"diet" food....

Elsie_Brownraisin

I find the idea of low fat cream (yes, theyhave Weightwatchers cream here) or trifle a bit sad I suppose.

But I've no problem eating fat free greek yogurt and using it in place of mayo or sour cream or trying things like bean brownies. I don't like most ready meals or shop bought cakes and biscuits, so it's ok.

I do eat treats etc, but my goal is weight loss and I am not able to exercise 3 hours a day. Even though I eat 1900 a day, my budget is almost blown on a McDonalds or roast dinner - one single meal and it's easy (for me, anyway) to let them creep in more often.

Like today, I am eating veggie sausages with mashed carrots and swede and onion gravy. My husband and son are having mashed spuds and meat sausages. I detest mashed potato anyway, so it's no great loss. And I have had cut my cals down because I can't exercise at all at the moment - seriously, I can eat frig all. I don't understand how people work in half a deep fried cow into their calories if they have the same goal as me.

geebusuk

Natural does not mean 'healthy'.

I would much rather have a decent amount of the extra-extra-low fat mayo with my potatoes that the tiniest smidgen which I'd end up with using the full fat version when on restricted calories.

Having drunk coke zero for some time, I've grown to like it.
Just as I've grown to like eating eating onions.
Still don't like wine, but very rare that I drink it.

4 cookies extra is around 1000 calories or so.
So an hour and a half to three hours cardio, depending on the activity.

I haven't had lower calorie cookies, but overall, lower calorie stuff means I can enjoy food I like regularly, rather than it being an occasional treat.
I like eating food I like and lower calorie food means I can have the entire tub of icecream, say.

I couldn't agree more. People who try and make dessert foods "healthier" by creating lower fat ice-cream, low sugar cake, lower calorie cookies, etc., just make me want to scream. The food is still basically junk food. What's the point of ruining its great taste? It's still not good for you! You're better off just enjoying the full fat/sugar versions of dessert foods and budgeting them into your calories.

What makes a food 'junk'? Why is not 'good for me'?
I'd approach it the same as any food and work it out a tastiness per calorie value. On that basis I do often avoid things like bread which I DO like, but just doesn't seem worth it when, say, I could have low calorie ice cream instead .
Having tried both options, for me I'm definitely better off with the lower calorie ones. In some cases this is because I will then get a cheap swiss roll and mix it in the the icecream - I enjoy that more than having a full-calorie ice cream on it's own.

Oh, and sugar is the current boogey monster, which is why a lot of the people like to label foods as 'unhealthy' are scared of it .

Slacker16

I don't label food as "diet" or "regular", I just see it as food...

And I really don't get people who say they can tell between sugar and artificial sweeteners because I have yet to see any difference. Have there been any double-blind taste tests?

Look, I am not a person who enjoys "diet" foods, but just because I have no interest in fat-free cheese doesn't mean it doesn't help some people stay on track.

Now, if someone wants to tell me fat-free cheese is better for me than real cheese, they can FOAD because they're wrong and stupid. But I don't really get to tell someone else what is disgusting and what isn't. That's their call to make.

You I like.

geebusuk

I'd say most people can tell the difference between sugar and aspartame etc when used in foods.

I certainly can.

I thought the bottle of Fanta zero I had was particularly tasty - turned out it was actually the full fat version when I thought to check,
The supermarket brand sugar-free fizzy drinks aren't near the standard of stuff like Fanta/Sprite Zero either, I'd say.

Now, if someone wants to tell me fat-free cheese is better for me than real cheese, they can FOAD because they're wrong and stupid. But I don't really get to tell someone else what is disgusting and what isn't. That's their call to make.

Well, yes, if it's "fat free" cheese, it's basically protein powder.

