#which. given he has a large fanbase with wildly different types of people in it… can cause problems for me

[serpentinespider]

this is def just because I have rejection sensitive dysphoria but when people write Peter Parker as *enjoying* being bullied / talked down to it is physically painful for me. and it’s like… shockingly common??

[brothermouzongaming]

Warmind thots

Better if only by a bit

I understand that Vicarious Visions made this expansion, a fact that is a little troubling if you ask me and my pessimistic tendencies. Even with that information, I almost forgot another developer had taken care of this expansion because it was very much along the lines of Bungie’s typical format. I still feel that these thoughts and feelings are relevant and still perfectly appropriate despite Bungie doing this a little differently this time around. The fact remains: nothing is going in the game that doesn’t have Bungie’s approval. Hell, as far as we know Vicarious merely did what Bungie would’ve done anyway, following a template that was explicitly written by Bungie. From what I understand they did design the Raid Lair but I doubt they were given such liberties with dlc given what we have is reported to have been lined up for a while. Regardless, the overall message of this is that the Warmind dlc is an improvement. The subtext is that such an accomplishment means fuck-all in the face of what can only be described as a huge flop for both Bungie and Activision. Despite what the financial reports may say.  Changes to exotics are great and give us something to grind that improves our favorite guns. Escalation Protocol is a challenge that takes coordination but is still a great idea at its core. Nodes are another means of grind that again give guardians a reason to come back. Curse of Osiris was a low bar to step over, but at least they did it and did it fairly well.

“Dress-tiny”

Good god how is it that the dlc adds blander armors. I think the focus on armor is all wrong and centered way too much around looks but since it’s here; the least they could do is stand out. Hunters get straight up screwed with some of the least impressive and lazy designs I’ve ever seen. Literally solid color sleeves and a slightly different glove design. Titans are clearly the character type that inspires the artists the most because from the looks to the functionality they have it the best hands down in my opinion. My preferred class, Warlock, sits somewhere in the middle. With armor pieces that work like a dream in the field, some that are beyond useless and those are just the exotics. The legendary pieces rarely vary in any significant way beyond a couple points this way or that way between the whopping three stats you have to manage. So looks are really all that is left, and there isn’t anything definitive about a lot of these “legendary” pieces of armor. The shader situation is an absolute trash fire, hopefully, the Warmind dlc was gonna add some interesting tweaks to the color scheme...imagine my surprise when the color pallets are few and far between as far as anything really distinguishable. I put on four shaders on some pants and they all looked exactly the same. That’s one of Destiny’s many problems, it’s only half in with all of its ideas.

“Remember whoo you areee”

Lion King reference aside, I can’t be any more serious. *snaps fingers repeatedly* Hello Bungie, wake up! You are squandering all the goodwill built up in your past successes. I understand this is far from the team that brought us Halo: CE but I would’ve thought they would be fighting in its memory. The ambition is there, I commend and respect that much. The effort and execution, however, has been wildly lackluster. I can forgive a large amount of D1′s problems, it’s an ambitious idea that was gonna have some kinks and issues in it. 

Company’s like Ubisoft and Capcom are giving away the occasional free update to games like The Divison and Monster Hunter World respectively. For Destiny 2 to become essentially the biggest flop of this generation and offer no respite or token of gratitude to the fanbase that stayed is miraculously idiotic. Oh what’s that? They gave us the broken Prometheus Lens? Aw, that’d be nice if it wasn’t the only gesture Bungie has made, and it released so broken it singlehandedly turned the Crucible into laser tag. Yes, that was fun, but it wasn’t even something Bungie did, it was an accident. That accident for a short period of time was the most exciting and engaging thing that has happened in D2 for a while now. The initial concept of Destiny is very promising, especially when you find out it’s in the hands of Bungie. I can’t help but feel that somewhere along the way they realized that the idea was better than the actual physical manifestation of it. Now that they’re in way too deep, all they can do is press on through the self-made muck and mire. Doing what they want to expand the franchise rather than improve it; coming from a developer I once revered it’s both infuriating and deeply saddening. Please Bungie, get it together for your sake, not ours. I’m not buying D3 and I have a funny feeling a decent amount of people won’t either, you aren’t an indie dev with no experience. Why are you acting like it?

