Why diet foods actually SUCK...[long but important info for all dieters]
Sugar-free, fat free, low-calorie, you name it...I used to be *obsessed* with every low-calorie/diet option of food available.
While these foods can be helpful for reducing your caloric intake while still having the flavors you love, they ultimately screwed up my relationship with food for a few years, and it might do the same for you.
The problem isn’t consuming these reduced calorie versions of food necessarily, the problem is the anxiety that they create when you are faced with the regular option rather than your diet friendly option.
For example, sugar-free ketchup, Walden farms, and powdered peanut butter aren’t available everywhere. So the moment you have to eat the real thing, you start getting anxiety because you think that not having the reduced calorie version of your food is going to make you unhealthy or make you spiral out of control.
I think a huge step in healing an anxious relationship with food and eliminating food fear and anxiety is stepping away from these diet foods one by one.
When you’re constantly eating low calorie foods, you never feel truly satisfied on a physical and mental level. Your body & brain recognizes that there is some kind of lack.
This creates the need for eating super high-volume foods and as mentioned, anxiety around the real versions (I.e. sugar free syrup vs regular pancake syrup).
If you’re dealing with this fear-based mindset regarding regular, full fat, full sugar, not healthy but still normal-to-eat foods, you’re not alone. I went through this for 5 years.
I struggled to eat at restaurants, family events, or just grabbing a simple snack from the gas station because it wasn’t stevia based with no fat, low-carb and 15 g of protein.
But after working on this and tackling this fear head on for 2 years, I healed.
Your first step to get away from this mindset is to take out one low-calorie food at a time and replace it with the real deal version.
This could be replacing halo top with regular ice cream, powdered peanut butter with regular peanut butter, light salad dressing with regular salad dressing, etc. Reverse the diet mentality.
I absolutely recognize that there is a time and place where these diet foods can come in handy.
Especially if you’re trying to lose weight without completely eliminating certain types of foods.
Just don’t get too crazy with this, and when you recognize that anxiety and fear start to creep up around the regular foods, you know you need to do a little bit of mindset work.
Don’t wait for it to get worse before trying to make it better. Preventative measures are much easier than undoing the damage.
Does this resonate? Have you been here before? Are you in this place now? Comment below - lmk one “diet food” you’re ready to kick to the curb.