If it's low-fat cheese, well it's better for ME as far as achieving my health and fitness goals.

daw0518

I think it just depends. Of course I PREFER the full-fat option for most things, but I decided I was okay with compromising on some things. I make almost a game out of finding lower calorie options that I actually like for the things I enjoy but that are just too high calorie to justify. Mayo & peanut butter are a couple of examples for me. These are things I don't eat often, but when I do I still think 200+ calories for 2 tbsp is too much. So now I use PB2 for my peanut butter & Best Foods low fat mayo, which is the lowest calorie mayo option I could find, but also the best tasting in my opinion. I also found a lower calorie, greek yogurt ranch that I actually like WAY MORE than I ever did the usual Kraft/Hidden Valley varieties. So I think it can be done & you don't have to give up the flavors you like - you just have to be willing to try a few different things until you find the ones you like. I promise, they're out there.

I won't budge on my milk, my half & half, or my coffee creamer. I also get full-fat, full-sugar ice cream because the difference in calories isn't usually significant, but the difference in flavor is. Honestly, most things I eat are full-fat, full-sugar, but I've found a few "diet" options that I liked more and that fit into my goals better, so I just roll with it!

Slacker16

I'd say most people can tell the difference between sugar and aspartame etc when used in foods.

I certainly can.
(...)
If it's low-fat cheese, well it's better for ME as far as achieving my health and fitness goals.

I sweeten my tea with, essentially, saccharin and if anything I like it better than sugar. It's the same sweetness but somehow using sugar always turns out either too sweet or not sweet enough...

None of our experiences are blind though, and googling anything related to artificial sweeteners is a pain.

I was pleasantly surprised by part-skim mozzarella and I use it sometimes as a meat substitute (its fat-to-protein ratio is pretty close to that of ground beef) but I'm generally not a fan of reduced fat cheese.

maillemaker

Ultimately, you gotta do what you gotta do to get the calorie deficit. If you can do that by eating one Oreo cookie instead of 10 low-calorie cookies, more power to you.

I think everyone agrees that for the most part, low-calorie versions of high-calorie foods almost never taste as good as the real thing. If they did, everyone would eat the low-cal foods.

There are exceptions. For example, I really do prefer the taste of Diet Coke over real Coke, or even Coke Zero. Both of those have a very coppery taste to me. I'm quite happy to drink diet versions of soda and have zero calories as opposed to another 30 minutes of bicycle riding.

GBrady43068

I agree with you in general, although I think you have to do what works for you. I eat some reduced fat and/or sugar products because I actually prefer them (eg. skimmed milk) and I eat some because I don't enjoy the higher calorie versions enough to use up my calorie allowance on them (eg. mayo, coke - both things I eat rarely anyway.) I mostly use real butter (love the taste) but if it's somewhere I'm not going to taste it much, and it's more to add a bit of moisture/texture, then I'm happy to use a lower fat alternative. Sometimes I tweak recipes to use less fat, and am completely happy with the result, so why not? But yeah - on the whole I agree. I'm all for enjoying your food, getting a good nutritional balance, not being afraid of foods, and doing what you can to not feel like you're "on a diet". Also, fat is good.

+1

This...I'm all about "Do I love this enough to spend valuable calories and/or workout time on it?" If I do, I eat it full-fat. full-sugar and all. If not, I skip it or sub it.

Confuzzled4ever

Sorry..If I say something is good, then I think it is good. I make a lot of modified recipes. If they don't taste like the real thing, I'm not going to pretend they do, but that does not mean they are bad. I love my mock pizza. I use eggplant as the crust. I won't tell you it tastes like pizza, because it' doesn't. But it certainly is good. I love my 2 ingredient cookies (oats and banana) but they do not in anyway taste like cookies from a bakery. That does not make them bad. But if you don't like them, it just means they are not for you.

I eat some fat free foods and a lot of sugar free foods and some low fat foods and some full fat foods. it works for me. you do what works for you. Everyone is happy

redversustheblue

Meh, I eat several reduced-fat foods. It's not cause I'm scared of fat, just simply because it's easier for me to fit in my calories for the day and I don't care enough about the thing to waste way more calories for a small amount (looking at you mayo, cream cheese, milk).

