Diet Betting: Healthy or not?

Yesterday, I watched a segment on the Today Show about ‘diet betting‘ – and it got me thinking. It seems like, more than ever, we all need an incentive to lose weight & get healthy…a monetary or material incentive. Its as if feeling better about your body and seeing your health improve isn’t enough. Maybe I’m being cynical – I guess if it motivates someone to improve his or her health, then that’s all that matters. Or is it? 

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The first thought that struck me after watching the segment was that, not only does it create a desire for a ‘reward’ for losing weight, but it can turn into unhealthy competition. If you’re competing with family, friends, co-workers, strangers, etc. to lose a certain amount of weight for a chance to win money or prizes, do you think you might go to the extreme? Very possible. I could see where this seemingly harmless concept could really cause you to lose focus on what really matters – your overall health.