What is so bad about "diet" food?

In order to make these products lower cal they often take out natural fats and sugar and replace them with artificial sweeteners. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but fats are essential in the diet and are needed for satiation. Therefore I would rather have a smaller portion of the 'full fat' version with better macros rather than a 'diet' product.

I will occasionally have diet pop as I prefer not to drink too many calories. But some people will avoid these as they wish to avoid artificial sweeteners.

Because less of the real thing is always better than more of the fake thing.

I'm a fan of Lean Cuisine. I try to mix in another serving or two of vegetables with it to fill me up, and justify all that sauce. The salt isn't that bad (most non-diet frozen dinners are worse, food from places like McDonald's are worse). The big reason I like it is that you get a small serving of meat, with zero effort. I live with two vegetarians, so that is priceless.

I'm against it. Diet to me means there is something in it replacing another ingredient. It doesn't mean there aren't healthy options, I'm referring to my own choices. I prefer items that have few ingredients, or no added ingredients.
Soda is so bad. It was a treat for us as a kid, but these days people drink it all the time. In the navy we used it to clean brass. Imagine what it does to your insides.

You'll get no slack from me for diet soda--I drink it like I'm supposed to drink water!

Lean Cuisine on the other hand, this ingredient list:

COOKED CHICKEN TENDERLOINS (CHICKEN TENDERLOINS, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WATER, CORN OIL, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, SALT, CARAMEL COLOR, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, GARLIC, ONION, PAPRIKA, SPICE), WATER, BLANCHED ENRICHED LONG GRAIN PARBOILED RICE (WATER, RICE, IRON, NIACIN, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, FOLIC ACID), GREEN BEANS, WHEAT BERRIES, CASHEWS (CASHEWS, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL), 2% OR LESS OF MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, SUGAR, CHICKEN BROTH, VEGETABLE BASE (SAUTEED VEGETABLES [CARROTS, ONIONS, CELERY], SUGAR, MALTODEXTRIN, CANOLA OIL, CORNSTARCH, WATER, NATURAL FLAVORS, CONCENTRATED CARROT JUICE, CARROT EXTRACT), SEA SALT, CULTURED WHEY, CHICKEN FAT, CARAMEL COLOR, PARSLEY, LEMON BLEND (LEMON PEEL, SUGAR, LEMON OIL), LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, SPICES, DEHYDRATED ONIONS, DEHYDRATED GARLIC

And it tastes nasty compared to an easier to prepare chicken dish.

BUT, if you like them, they sure make it easy to keep track of calories!

Personally I don't mind diet food if I genuinely LIKE it. I now and then might have a WW meal because I genuinely quite like it, but they're not my sole intake and don't buy them for their calories.

I personally wont eat something that cooks in a microwave, but thats because I have beef with microwaves.

I also just dont really eat snacks from the chips/cookie isle regular or "diet". That being said if you were craving for a cookie the diet one DOES have less calories so you would be doing less damage that day.
On the flip side, I watched a documentry once a few years back that did a test on a group of people at a movie theatre. The first test group was given a bag of snacks that was "normal", and the second group was given a bag of snakcs that was "diet". The "diet" group ate 3x as much as the "normal group. The test was to show that we look at foods differently based on what the lable says. People will tend to eat more then they normally would if a lable says "diet", and this is a big reason as to why ever since the whole "diet/low-fat/reduced-fat" boom, people have been getting FATTER, not skinnier.

So I think it has more to do with self control. Our brains are a powerful thing and can trick us. If you want that low-calorie cookie, go for it! Just have self control and stop yourself at one and not eat the whole package because "it's healthy".

Because less of the real thing is always better than more of the fake thing.

Because people think like that. Which I totally disagree with. Some things are not worth the extra calories that make it full fat... IMO.

Because less of the real thing is always better than more of the fake thing.

Because people think like that. Which I totally disagree with. Some things are not worth the extra calories that make it full fat... IMO.

This. Is gelato better than frozen yogurt? Hell yes! But I like to eat, and I'm watching my calorie intake. So if I can have a full cup of frozen yogurt that will satisfy that sweet dessert craving as easily as 1/2 a cup of the gelato, then I'm gonna take it! That doesn't mean I don't occasionally get the gelato instead, but if I ate that every time I wanted I would have to give up something else in my day. And I don't want to, because I like to eat.

Diet soda is full of chemicals. We are just now discovering its harmful side effects. Water should be your primary beverage.

Diet food is okay but IMO it's not very flavorful. It is low in calories but the taste is bland. I don't think I could eat those more than a few times a week at most, so it's not a sustainable long term diet for me. I need something that is low calorie and tastes good. Something I can eat and continue to eat even after I reach my goal weight. Basically just eat what I normally do except in smaller portions. I have only been logging food for four weeks now so I'm still learning what portion sizes should be.