I must have dense tastebuds or something because I really don't see a lot of difference in reduced-fat and full-fat products a lot of the time, nor can I taste any aftertastes on artificial sweeteners. The only thing I ever actually threw away was sugar-free pudding, that was bad. It's nice not being particularly picky, it works for me.

SezxyStef

okay but full fat milk makes me wanna puke...it's too rich...and I prefer diet coke to coke...

ditto with a lot of full fat dairy...I just can't eat it...

Now ice cream that's a different story...

My diary is full of different foods, ranging from amg "diet" because I like lean cuisine chicken in wine sauce to eggs and bacon (and no not turkey bacon)

It really is a choice but you never see me complaining I can't eat 800 calories cause Im too full either...those are the people this needs addressed to...

amwbox

Agreed. Most "fat free" this or that...bad news.

Read the ingredients on things that should have fat but are "fat free". Like half and half...they put corn syrup in the fat free variety.

That stuff is generally bad news.

levitateme

Sorry..If I say something is good, then I think it is good. I make a lot of modified recipes. If they don't taste like the real thing, I'm not going to pretend they do, but that does not mean they are bad. I love my mock pizza. I use eggplant as the crust. I won't tell you it tastes like pizza, because it' doesn't. But it certainly is good. I love my 2 ingredient cookies (oats and banana) but they do not in anyway taste like cookies from a bakery. That does not make them bad. But if you don't like them, it just means they are not for you.

I eat some fat free foods and a lot of sugar free foods and some low fat foods and some full fat foods. it works for me. you do what works for you. Everyone is happy

Same here. I eat a lot of modified recipes: use greek yogurt for sour cream here, use low fat mayo there.

I prefer diet coke, nonfat yogurt and skim milk, but it's what I was raised on, so that's probably why.

Everyone has different likes and dislikes, food isn't automatically terrible just because it is marketed as "diet."

ChristineRoze

one healthier option i found that is really yumm is kraft cream cheese spread!! tastes as good as the cheddar one in my opinion, i eat it all the time! I also don't taste the difference between 99% fat free milk and regular milk, so i have the fat free option

geebusuk

I didn't used to like the low fat cheese, but getting quite into it.

The weight watchers one comes out at 30g protein and 10g fat for just over 200 calories in 100g of food - that's a very respectable ratio, I'd say.

Yes, I would prefer to have full fat cheese.

But 200 calories of full fat cheese is about half the weight.
It's also only 12g of protien.
So if I'm using this to try and meet my protein goals, I now need to make up 18g of protein.
So, lets say I also have 85 calories of very lean meat to make up the protein.
Well, now I'm 85 calories over, so better only have 115 calories of cheese rather than 200.
Now I've got to make up another lot of protein with more meat and so on>
So, it ends up that I can either have 100g of low fat cheese, or about 25g of full fat cheese or something, so that I appropriately meat my protein and calorie goals when at a good deficit.
Frankly, having the small amount is just a tease and I'd find it annoying more than nice.

Agreed. Most "fat free" this or that...bad news.

Read the ingredients on things that should have fat but are "fat free". Like half and half...they put corn syrup in the fat free variety.

That stuff is generally bad news.

Why is it bad news?

On weight lifting days I eat in a calorie surplus.
However, eating in a surplus I want to try and keep my fat levels down.
I also want to keep my carb levels up to ensure my body is well fed.

As I'm generally fit/healthy, it doesn't really matter how I get my carbs and there can actually be some benefits to simple carbs consumed
Oh and yes - low fat mozzarella I find useful - not as good as the weight watchers, but melts properly on pizza and so on.
Found out the one Aldi sells is not only cheap at 57p, but has pretty good macros too.

amwbox

I didn't used to like the low fat cheese, but getting quite into it.

The weight watchers one comes out at 30g protein and 10g fat for just over 200 calories in 100g of food - that's a very respectable ratio, I'd say.

Yes, I would prefer to have full fat cheese.

