"Guilt Free foods"?

I was having a conversation with someone and the topic came up of how lots of websites are pushing "guilt free" foods. This normally includes things like shirataki noodles, 100 calorie packs, etc... My problem with "guilt free" is that it pushes the idea that, with a normal diet, you should feel guilty. Ate whole-grain pasta instead of shirataki noodles? How dare you! Ate a bowl of cereal sweetened with honey and not aspartame? For shame! And that one scoop of ice cream you treated yourself to? You should feel so guilty! Point being... Aren't ALL foods guilt free? Sure, you don't feel especially PROUD after eating junk food, especially if you've overeaten. But should they really be saying that we should feel guilty after eating a product that has more than 100 calories? Especially if its healthy?

hmmm never looked at it like this, l always assumed that by guilt free they are talking calorie-wise. Not guilt because you ate food, but guilt because you chose a higher calorie food over the lower cal hopefully healtheir alternative, for a person on a carb restriction either because of diet or health reasons, then eating that shirataki noodle will be considered guilt free vs the whole wheat pasta.

I'm diabetic, so I'm carb-restricted. I'd still take the healthier whole-grain alternative because at least I know I'd be getting nutrients with those calories.

"There are no bad foods, only bad diets"....  For the last 50 years or so the fashion in some countries has been to get people to think about food in over-simplistic terms of 'bad nutrients' and 'good nutrients' and to feel guilty for eating bad nutrients.   Fat, carbs, sugar, cholesterol, calories.... the list of things to feel guilty about eating is endless.  Rather than promoting the sensible answer.... eating a bit less rich food, doing more exercise, eating a few more vegetables....  instead we have a raft of new, expensive products to assuage the guilt.  Much more exciting and very profitable.

Interesting bit of trivia.... In a word-association exercise with Frenchwomen and American women the word the Frenchwomen most associated with 'chocolate cake' was 'celebration'.  The American women?  'Guilt'.

My guilt free foods are anything  that is "real food", which is most of my diet.  Then I don't feel bad when I have some potato chips or go out to eat and eat something decadent like creme brulee.

Right now I'm eating steel cut oatmeal with blueberries and banana with a little honey (not aspertame) drizzled on top.  YUM!!!

I don't have guilty foods, more like regretful foods. Whenever I eat anything that is not "real" or delicious, it feels like a terrible waste of calories. For example, eating a stale chocolate bar that I found in my desk is a regretful food choice. Eating a chunk of good quality dark chocolate on the other hand is a delicious (once in a while) indulgence!

I defnitely agree with you on this. Since when did eating things like cool whip free, or sugar-free, fat-free jello, 40 calorie shirataki noodles plus some veggies is "dinner", and aspartame laden diet products become healthy? I personally do not even consider the first two items in that list to even be foods. If you read the ingredients, there isn't a food like substance in them.

I think I read this quote on this site, and I try to stick by it: "If it has more than 5 ingredients, then it's not a real food."