Diet food or LESS QUANTITY normal food?

What's your option?

For me, I'd rather eat half a slice of real cake, or 25g of milk chocolate (with strawberry cream *gasp*) or handful of pretzels for a desert then a bigger sized sugar free, fat free "diet" treat full of chemicals. I mean, maybe 5% of them actually taste that good, but all of them don't really satisfy...

Same with food. I'd rather eat about 3-4 ounces  of pan fried liver (lots of fat booo) once in a while, or 3-4 ounces of shnitzel, with a nice side of salad, rather then go for fatfree cheese on rice cakes with a glass of fat free milk ANYTIME. Mind you I don't eat fried things everyday, I usually get my protein from grilled chicken or tuna, but I'm not afraid of skin on a drumstick or a tiny portion of french fries. I balance it out by eating a big salad, and lots of fruit for the rest of the day.

I don't know, maybe I'm weird, here I see so many people trying to find the elusive 0 calorie 0 fat 0 sugar snack they can BINGE on to their heart's desire.

But for me - fat free - leaves me hungry. Sugar free - satisfies for the moment, and then gives me mad cravings for actual sugar, and super low calorie - leaves me both stuffed and hungry which is just weird.

no this is what is a normal relationship with food....the problem is most of us go to either extream.  all fatty foods all the time or cutting it out compleatly.  i am becoming much more like this since recoverying from anorexia.  i am trying to eat what i really like and only that,  the problem is i dont know what i like sometimes and some some stuff just scares me,  and tuns out i prefer healthy foods like apples to cake..hate fried foods,  .guess i am lucky in that way.

Most "diet" food taste fine to me.  I don't drink soda in general because I'm always worried about my teeth, but the foods I've had that have used some diet ingredients have tasted fine.  I use them once in awhile when I cook.

That being said, I can still taste the difference between that and normal ingredients.  I do like the normal stuff better, but it really depends on how I'm feeling.  Sometimes I want the one that tasted like an indulgence, other times I just want to fill up a little space.  Usually I just eat a lot of vegetables and I don't have to worry about being really that hungry so I when I do eat something sweet I can have the non-diet versions.  :P

P.S.  I was never much of a cake guy either.  What always gets me is crunchy stuff.  I could easily eat 2,000 calories worth of granola bars or mixed nuts if I really wanted.  They are so delicious.  T_T

I'm all about 'normal' food; I don't care for most engineered 'diet' foods in the least and wouldn't be able to stick with them for a lifetime.  I've always preferred a tiny dish of full-fat ice cream to a big bowl of the low-sugar or low-fat stuff or some butter in place of the spreads, sprays, and powders that some people swear by.  I assume I always will.  To each his own, I suppose; I imagine that people just have very different palates and that, for some, diet foods actually taste good.

I do drink diet sodas, though, largely as a vehicle for caffeine early in the day (coffee makes me feel ill).  I prefer regular soda, but not within a few hours of waking up, so until they start selling caffeinated seltzer I put up with a little bit of aspartame.  I guess I drink lowfat (1%) milk, too, but not full-on skim.

I never could do coffee, the taste of it even if it is sweetened is very bad to me.  Once in awhile I drink the SoBe energy drinks because I find them very tasty and they do a really good job of waking me up.  Most energy drinks I think taste as bad as coffee though, especially red bull.  

When I was in High School I used to buy two liters of coke and drink it all in one afternoon.  x_x;;

Blech to fake foods.

Aspertame give me migraines so that's out from the get-go.  As for the rest of it, if I can't pronounce what's in it, I'm not eating it.  (and considering I've got a pretty good grasp of hooked-on-phonics, that's saying something)

It's great for those who like it, but count me out   I'll take me some real food full of fat and calories and carbs over an unidentifiable lab created concoction any day of the week.

And as long as I keep moving it's okay :-P

AMEN! I couldn't agree more to everything you've said, suzushii. Why fill your body up with all that unsatisying, chemical-filled crap when you can enjoy a little of the real thing and just balance it out anyway?

Although I AM ashamed to admit I have an addiction to Coke Zero and Pepsi Max. Curse those drinks and their weird additives!

There are a few diet foods that I don't mind (for example, with my morning yogurt, I'd rather have Breyers' aspartame than Yoplait's HFCS-sugar-probably splenda too, if there's nothing without either available). But I'd definitely have a real, sugary, fattening, 1/2 cup of 300 calorie real ice cream and really enjoy it, than to sit there with some splenda-malitol-aspartame concoction "learning to like it".

For the yogurt, I love the Dannon All Natural yogurts...

Ingredients:  Lowfat Milk, sugar, natural vanilla flavor (or fruit -- currently I have vanilla), pectin.

And for one cup it's 200 cals, but I usually only have a 1/2 cup serving.