But 200 calories of full fat cheese is about half the weight.
It's also only 12g of protien.
So if I'm using this to try and meet my protein goals, I now need to make up 18g of protein.
So, lets say I also have 85 calories of very lean meat to make up the protein.
Well, now I'm 85 calories over, so better only have 115 calories of cheese rather than 200.
Now I've got to make up another lot of protein with more meat and so on>
So, it ends up that I can either have 100g of low fat cheese, or about 25g of full fat cheese or something, so that I appropriately meat my protein and calorie goals when at a good deficit.
Frankly, having the small amount is just a tease and I'd find it annoying more than nice.

Agreed. Most "fat free" this or that...bad news.

Read the ingredients on things that should have fat but are "fat free". Like half and half...they put corn syrup in the fat free variety.

That stuff is generally bad news.

Why is it bad news?

On weight lifting days I eat in a calorie surplus.
However, eating in a surplus I want to try and keep my fat levels down.
I also want to keep my carb levels up to ensure my body is well fed.

As I'm generally fit/healthy, it doesn't really matter how I get my carbs and there can actually be some benefits to simple carbs consumed
Oh and yes - low fat mozzarella I find useful - not as good as the weight watchers, but melts properly on pizza and so on.
Found out the one Aldi sells is not only cheap at 57p, but has pretty good macros too.

I think its probably OK if they are substituting some industrial chemical for the fat. Fat isn't intrinsically bad for you. But a bunch of items in the ingredients list that you won't understand without some biochem classes probably are.

In the example of half and half...its supposed to be half milk and half cream. Cream is basically fat. So wtf is half and half if its fat free? The whole idea is messed up. Fat free fat? That's like sugar free sugar, or salt free salt, or vegtables made out of pork. Does not compute.

Francl27

I agree, gotta love 'fat free' half and half. I wonder if they make fat free heavy cream?

And yeah, less fat = more protein for the calories. I actually found out that I like fat free ricotta better than the part skim kind... go figure. And I can eat twice as much for the same calories, and have twice the protein. Win/win.

I'd never try fat free cheese, but the low fat stuff can be ok. You won't see me eat a block of low fat cheese, but if I just want some cheddar flavor in my eggs/tacos/frittata, the low fat stuff is just fine for me. At some point it's really our choice to see where we want and don't want to spend our calories... some stuff is just not worth it.

geebusuk

But a bunch of items in the ingredients list that you won't understand without some biochem classes probably are.

Best avoid most fruit. Or stuff that comes out of the ground. Or that comes from an animal.
Unless you've got evidence to suggest otherwise, none of these things, nor the vast majority of the ones you were thinking about are 'intrinsically bad for you' either.

In the example of half and half...its supposed to be half milk and half cream. Cream is basically fat. So wtf is half and half if its fat free? The whole idea is messed up. Fat free fat? That's like sugar free sugar, or salt free salt, or vegtables made out of pork. Does not compute.

A quick google shows that it's trying to emulate the 'experience' of 'half and half', but swapping fat for sugar. Makes sense to me.
Although I haven't used it yet, I recently bought some fat-free condensed milk.
Again, it seems an ideal choice for workout days where I'm trying to avoid excess fat and specifically want a lot of simple carbs.

bellevie86

I think it depends. There's a couple things I don't bother with:

1. Low fat cheese, mainly cheddar cheese. Plastic tasting. Soy cheese, even worse in my opinion.
2. Pre-packaged 100 cal snacks, usually over priced and the portion is pitiful and they taste like cardboard.

That being said, I made some Skinny PB Swirl Brownies with greek yogurt and oats rather than flour and butter and they were delicious. 180 cals vs. some 400 cal brownies. I think they have their place and it's all subjective. I will sacrifice cals for things like real cheese but will not for full fat milk. There are some delicious recipes out there that have great substitutes but you just have to pick and choose and a lot is trial and error.

geebusuk

On the whole subject - some diet foods seem to be just the 'normal' food with more water.
Which then may just boil off when cooking anyway!

