Stop demonizing food: at least make it optional to remove the emojis.
This app for me is mainly for counting calories, making sure that I hit my numbers correctly. But it always upsets me when 'm adding my recipes. For example: if I want to add that I cooked with one tbsp olive oil it gives me the "☹️" or used soy "😐" or god forbid I have a portion of carbohydrates "☹️"
I have a history of eating disorders, I had my "safe" foods (basically only fruits & vegetables) and everything else was, in my disordered way of thinking, bad.
Now I know better, but do you? Because according to your own app I shouldn't have anything that isn't vegetables or fruits. How is that healthy?
Again, I use this to count my calories, not as a strict rule book on what I should and shouldn't eat. I don't need those damn emojis to make me feel bad/shameful for cooking with some oil. It's beyond triggering for my mental health and it's the one reason why I always delete the app: it promotes a very toxic relationship to food.
Now, I understand you may have arguments to why it's necessary for some people to have a visual cue, but the good does not outweigh the bad. I would be so thankful and happy to be able to turn those emojis off, so I can count my calories in a way that doesn't make me feel bad for eating.
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Cecilie Tilsted commented
A similar post was made back in 2015 - I’m just posted a similar one as well now in 2024.
It is absolutely outrageous and backwards that Lifesum still hasn’t made the (incredibly incorrect and misleading) rating system optional.
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Bianca Karremans commented
The smileys aren't even that correct or helpful! I like the information below just to give me some extra information on the products that I'm choosing, but the smileys mostly don't match how I feel about a food