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These cupcakes are making me hangry:
In what is probably the only example ever of tiny, frosted cakes sparking mass outrage, strong negative feedback has prompted Google to remove a cupcake calorie counter from its iOS Maps app, the company confirmed Tuesday.
Google recently added the cutesy — and possibly half-baked — feature as an experiment. With the new feature, users saw a pink cupcake icon that automatically showed them how many calories they would burn if they walked to their destination. The app also translated that calorie count into mini cupcakes, telling walkers how many of the tiny treats they would burn if they walked from point A to point B.
But complaints soon started raining down like sprinkles.
Critics accused the cartoon cupcake counter of being patronizing, promoting body-shaming, and possibly triggering unhealthy behavior in people who have struggled with eating disorders or over-exercise, BBC reports. There's no way to turn the feature off, critics pointed out.
"Do they realize how extremely triggering something like this is for ppl who have had eating disorders? Not to mention just generally shamey," a user named Taylor Lorenz tweeted. She added: "Also it looks like there's no way to turn this feature off what the hell."
Google Maps has instead added 12 "worlds" for users to explore, including Venus, Pluto, Europa, Ganymede, Rhea, and Mimas. Google Maps users would in fact weigh less if they were on these bodies.
Also at The Verge, SFGate, TechCrunch, and Buzzfeed.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @01:01PM (5 children)
I'm obese and consider myself as having an eating disorder. Those who do not rarely understand the struggle to not overeat, to not snack, and to not eat the worse food choices. Food is like a drug to me, and if I don't have it often I get fidgety. It reminds me of when I was a smoker. If there is food near me I end up eating it even if not hungry. Like a smoker this happens even while I am cursing myself inside for doing it. The struggle is real and I wish others would understand that. It is a disorder and an addiction. Lack of free time for exercise and cooking don't help. Stress and financial issues make it worse.
Now, consider that you would think I would be on the side of saying these cupcake counters are a trigger and are bad. But guess what, I think that is snowflake bullshit. People are way too whiny. Yes, your eating disorder is a disorder, but don't blame Google for that. They were trying to help you, even if you don't agree with the way how. In my experience my best weight loss came when I had a tool that kept me aware of just how much I was eating (calorie counting with My Fitness Pal). Seeing a total number of calories eaten or burned and being aware and accountable for it was the best thing for me and worked better than anything else I have ever tried. Maybe you should stop being sorry for yourself and realize they were just trying to do something good for you.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday October 18 2017, @01:35PM (2 children)
First watch this professor's video (without thinking of it as an ad, just for the explanation itself): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IdzC6mJzLA [youtube.com].
Then lookup "intermittent fasting" and read about how and why it works and about all of its benefits.
Good luck.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @01:52PM (1 child)
Like I said, those who do not have eating disorders do not understand the struggle. Here is yet another example.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:45PM
Ah, you didn't watch the video until the end. If an eating disorder comes from the mind, that video would have given you pointers how to start beating that instead of keep struggling with it.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 18 2017, @08:24PM (1 child)
I feel for you. Food addictions are hard to overcome because they're so fundamental and automatic. And if you're in America, there's nothing around you in the popular culture or in restaurants or supermarkets anywhere that helps you out. Everything pushes, pushes, pushes you to overeat, and choose the worst foods possible. And the blood sugar roller coaster sends you soaring and crashing over and over again several times a day. When you don't get your fix you get the shakes.
Then you get conflicting messages from scientific studies saying eat this, or do that. It's maddening and none of it seems to help. Meanwhile, your need for another fix creeps up on you and suddenly another day has gone by.
I've had a similar experience, though not to the degree it sounds like you have. I tried exercising like a fiend--four hours/day. Didn't make a difference. I tried calorie restriction to 1300 calories/day. Didn't help. I fasted for four weeks straight, with nothing but vitamins and it didn't help; my body went into starvation mode and would not shed weight. The latest tack is a ketogenic diet strictly kept for a year. I thought that was working, my waist bands were all getting loose, I had a lot more energy, etc, but nope, at the annual physical a couple weeks ago I weighed in 10lbs heavier.
Oh well.
One thing I can say about the ketogenic diet is that you don't suffer the blood sugar roller coaster anymore. You do stop craving sweets and bread and such. Emotionally you're on a more even keel. You start naturally craving foods high in nutrients and junk like potato chips seems pointless. That has to be a good thing, right?
It might be worth checking out for that reason, so you at least escape some of the more unpleasant effects of being too heavy.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:45PM
> I weighed in 10lbs heavier.
That's not necessarily bad. Maybe you became more muscular.