Columbia nutritionist uses board game strategy to 'Go Paleo'

Four years in the making, Columbia nutrition consultant Cara Zaller says her newest health feat arrived on her doorstep in mid-October with the delivery of her new board game, Go Paleo!Modeled after the Paleolithic diet, Zaller said the game can teach families about the benefits of wholesome, unprocessed foods and active lifestyles as they prepare their meals this holiday season.Zaller's nutrition-based game broke into retail at David's Natural Market and channels the diet that became popular in the early 2000s. People following the Paleo diet will only eat foods from the land, Zaller said, like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and animal proteins.The mother of three described Go Paleo! as a healthy version of Milton Bradley's Candy Land that incorporates energy-fueled foods instead of sugary candies. Following a prehistoric theme, two to six players, ages 3 and up, must roll dice to move their cavemen or cavewomen pieces across the board, where they can land on different foods.When players land on a healthy food, Zaller said they must identify its food group. Players can then check their answer using an answer wheel, and if they chose correctly, will receive a puzzle piece representing that food group. The four Paleo food group puzzle pieces connect to form a completed healthy food plate, which allows players to move ahead additional spaces.Energy-draining foods, like doughnuts, are also on the board, and when players land on them they are sent back two spaces and draw an activity card. Each activity card shows an exercise, time length and number of repetitions that players must complete, such as bear crawls, jumping jacks or planks.A member of the Zaller family is pictured on the card, demonstrating the exercise. Players will complete the exercise under one of the three difficulty levels they chose in the beginning of the game.&quot;Once they can achieve that and become comfortable, the next time they play the game, they can say they want to be a level two and might have to hold a plank and lift one leg at the same time,&quot; Zaller said. &quot;It increases the level of difficulty as far as your fitness level within the game.&quot;The first person to make it to the end of the board wins.Zaller, a nutrition and wellness consultant at her company FUEL4U, said the board game idea blossomed in the summer of 2012 with her husband, Craig, who's an attorney, and their children, now 15-year-old Zach and 13-year-old twins, Alec and Noah.In middle school at the time, Zach said he had created his own game on paper, where vegetables had super powers tasked with defeating the bad junk food. Zach and Zaller together sketched out a template for Go Paleo! on large pieces of paper, cutting and pasting newspaper clippings and online pictures. After some online research into board game development, Zaller said she contacted Parvez Mangalorewala, co-owner of Wordsmith Enterprises design house in Mumbai, India.During discussions with Zaller, Mangalorewala said he easily understood the vision she had for the game, which he called &quot;clear and meticulous.&quot; The key to any creative content design is to believe in the product, he said.&quot;Once that happens, translating the whole concept into design or prototypes and the rest of the package naturally follows,&quot; Mangalorewala said. &quot;There is constant interchange of layouts, ideas and suggestions from both sides and finally, when both are happy with the result, the natural production time – which will depend on the complexity of components and production process.&quot;Self-published games are not as common as self-published books, he said, describing games as a &quot;highly customized affair&quot; that must be interesting, innovative and experientially rewarding to its audience. Although writing a book may require multiple drafts, Mangalorewala said designing a board game requires a deeper understanding of the material, numerous prototypes as well as trial-and-error for game pieces and instructions.Costs of developing a game vary depending on its size, complexity, components and print run, he said, but games are typically developed cheaper when done overseas. While his experience has shown games created and designed for the sole purpose of entertainment, Mangalorewala said Zaller's Go Paleo! was &quot;the ultimate form of creative activism,&quot; looking beyond its own tagline: Eat Smart. Play Hard. Go Paleo!&quot;For a professional to develop a game that actively solves an existing problem — that is rare [and] takes vision, resilience and passion on a personal level,&quot; he said. &quot;Cara conceptualized a game that educates kids and adults on the nuances of healthy eating, while indulging in short workouts.&quot;Zaller said it cost roughly $1,500 to ship the 1,000 games from India, and thousands more for patents, copyright and trademark, and design and material. Go Paleo! wasn't created to rake in money, she said, but to educate families on how to stay healthy.Inside David's Natural Market in Columbia, general manager Greg Resch said nutrition is a top priority among customers who shop for allergen- and gluten-free products. The natural market has sold other products made by local residents, he said, such as homemade Kombucha teas, probiotic sauerkraut and gluten-free pies.On Nov. 21, Zaller's game found a home on a display at David's Natural Market. Resch said he knew Zaller as a frequent customer and found Go Paleo! to be a &quot;cute&quot; idea.&quot;The closest thing I've ever seen [similar to it] was some sort of advent wreath that was nutritionally set up like the board game, but that was a couple of years ago,&quot; said Resch, an employee at the market for 27 years. &quot;As far as what she's done, I haven't seen that before. Whether [customers] are Paleo people or they just think it is a cool idea, at least they'll see it; whereas, if they're not Paleo people they might not know about it.&quot;Resch said the nutrition retail industry works toward catering to younger audiences with cartoons on product packaging or animal-shaped foods. Larger nutrition corporations tend to buyout small businesses, Resch said, but he believes Zaller's board game is in an untapped market.&quot;With a board game, unless Milton Bradley Company comes in and takes it from her, she might be the only person that makes it,&quot; he said. &quot;We move a lot of people every day, so it's just a matter of getting people through the door and seeing it. It might appeal to customers as a holiday gift.&quot;After his family received their first shipment of 1,000 board games, Zach said he was still enthusiastic about the four-year idea and excited to play it with his family.&quot;I like the layout of the board game because most games go by really quickly, but this one's a bit longer,&quot; Zach said. &quot;I also like the design. It's really cool with the vegetables and the different kinds of foods and the fact that if you land on a processed food, you actually go back. I like that concept.&quot;&quot;I like how we get to do all the activities,&quot; his brother, Alec, added. &quot;Most games you just sit there and play the game, roll the dice and wait for your turn. Here, you actually get to do all the activities.&quot;Zaller said creating the game was an educational experience, and she hopes the game will help introduce a healthy lifestyle to all ages.&quot;I take it for granted that I eat a ton of different fruits and vegetables,&quot; Zaller said. &quot;Then, I was surprised to know that most kids don't even know what broccoli looks like. They eat from McDonald's and Burger King, so they don't know what real food looks like. This gets people to connect with the food and figure out that there's more to it than just chicken nuggets.&quot;

Columbia nutritionist uses board game strategy to 'Go Paleo'

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