Diet Foods: the good, the bad, and the ugly

I have a problem with foods marketed as “diet foods.” My main problem is that the majority of these foods simply don’t taste good, and therefore, leave me wanting more. Honestly, the full fat and full sugar version of anything CAN have a place in your diet, and you can still maintain a healthy lifestyle. The idea of eating full fat yogurt should not scare you like it used to scare me. I used to be so obsessive about calories I would get angry at my waiter or waitress because I swore to myself they gave me a regular Coke instead of Diet Coke. Like I’ve said many times before, eating is about listening to what your body desires- what does your body require to feel and run at its fullest potential?

However I will acknowledge, there are lower calorie options that aren’t so terrible as well. In this post, I’ll being going through what I’ve found to be the good, the bad, and the ugly of “diet” foods.

The Good: These are foods that I love and really don’t seem so diet-y to me at all.

1. Skinny drinks from Starbucks- You can order pretty much any drink at Starbucks in a “skinny” version in which they use nonfat milk and sugar free syrup instead of the full fat and sugar stuff. I honestly can’t tell the difference between my skinny iced vanilla latte and the regular version. When I was deep into my eating disorder I knew the calorie count of the regular drink and the skinny drink, but I’ve long forgotten that now. I just know I love my skinny vanilla latte, so I’ll stick with it.

2. Slow Churned Ice Cream- Edy’s was the first brand to come out with this kind of ice cream, but now pretty much everyone makes a “slow churned” or “double churned” variety of ice cream. Something to do with this churning process makes the ice cream have about half the fat and calories of regular ice cream. It tastes the same as regular ice cream, and since I eat ice cream on a daily basis (yes, I’m serious…daily), I figure I might as well get the slow churned stuff.

The Bad:

1. Lean Cuisine Meals- These meals are so measly they should be called snacks. Some of them do have pretty good flavor though. If you aren’t into cooking I’d suggest steaming a bunch more veggies and some lean protein to stir in with the lean cuisine meal. Then you might feel satisfied.

The Ugly:

1. Walden Farms Zero Calorie Peanut Butter- You read that right. Zero Calories people. I found this product when I was well into my recovery. I laughed out loud when I found it though, thinking about how my former self would have devoured this seemingly “free food”. Of course I had to buy a jar of it just to find out how it tasted! It was TERRIBLE. I would actually describe it as inedible. How anyone manages to eat that chemical concoction is a mystery to me. Both my mom and I had a little taste, gagged, and promptly threw the entire jar into the trash can.

2. Fat Free Salad Dressing- I have an issue with fat free salad dressing because it isn’t really dressing at all. It should be called fat free salad goop I think. Instead of “dressing” a salad. It just sits as an unappetizing blob. The taste isn’t so great either. Healthy fats, like olive oil in salad dressing, should have a place in your diet. These fats are great for your hair, nails, and skin! If you are eating your greens, you owe yourself some delicious salad dressing. Why waste your time eating something you don’t absolutely love?

I could go on and on with this list, but I’m going to leave it here. What are “diet” foods you love and hate?

Oh yeah, I made some iced coffee today too!