Guilt

[TheAwfulToad]

While searching for some food images today, I came across a recipe entitled "Guilt-free chicken korma".

It's pretty common, I've noticed, to attach that "guilt-free" tag to various foods. Usually what it means is that the food has had all the fat artificially removed; in this particular case, the curry had had the cream, butter and cooking oil removed, and replaced with quark. This supposedly makes it less fattening (it doesn't, of course; it just tastes a lot less like chicken korma).

So: if we eat fat, we're supposed to feel guilty, although it isn't clear who might absolve us of our dietary transgressions. Our GP, perhaps? Pfizer forgive us for we have sinned.

Now, us Brits have a long and sordid history involving guilt. We love feeling guilty about stuff, especially things that are fun. But it's fairly recently we've been told to feel guilty about eating (or eating fat), and it's one of those things that really bothers me.

Apart from the simple fact that dietary fat has nothing to do with obesity, associating guilt-feelings with one of mankind's most universal and harmless pleasures seems almost sacrilegious. Life is supposed to be enjoyable, and taking away one large source of enjoyment inevitably means people are going to seek it elsewhere. I can't help wondering if this explains why Brits are far more likely to spend an evening out with friends getting blotto, instead of (as our Continental cousins might do) sitting in a restaurant enjoying great food and conversation.

Certainly some foods are more healthful than others. Some sorts of food, eaten for many years in excessive quantities, can make you fat and/or ill. But I'm not sure that feeling guilty about what you're eating is more helpful than merely understanding why these things are so, and making choices accordingly.

So here's my diet-related tip. If anyone ever tells you to feel guilty about what's on your plate, even if it's a mystery-meat hotdog smothered in cheap ketchup and fake mustard: ignore them, keep calm, and carry on.

[Hidden]

Hi I watch my saturated fat as it causes raised cholesterol but I still eat chicken korma occasionally I lost weight many years ago unintentially from watching sat fat on labels I started to have less than 18g a day to get my chestrol down it worked and I lost a stone in a short space of time I am now stable at 8 3quarters I don't count calories I sometimes probably go over the 18g but I make sure I have a good walk 😁🌄

[Hidden]

I also kind of go by my body it tells me what I need and I eat it and when I stopped drinking alcohol I started dancing sugary stuff as my body was missing it I gradually eat less and now I find I'm not really bothered I'm more of a savoury person and rather have crisps for supper I have a couple ginger biscuits or the odd choc bar if I fancy 😁😋

[cheritorrox LCHF]

Oh dear - not sure the point is clear (no rhyme intended!) x

[Zest]

Hi TheAwfulToad

I certainly don't think there should be any guilt involved, and that people shouldn't be judged for what they eat or don't eat.

Zest

[Hidden]

This is very interesting, I think the real problem is by far too many people are over fed and undernourished so want to eat the meal without the calories and it doesn't work like that.

What is fundamentally wrong is our relationship with food and not the food itself...

[MTCee]

Making someone feel guilty for eating a certain type of food is just a good marketing ploy to get people to eat what you want them to eat. It starts in childhood when you don’t finish your plate or want pudding first. The media jumps onto the bandwagon because guilty pleasures or guilt free pleasures both sell articles. If we were all truly and authentically in touch with our own nutritional needs we wouldn’t be swayed by such marketing/propaganda gimmicks but alas that isn’t the case.

[TheAwfulToad]

>> I suppose you mean as in being a hedonist or pleasure seeker.

Not exactly. I'm suggesting that one should not deliberately seek out ways to make life less fulfilling that it ought to be, especially if there's no obvious reason to do so.

You get one life (count 'em, one) and it's quite distressing that the Experts still promote tasteless, unhealthy glop (and not enough of it) as the ideal diet. Please sir, I want some more.

But yeah, I agree that obesity works something like an infectious disease. If you were brought up by overweight parents, and hang out with other overweight people, you're likely to pick up some bad habits that become so ingrained that they're hard to break away from.