regular or diet food?

Just curious: Who here eats "diet" food - meaning food that has been made sugar free/fat free/calorie free? And who here only eats regular food?

Example - Will you eat a regular yogurt or a reduced fat/calorie yogurt? Will you eat regular bread or reduced fat/calorie bread?

I know there are pros and cons to both, so I was just wondering what most of you all choose.

TMB;

Have (in a previous life) "swung both ways" (on "diet" foods<g>).

When I was still under the "spell" of the low cal, low fat, USDA Pyramid charlatans, we went straight to the "diet foods" aisle did not pass Go and didn't collect $500 because that's what the "experts" said to do. LoCal - first, last, forever!!

Cal reduction worked (we both lost ~1#/wk average over a couple months) - but "food" no longer tasted like the food we had come to know, love, and enjoy for our many prior decades of existence.

Like many others though, there were "some" items we just couldn't give up - butter, eggs, a glass or two of wine, red meat, etc. So "perfection" be damned!!

The more "research" we delved into regarding the (pathetic) "outcomes" (radically increased rates of obesity, diabetes, etc) of such "expert" advice over the last 40 years - the more we came to understand that while cals do matter, they're NOT the "holy grail".

Macro nutrient "balance" (as in LCHF) matters MUCH more - not only for long term weight reduction and maintenance, but, more importantly, for overall health and wellness.

Others can agree or disagree and I'm the first to offer the disclaimers that "no method works for everyone", "everyone is different", and "what matters most is that the method you select is one that you can sustain, long term".

We know what works (worked) for US and have no interest in "converting" anyone - that's a job for others more skilled in that arena.

BUT, for US - the "rule" now is, "If it says "diet" on the label - it STAYS on the shelf"

The "reasons" are legendary, many of which have been mentioned in this thread and all of which can be uncovered by anyone willing to spend the time and effort to do their own "DD".

Adding back "full fat" (which is where most of the "taste" comes from), "real" foods, to our "diets", while continuing to lose weight (in my case), or to "maintain" (in my bride's case), AND eliminating the HFCS they add to "improve the taste" of the LoCal, processed, "diet" JUNK - was the BEST thing we've EVER done - both for our long term "wellness" outcomes, AND for our ability to sustain, long term.

Mostly regular food with a few exceptions. One is drinking 2% milk instead of whole because I can't stomach whole milk. I also drink diet coke because I like it better than regular.

Everything else is just based on flavor variety. A lot of times I'll buy low fat yogurt instead of regular because I want the strawberry cheesecake flavor (or whatever) and that one happens to be the low fat one. Same with ice cream. I usually stick with the basic cookie dough, but sometimes the low fat flavors intrigue me and I'll buy it.

Regular food. When I go on maintenance I'll just up my quantities.

I mostly eat regular food with some exception. I don't like drinking my calories so I stick to water, unsweetened almond milk and coffee with Splenda and the occasional diet drink. I do have a few go to lower calorie salty snacks like Special K cracker chips because I love the taste and can moderate my portion better than potato chips. I used to eat low fat yogurt but I find the full fat versions of foods just stick with me better. I choose lower calorie meats because the fats from meat like beef make me feel ill. For the most part we eat healthy whole foods with some treats in the mix for my sanity lol.

Hmm. I would deny eating "diet" food and claim that I eat just regular food, but there are lower calorie, lower fat options that I eat and have since well before I was watching my weight. Mostly, certain kinds of lower fat dairy.

I also prefer to make my own salad dressing but when I'm out or feeling lazy I'm likely to go for lower calorie options, since I don't generally want to waste the calories on salad dressing. I wouldn't necessarily defend this as a great choice, but for me they are a trade off. (I know fat is good when eating vegetables, but I'm talking about salads that already have some kind of fat source on them.)

Oh, also diet drinks sometimes. Not as an alternative to the sugary versions, but just to have something other than water, coffee, and iced tea.

I eat both but I usually only go "diet" with soda (oh, and I throw Splenda on my oatmeal in the morning instead of sugar). My yogurt is plain. I do use calorie free salad dressing instead of full fat, full sugar.

Whatever helps me meet my goals and leaves me satiated. Ate the same way during weight loss as I am for my gain

Mostly regular food - I don't count ground turkey as diet food.

I do eat a lot of shiritaki noodles. And like some others, I drink Mio and crystal lite and diet sodas.

The only "diet" food I consume is diet soda (why waste 150-170 calories out of my day?) and 0% yogurt (because I can never find 2% plain around here). The one time I bought fat free sour cream I was horrified...give me the real stuff any day!

Oh, I've also switched to Kraft Mayo w/Olive Oil because it's only 35 calories for a serving instead of 100.

I drink the "Zero" sodas, the light sour cream (it doesn't have all that water on the top!), some light yogurts, but that's about it. I will go for higher fiber or protein versions if they're offered, though.