Copy and paste

Warmind’s loot pool is vastly more interesting and enticing than that of Osiris. The sharp geometric shapes, as well as the sounds and skills associated with the guns, are very distinct and dare I say enjoyable. They don’t drop quite as often, Destiny has reverted back to its old ways in that sense and I’m not against it at all. If we get everything in the first week what’s the point of paying so much/ what’s keeping us here? My issue is the recurring problem of both reskins and returning exotics. Osiris was fairly wrought with reskins and even worse with poor and just unsavory perks, these guns rained from the sky I practically had to set up a direct deposit to my trash bin. Even better, these weapons seem to be tiered and earned with different kinds of currency. Now getting that new auto rifle or sub-machine gun feels good when it drops and not repetitive. The bringing back of D1 exotics is nice, there’s no reason in the world why some of these guns can’t and shouldn’t exist in this game. When two of the four guns are D1 guns, that’s when I get peeved. There needs to be more, I’m not talking truckloads but half the guns shouldn’t be D1 guns not for dlc we paid for. Honestly, how hard is it to design a new gun, what are you guys saving it for D3? Why not put out as much as you can to satisfy a fanbase that is struggling in the here and now? Seriously would it kill you guys to throw us a bone beyond fixing the issues we shouldn’t be dealing with at all? I know I can come off as entitled, but realize that this is a game with so much money behind it that I’m genuinely uncomfortable with the figure itself. This money could’ve gone to like... help people. Bungie got $500 million for the franchise as a whole, let’s say it broke up evenly which is about  $166,666,666. Where the fuck did that money go? Destiny 2 is essentially one massive asset flip and when players like me were told D2 would progress the series, it’s done almost nothing but regress. So maybe as a paying customer who has been deceived and lied to since day one of this game, maybe in this instance entitlement is a little understandable. 

Change ‘Gon Come

The exotic changes are good, this is a big step in the right direction. Destiny beat its dick to no end about being a power fantasy, then D2 came around and took away the power. These guns are starting to feel exponentially better, really living up to the “exotic” term. Escalation Protocol is brutal, I’m worried it is more difficult than any random group of guardians can handle. The most I’ve done a run with is four or five and I’m suspecting it may take somewhere up to seven. Hard isn’t bad but it’s crushing to the point where I can see players avoiding the event entirely to go complete something they actually have a chance of achieving. The title of this segment is two parts, change is coming to Destiny in the form of the development end. Changes to the game that are efforts in the right direction to give this game a sense of life and purpose. We’ll see what E3 holds, this “Comet” expansion is gonna be featured due to their “brand new game mode” or whatever, something that’s “never been done before int he genre of FPS”. I have no idea what that means but it sounds like th same high aiming that got us in this mess to begin with, we will see. The other half is the changes in the form of who plays Destiny/ how many people will be playing Destiny. I said it earlier and I’ll say it again. Four years is too long for a big name dev like Bungie to say “sorry guys, making games is hard”. You signed up for this, you had time to prepare. No one asked for Destiny, and though making games is no doubt very difficult; I don’t see how you can use that as an excuse in a case of sheer negligence and outright maliciousness by Bungie. Change ‘gon come, one way or another. 

[imreviewblog]

You Should Be Weary Of Magazines' 'New Year' Diets

In their January issue, Self magazine partnered with model and body positivity advocate Iskra Lawrence, who has been open about her experience with disordered eating and is a spokesperson for the National Eating Disorder Association.

There was one problem: The feature paired Lawrence’s commentary on acceptance and healthy eating with a calorie-restrictive meal plan. It was a move many ED advocates took issue with.

“I’m just surprised to see [a diet plan] coming from you as a body positive advocate,” Megan Crabbe, a body positive blogger, wrote in an open letter to Lawrence following the publication.

“Your work promoting ED recovery reaches millions, and so many of the people who are currently struggling with an eating disorder see you as the ultimate inspiration to fight their way out,” she continued. “You have a lot of influence over some very impressionable people, and what you’ve given them, quite frankly, is poison.”

Self apologized and swiftly removed the meal plan to leave only the workouts. Lawrence also released a statement to her 2.9 million Instagram followers:

I want to first thank you all for voicing your concerns about the New Year’s Challenge. I know nothing I can say will undo the damage that was triggered, but I'm thankful to have you all to learn from. Your voices have had such a huge impact and that makes me so happy. After seeing many of your comments and DMs, I spoke with SELF's editor-in-chief, Carolyn Kylstra. We had a meaningful conversation about the Challenge, after which she made the decision to remove the meal plan. My involvement with the Challenge from the beginning was the fitness aspect—I wanted to share some of my favourite workout moves with you all that aren't for weight loss, but to feel healthy, strong and to look after our bodies. I knew that there would be recipes involved but did not know that they would be put together in the form of a meal plan or be so restrictive / low cal. I don’t believe in diets, haven't controlled my food since recovery, and would never mean to advocate for them. So thank you to @selfmagazine for hearing us - this truly shows the power of our community and the importance of the work the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is doing. We are stronger together and we are enough! Thanks to my bf, fam, my team, @nourishandeat @ddlovato and all of you who support me & @nedastaff

A photo posted by Iskra lawrence ✨ (@iskra) on Jan 4, 2017 at 10:12am PST

“I don’t believe in diets, haven’t controlled my food since recovery, and would never mean to advocate for them,” Lawrence wrote. 