I was comparing tinned custards recently and was pleased to find the lowest fat (and calorie) one was actually the 'budget' one - 17p per tin and is ideal for my workout days where I'm looking for high sugar and low fat.

ahamm002

I couldn't agree more. People who try and make dessert foods "healthier" by creating lower fat ice-cream, low sugar cake, lower calorie cookies, etc., just make me want to scream. The food is still basically junk food. What's the point of ruining its great taste? It's still not good for you! You're better off just enjoying the full fat/sugar versions of dessert foods and budgeting them into your calories.

What makes a food 'junk'? Why is not 'good for me'?
I'd approach it the same as any food and work it out a tastiness per calorie value. On that basis I do often avoid things like bread which I DO like, but just doesn't seem worth it when, say, I could have low calorie ice cream instead .
Having tried both options, for me I'm definitely better off with the lower calorie ones. In some cases this is because I will then get a cheap swiss roll and mix it in the the icecream - I enjoy that more than having a full-calorie ice cream on it's own.

Oh, and sugar is the current boogey monster, which is why a lot of the people like to label foods as 'unhealthy' are scared of it .

I consider foods to be "junk food" if they are nutritionally empty calories. For example, cake doesn't have much in the way of protein, healthy fats, fiber, or useful micronutrients. The only reason to eat cake is because it tastes good. If you decrease the tastiness by making it low in sugar and fat, then there really isn't much point to eating it. I don't know how some people can like low calorie dessert foods. IMHO they always tastes disappointing.

The people who are annoying are the ones who present their "zero sugar cake" as if it's "health food." If you just happen to like the lower calorie versions of dessert foods, that's fine. Nobody has a problem as long as you don't market them to the world as healthy.

lemonsnowdrop

Nope. I'd rather put the calories toward my snacks (ice cream, Cadbury egg - the things you deem "junk") than on a tablespoon of full fat mayo, which I hardly notice anyway. If it helps my deficit and keeps me on track, there's nothing wrong with settling for lower calorie options (i.e. 40 calorie bread. Tastes good to me!).

geebusuk

I consider foods to be "junk food" if they are nutritionally empty calories. For example, cake doesn't have much in the way of protein, healthy fats, fiber, or useful micronutrients. The only reason to eat cake is because it tastes good. If you decrease the tastiness by making it low in sugar and fat, then there really isn't much point to eating it. I don't know how some people can like low calorie dessert foods. IMHO they always tastes disappointing.

The people who are annoying are the ones who present their "zero sugar cake" as if it's "health food." If you just happen to like the lower calorie versions of dessert foods, that's fine. Nobody has a problem as long as you don't market them to the world as healthy.

Let's take my day yesterday, towards the end of the day.
Let's now say I had the option of a slice of cake or some salad with lean chicken and some strawberries and apples to eat after - which would offer me 'more'?

Further information:
I had already eaten 2.7kg of strawberries (got them for 20p a 300g packet), a whole iceberg lettuce with other salad, plenty of chicken breast.

Would eating more of the same 'nutritionally dense' foods you wouldn't classify as 'junk' offer me anything useful?
I very much doubt it. Plenty of micronutrients and protein/fibre/etc targets already hit.
So, while the cake may not have so much, I'm sure it would have been a better choice as far as ensuring a varied range of nutrients - the dairy parts would offers a good variety, at least.

I quite agree that it's annoying that people list foods as 'healthy', but I'd extended that to include any foods.
Don't see any reason to try and partition foods like that when you really need to be taking a holistic view at the diet, life style and goals of the person in question.
Plenty on here work in regular icecream as part of a 'healthy' diet.

*I should note that my attempt at making high protein low sugar cake was an abject failure - though a friend did end up finishing it off regardless - to be fair, I only read the instructions after, which said you have to mix sugar and sweetener - that it wouldn't work with sweetener alone.

MysteriousMerlin

I eat various products that are labeled "light", "lower" or "less sodium" often. Usually the products I use just have less of whatever it is they're touting rather than replacing the ingredient in question with something else to give it the same mouth feel.