For ice cream, I usually get the Breyer's All Natural (or the Walmart version of the same-- a bit more product for less price) and they have milk, cream, sugar and the flavors, that's it.  Sour cream is the same spiel with the natural thing.  I use the Kroger brand all natural which is cultured cream, skim milk and enzymes.  And they all taste so ummmmmmmmie!  Go ahead and ask me how that ice cream tastes

double post, sorry

I eat about 80% clean so I don't really rely on "diet foods" at all - that being said, I don't eat anything especially fattening either. I don't eat red meats (I know lean red meats are healthy - I don't like them very much), ANY fried foods, pizza (unless it's home made), excessive pasta (I know, whole wheat is good for you in moderation), and most salty snacks (chips, doritos, whatever) - that's because I don't like them THAT much. Granted, I don't hate these foods either - if it was in front of my face and I was starving I'd eat them, but because they're not my FAVORITE foods I'd rather have my indulgences where I can truly appreciate them - a chocolate bar, a brownie, a piece of rich cheesecake - those are the foods I LOVE. 

I eat hardly any products whatsoever - the only things I will ever have is fat free kraft singles (1 slice or so mixed into my eggs - no less satisfying to me and it's only 30 cals) and dannon light and fit yogurts (I like them because they're portable and don't require mix ins so I can pack it to work - at home I enjoy fat free greek yogurt).

I also drink skim milk but that isn't a "diet switch" for me - I was raised on skim milk and everything else tastes stale to me.

I don't really like the "diet" foods either.  Give me a homemade chocolate chip cookie, and I'm happy!  I'm not real good at reading labels as far as eating "clean" goes either.  I make a lot of my foods at home because...well...it is cheaper for the most part.  I have kids so I can't just say no more pizza or pancakes (my kids could live on pancakes if I let them).  After putting that much effort into making foods from scratch for them, I need to be aloud to eat them too.

I agree.  Go for the normal food.  REally, if you're eating lots of fruits and veggies, you need some of the fats and things that are in the real meats, cheeses, oils, and other goodies. 

I never really thought about it before, but I prefer the lowfat or light versions of most dairy things, like light cheese, skim milk, low fat frozen yogurt, FF sour cream, light cream cheese, even light mayo, I can't stomach the richness of the original. These foods in their full fatty goodness, actually give me a tummy ache and always have. I can drink 2 litres of skim milk and thoroughly enjoy it, but one glass of 2% and I'm doubled over in pain... So I have been buying the "light" version of all those things long before I started "dieting" I also prefer the taste of diet pop, regular makes my teeth ache it's so sweet, but for the 4-5 glasses I drink a month, I'm not too concerned.

But there are definetely foods that have to be real! Pretty much anything non dairy, lol

I agree.  To me, skim milk *is* normal food; the fattier stuff makes me ill.  For the same reason, I prefer lower fat dairy products (though we're talking part-skimmed cheese not totally fat free).

On the other hand, I stay away from most diet "foods" like Cool Whip and Walden Farms and that sort of thing.

I've never heard of shnitzel or pan fried liver.  I do not think I would want to try either.

I don't like to have high fat food.
But sugar free does not taste the same!

 I have to avoid both high sugar and high fat because high triglycerides / cholesterol, heart disease runs in my family.  So I am just **** outta luck! =(

Original Post by makenasmom:

I never really thought about it before, but I prefer the lowfat or light versions of most dairy things, like light cheese, skim milk, low fat frozen yogurt, FF sour cream, light cream cheese, even light mayo, I can't stomach the richness of the original. These foods in their full fatty goodness, actually give me a tummy ache and always have. I can drink 2 litres of skim milk and thoroughly enjoy it, but one glass of 2% and I'm doubled over in pain... So I have been buying the "light" version of all those things long before I started "dieting" I also prefer the taste of diet pop, regular makes my teeth ache it's so sweet, but for the 4-5 glasses I drink a month, I'm not too concerned.

But there are definetely foods that have to be real! Pretty much anything non dairy, lol

 I am exactly the same! Full fat dairy makes me feel very ill. Whipping cream does it to me as well. I can handle rich ice cream though...

Original Post by sfredbull:

I've never heard of shnitzel or pan fried liver.  I do not think I would want to try either.

I don't like to have high fat food.
But sugar free does not taste the same!

 I have to avoid both high sugar and high fat because high triglycerides / cholesterol, heart disease runs in my family.  So I am just **** outta luck! =(

 

Shnitzel? It's usually chicken breast (or some other lean meat) dipped in egg and then fried. Pan fried liver is simply chicken liver,fried in a pan :P

Liver does have a lot of cholesterol, but it also has LOTS of vitamins and iron, and minerals. We're talking massive iron, and vitamin A, and on and such. I end up craving it on my PMS week and I can definitely detect a good effect if I do eat.

Family cholesterolemia is indeed a PITA. I'm lucky in that my blood test are ace, no matter what I eat, but when I eat healthy, I can pass off as a baby :P

I agree: Real food is always better than "fake food" including a lot of fat-free items that take out the fat and add back in lots of chemicals. In the long run it's about balance and moderation in the diet. I use real sugar, and even (gasp!) real butter.  I tend to use raw, unprocessed sugar, but it's the real deal. and I cook in either butter or olive oil, depending on what it is.  I will opt for low-fat dairy items, but not non-fat: a certain amount of dairy fat in the diet is healthy and useful to the body.

I can understand wanting to eat natural but the irrational "omg chemicals" fear is kind of funny to me.  :P