Body Fun -- A Computer Game To Help Kids' Health

LIKE MANY 11-YEAR-OLDS, my nephew Flynn deals with computers as naturally as he does with TVs and telephones. Also like many 11-year-olds, he doesn't always eat a balanced diet. Who better to help me check out "Dr. Health'nstein's Body Fun?"

I left this interactive computer game - put out by the Cancer Research Foundation of America - with Flynn, who mastered it in no time and then consented to show his old auntie the ropes.

The player (only one at a time, unfortunately) begins by giving a character a name, gender and one of six skin colors, including lime green (Flynn's favorite) and my choice this time, purple. The underground lab creates my purple boy at age 10 and delivers me to the first of four obstacle courses that lead me down The Road of Life. Starting off with a health rating of 50, I try to make wise choices for diet and exercise, which will add enough points to my score so I'll win the challenge race, age well and advance to the next round. My guide is the mechanized Dr. Helga Health'nstein, who sounds suspiciously like the robot from "Lost in Space."

When I click on my game piece, it zooms to the first stop, home. I choose among 20 items for breakfast, dragging the ones I want to my plate. To check calories, fat, protein, carbohydrate, fiber, calcium and vitamins A and C, I drag a food to the nutrition monitor, which also keeps my running total. I pick toast, milk, a fried egg and grapefruit: 11 grams of fat, a bit high, so only one point is added to my health rating, instead of the maximum of three.

At the mystery chest, my draw turns out to be a drawback: "You think smoking is cool," it says, and I lose two points. I score +3 at the school cafeteria (fish sticks, banana, baked beans, frozen yogurt, 1 percent milk). For exercise I choose jumping rope, one hour a day, five times a week (I wish): +2. At the Vendo machine, pretzels equal one point. Then to the Slop Hut, where a grilled-chicken sandwich, baked potato, bean burrito and soda garner two more, for 57 total. Alas, it's not enough, so in The Nile Mile swim challenge I lose to the lovely Cleo and barely avoid Tut the alligator.

In my second game I fare better at first, going for low-fat foods and a little more exercise. With 60 points I win The Nile Mile and head to Round 2, where I'm now age 15. I make it through Addiction Alley, where the evil imp tries to hook me on "dope," but I escape by answering a question correctly: If I had a friend with an eating disorder, I'd tell an adult who cares, rather than ignoring the problem or trying to solve it myself.

I think I have the hang of it, figuring I can eat all I want as long as it's low-fat. Wrong. Flynn checks the Bodyputer 2000, where the Time Traveler projects what I'll look like at age 50. Flynn isn't very diplomatic: "Whoa! You're a chubbo!"

I ease up on the total calories, but it's too late, and I lose The Midnight Marathon. Only in later games do I make it to age 50, escape The Maze, beat The Big Kahuna in The Perilous Pipeline surf challenge, survive lunch at "Oily" Nick Lardo's and finally, in my 80s, defeat Greta Flymeister in The Matterhorn Mountainbike race.

Flynn has figured out all the tricks: finding the underground lab, using the Bag O'Guts and Anatomy Machine to see the effects of certain foods on the body, playing the Fat Shootout video game, and saving to disk frequently, so if I mess up I can revert to an earlier version without starting over. Although the box says the game (a deal at $20; Windows and Macintosh; 800-227-2732) is for kids age 8 and up, Flynn thinks it's best for ages 6 to 9, but not younger, "because they have dope in it."

So, Flynn, do you eat differently now?

"Yes," he says, but he can't keep from grinning. "No, I don't."

Sure enough, when my sister-in-law Riley gets home and checks on us, the game seems a faint memory:

"Hi, Mom!" Flynn says. "Can we have pizza for dinner?"

Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific Magazine.

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Downsizing

Good news for turkey-jerky fans: Though Oberto's large, 4-ounce bags seem more common (or at least more noticeable), smaller (nearly 1-ounce) bags can be found, often at convenience stores but increasingly in supermarket displays. I bought a half-ounce bag (70 calories, half a gram of fat) of Peppered Turkey Jerky at QFC for $1.69. It's still one of the handiest products when looking for a portable, no-refrigeration-needed snack that's primarily protein (11 grams), not fat or sugar.

Held in place

If you need to secure your eyeglasses (or sunglasses) while exercising but don't like those bands that wrap around the back of the head, try Reax. These over-the-ear wraps attach to the stems and hold the glasses snug to the head, without rubber straps or dangling cords. $4.95 and $6.95; (888) GET-REAX.

Shoe-sale equity

Is it just me, or isn't it about time women had just a few more choices when it comes to sports-shoe specials? I see dozens of men's shoes on sale, but the only women's shoes listed are usually just aerobic or walking shoes, sometimes tennis. How about ones for basketball? Soccer? Rock climbing?

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