The glossy is hardly alone ― Resolutions focused on diet and fitness are wildly popular and, as a result, health-focused publications almost universally offer plans each January that cater to those goals, with headlines promising stories that will help you “kickstart” your diet.

But there is often a darker side to this messaging: According to experts, the meal plans so often found in lifestyle magazines and on health blogs in the new year can be confining, time-consuming and fundamentally unsustainable. They can also be dangerous triggers for those with eating disorders. 

“I would encourage anyone ― regardless of eating disorder vulnerability ― to avoid following those types of plans and to avoid reading about them,” Jennifer E. Wildes, director of the Eating Disorders Program at the University of Chicago, told The Huffington Post.

The problem with ‘New Year, New You’ diet plans

The number of calories a person needs per day varies by age, sex and activity level, and whether he or she looks to gain, lose or maintain weight. In other words, a person’s diet is far from one size fits all. Yet, in most cases, “New Year, New You” diet strategies tend to ignore that, Wildes says. Or there is only one strategy at play: To lose weight. 

This particularly includes one element some of those plans like to drive home: The idea that “clean eating” is the ultimate diet. The focus on “kickstarting” good nutritional habits by eating a diet free of all processed foods is misguided, Wildes explains. Different people require different things, so this blanketed guideline may set someone up for failure. 

Self magazine’s meal plan is a prime example of a clean food diet: Breakfast was a green smoothie. Lunch was a salad composed of vegetables, lentils and tahini dressing. Dinner was a black bean burger which suggests portobello mushrooms in lieu of a classic hamburger bun. The whole day’s worth of meals totaled approximately 1,600 calories, according to the printed version of the plan.

More importantly though, a ‘clean food diet’ presents two separate problems: The language used and the actual advice delivered. Eating disorder experts usually bristle at the word ‘clean’ in connection to eating because it inherently makes other more indulgent food sound ‘dirty’ which can be triggering for someone with an eating disorder vulnerability.

The glossy never used the word ‘clean’ in their piece, but the meal plan they suggested still sent the insidious ‘clean eating’ message – that you should strive to eat a diet 100 percent free from processed food. To be clear, eating this way is fine if that’s what you prefer, according to Wildes, but it’s not necessary to maintain a healthy body weight or lose weight. And for people who’ve experience disordered eating, it’s damaging. This type of diet can also be impractical for a busy person since meal plans like this require dedication and time spent meal prepping days in advance. 

“Unless you are someone who genuinely likes to eat these foods, and some people do, the likelihood that you are going to be able to follow a diet like that in a long-term sense is not great,” Wildes said.

Of course, as Self’s and other diet plans suggest, there are some foods that we should obviously eat more than others. However, restrictive food recommendations based on one nutritionist’s meal plan published in a publication often do not match government guidelines for a balanced diet, Wildes said.

This means that someone who follows this advice verbatim may not be following a nutritional plan that’s suitable or sustainable for them. This is particularly true for someone with disordered eating, who may be more vulnerable to messaging that suggests a healthy diet means a lower caloric intake. Eating disorders can manifest through a tendency to create rigid rules around eating. 

Lawrence’s fanbase, largely comprised of those recovering from disordered eating, were led to Self and its corresponding diet challenge by her presence on the cover. But these meticulous plans can have a negative affect beyond that community.

“I think that these sort of restrictive diets are not particularly healthy for any of us because they’re almost impossible to follow,” Wildes explained.

Still need diet guidance? Here's what you can do instead

The most updated dietary guidelines suggest all Americans get their nutrients from a balance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and dairy. Excess sugar and fat should be limited, not eliminated. 

According to William H. Dietz, Chair of the Redstone Center for Prevention & Wellness at George Washington University, there is research that the Mediterranean diet may be useful, given its emphasis on fruits and vegetables, low-fat meat and fish. But nutrition science shows there’s no true diet that is the gold standard, he explained.

Additionally, many meal plans don’t take into account personal food sensitivities, which are critical in shaping a diet. The most important aspect in revamping your nutritional habits, Dietz says, is to choose a way of eating you can really live with.

“I think you want to get away from the perspective that ‘all I need to do is follow this diet for a month and I’ll be fine,’” Dietz told HuffPost. “A diet high in fruits and vegetables, has a good source of protein, reasonable source of dairy and whole grains is a good place to start. But you did not hear me say ‘free of processed foods.’”

Wildes and Dietz both said gripping onto a restrictive meal plan for one to two months might lead to shredded pounds, but the weight will typically come back. And research shows that weight cycling, also known as “yo-yo dieting,” usually leads to weight gain long term.

If you are looking at some of the New Year’s challenges, whether you’re vulnerable to disordered eating or not, Wildes says to pause and consider what you value most both physically and emotionally.

Because overall wellness is the whole point “New Year, New You,” anyway. 

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://huff.to/2iAjBUH