and healthier for families facing similar feeding challenges.
The Problem: Why YumEats is Needed
Feeding difficulties and unhealthy eating habits during mealtimes are common issues, especially for children with autism and developmental disabilities.
Feeding Challenges
- 25%–35% of typically developing kids face these struggles.
- 90% of kids with autism have feeding difficulties (2 million US children diagnosed with autism)
Additionally, some parents place their kids in front of screens during mealtime, with no structure, which leads to poor eating habits.
Screen Addiction
Many parents use screens to keep their children occupied during meals, but without proper structure, this can result in poor eating habits and overdependence on screens. Moreover, parents are increasingly concerned about the impact of screen time on their children's development, especially when it interferes with building healthy habits.
YumEats addresses screen addiction by transforming screen time into a purposeful reward rather than an unregulated distraction. The app integrates screen engagement in a way that promotes positive behavior—children earn screen time by taking healthy bites and completing their meals. This approach helps parents manage screen use more effectively, turning it into a tool for habit-building rather than a source of distraction. Additionally, we are designing and testing progression levels to gradually reduce screen reliance as children develop healthier eating behaviors.
The Solution: How Yumeats Works
YumEats is designed to solve both eating challenges and screen dependency with a fun, science-backed approach. Here’s how it works:
Incentivizing Content
Kids are motivated by engaging videos, audiobooks, and social stories that encourage them to take bites. These interactive elements provide positive reinforcement, making mealtime enjoyable and reducing mealtime battles.
Scientifically Timed Chewing Intervals
Our app incorporates scientifically designed chewing intervals, ensuring that kids take their time and chew properly. This structured pacing helps develop healthier eating habits, minimizing overeating or rushing through meals.
Progression System
To combat screen addiction, YumEats transforms screen time into a purposeful tool that encourages healthier eating behaviors while gradually weaning the child off of screen dependency. As the child advances through progression levels, the app increases the number of consecutive bites required to earn the reward. This helps children stay engaged and reinforces positive behaviors over time.
Final Reward System
Each bite a child takes adds more time toward their final reward, motivating them to stay focused and finish their meal. At the end of the meal, the child redeems their reward, reinforcing the goal of staying focused and finishing their meal.
Progress Tracking with Eating Metrics
YumEats tracks key eating metrics such as meal duration, volume consumed, total bites, bite volume, and body weight. This data is available to parents, allowing them to monitor their child’s progress over time and make informed decisions about their eating habits. These insights offer a clearer understanding of the child's progress, enabling parents to better adjust the progression levels.