I_Will_End_You

Nope. I'd rather put the calories toward my snacks (ice cream, Cadbury egg - the things you deem "junk") than on a tablespoon of full fat mayo, which I hardly notice anyway. If it helps my deficit and keeps me on track, there's nothing wrong with settling for lower calorie options (i.e. 40 calorie bread. Tastes good to me!).

Yep. Certain things I don't care so much about, I'll go with the low cal version to make room for something I consider more worth it.

stephanieluvspb

I say......eat whatcha dig!

geebusuk

I say......eat whatcha dig!

Well, yes; you do burn some calories burying all that low fat ice cream before digging it up again!

:P

darkangel45422

I'm with a lot of people here - I'll eat substitutes or lower calorie/fat/sugar/etc. things if I like them. For instance, I love turkey and chicken bacon but am not the biggest fan of normal bacon (on its own anyway; mix it into other food and I'm there!), so I eat that instead of normal bacon. I've always drank skim milk and honestly dislike the taste of even 1% so I drink skim. I've had light ice cream that tasted just as good as the normal ice cream from that brand.

To me, no, I wouldn't eat a 'diet' food if it tasted gross - for instance, I've tried multiple substitutes for mac and cheese and none taste right, so if I want mac and cheese I just make normal mac and cheese. But for things that taste as good if not better, I'll probably take the diet one.

That said my eventual goal is to remove all processed foods from my diet which means basically all of this stuff, so the only diet foods I eat right now are the ones that I like better than the normal ones (so skim milk, turkey bacon, etc.). On other things I'll eat the normal versions because I'm trying to avoid processed foods (though most of the normal versions are processed too, but more often are more natural).

paperpudding

I agree! I may be trying to lose weight now, but someday I'm going to be maintaining my weight and I'm not going to maintain it using special low fat or zero calorie foods, I'm going to be eating real world food with all the good stuff in it! So why not learn portion control now instead of creating an inevitable stumbling block later for myself?!

Why is it creating an inevitable stumbling block for later on?

I have been in maintenance for 5 months - I still drink diet coke, skimmed milk, use low fat mayo and low fat ice cream.
I've learned a combination of portion control and alternative choices - not seeing the problem with that.

JesterMFP

I agree! I may be trying to lose weight now, but someday I'm going to be maintaining my weight and I'm not going to maintain it using special low fat or zero calorie foods, I'm going to be eating real world food with all the good stuff in it! So why not learn portion control now instead of creating an inevitable stumbling block later for myself?!

Why is it creating an inevitable stumbling block for later on?

I have been in maintenance for 5 months - I still drink diet coke, skimmed milk, use low fat mayo and low fat ice cream.
I've learned a combination of portion control and alternative choices - not seeing the problem with that.

I agree with this. I'm not sure that demonising reduced calorie food is much different from demonising full fat food (of course you want to be mindful of added ingredients that you might be allergic/intolerent to or have moral objection to).

I've been maintaining about 18 months and my regular diet includes low fat mayo (not that I have any mayo often), real butter, reduced fat butter/veg oil blend, whole eggs, egg whites, diet coke (I only have coke to put vodka in anyway), skimmed milk, 0% fat greek yoghurt, real chocolate, real full fat/sugar homemade brownies, homemade low fat protein brownies that don't really taste like brownies but give me a little chocolate/protein combo mid afternoon, skin-on chicken thighs, skinless chicken breasts (if the skin's going to be crispy, I keep it on, if not, no need for it) etc etc. I would put low fat cheese in something like cauliflower cheese where I wouldn't notice the difference, but if it's a real cheese fix I want, then I'll have a small portion of full fat mature cheddar. I switched phildelphia for low fat and then switched that for quark which is lower in fat. Saves calories in a place that I don't miss them and fits my macro goals better.

I have learned portion control, but I don't need to eat full fat mayo in moderation when it holds no particular pleasure for me, and the low fat version is (for me) fine. Pretty sure all the food I eat is "real world food".