After I wrote about reclaiming Diet Coke last week, we had a fun chat on my Instagram about diet foods that turned into comfort foods, either because you were raised to love the taste of aspartame (like me!), or once you stopped dieting, and gave yourself permission to eat all foods, it turned out you actually do just really like green juice. So I thought that would be a good conversation to bring over here, as well, for my inaugural Thread post.
To be honest, I’ve been really nervous to try out a Thread: I write about diet culture and parenting, and I’m pretty sure those are the two most divisive topics to discuss on the Internet? So this is an experiment. I’m going to set a few ground rules and see how we do… and if it’s fun and community-building and troll-free, then Friday Discussion Threads will become another regular perk available to paid subscribers!
But just for today, I’m sending it out to the whole list, so we can all try this out together.
Ground rules to keep things friendly:
No fatphobia: Avoid the use of “o words” and other stigmatizing language. (“Fat” is fine if you identify that way or use it as a neutral body descriptor.)
Avoid numbers: No calorie counts, pounds gained or lost, or other details that could be triggering to folks in eating disorder recovery.
This is an anti-diet space: No body shaming, and no promoting of diets or intentional weight loss in any way, please.
Virginia has the right to delete or block anyone for general troll nonsense.
OK! So now, I’d love to know: What diet food have you reclaimed for yourself? Or, if that sounds impossible, what diet food did you used to love…but it turned out the non-diet version IS legit so much better?
(My answer to the second question is smoothies I DON’T put kale into.)
I have always loved cottage cheese, even before I joined the world of dieting. Even dieting couldn’t kill my enjoyment of it. But do not ever try to put fruit in my cottage cheese…it must be eaten with salt and pepper only. Thank-you.
yes!!! savory full fat cottage cheese is the way to go. i never ate it because i thought of it as a dirt food, but now i am obsessed. also, the baby cups are perfect for when you are hangry and need something filling FAST. I’m an olive oil-maldon salt- fresh pepper- hot honey fan.
Me too! Cottage cheese was a never a diet food for me but whenever I ate it in public someone would ask me if I was on diet or trying to lose weight.
I worked at a Kmart when I was in high school and college in the 80s (I am old), and I would often go to the Kmart Grill on my breaks and purchase a dish of cottage cheese for a snack. It was a single round scoop for about 50 cents. Definitely made me a weirdo in the break room where others were eating popcorn or candy bars!
I grew-up eating lots of (low fat) cottage cheese (it’s ok) and then fat free cottage cheese (it’s nasty). Now I’m on the full fat creamy cottage cheese bandwagon and will never look back! I do a mix of sweet-savory toppings, current favorites are pepitas or walnuts, chopped dried figs, a drizzle of tahini and plenty of Maldon. YUM!
Butter. We used to do "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter." Since we now have a toddler who eats solids, we moved back to real butter (Kerrygold to be specific). I will never go back to fake tub butter again.
Yes! I grew up on “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Light!” which, believe it or not, is the more diet-y version of diet butter. When I moved out and started eating real butter, it was like the skies opened and choirs of angels were singing. When I cook for my mom she’ll comment on how good things like mashed potatoes taste and it’s like well, yeah, that’s because butter is delicious.
Real butter is so good! I love the convenience of spreadable stuff, but I can just leave out the butter to soften and then it's ... even better than the spreadable stuff? And I only feel very slightly silly for having a butter dish out all the time?
My diet food that I still love now is salads! I genuinely enjoy the taste of lettuce (even plain sometimes), and appreciate the blank slate that a big bowl of lettuce is. Am I feeling like blueberries in my salad today with some almonds? Or am I feeling like black beans and avocado? WHO KNOWS?!
The "diet food" I almost never choose anymore is brown rice. Why would I want to eat the rice that takes 3 times as long to cook and doesn't taste as good???
Seltzer with a splash of juice. I find most sodas too be overly sweet for my liking and artificial sweeteners give me headaches. It has nothing to do with calories, just what is more refreshing and tasty to drink!
same re: seltzer! my first intro to it was when my mom was on a weight loss kick so always side-eyed it, but a cold seltzer on a hot day is SO specifically delightful in its own way.
Have you tried Spindrift seltzers? Lime and grapefruit in my fridge right now. I’ve never been a soda drinker for the same reasons but these are a refreshing summer treat.
I pretty much constantly drink seltzer. I was a Diet Coke drinker before my first pregnancy, then switched to seltzer because I was worried Diet Coke wouldn’t be good for the baby, and the habit just stuck. I particularly love the Polar “Seltzer ade” flavors. I still like Diet Coke occasionally but not as a staple. Seltzer is so refreshing.
I was once a member of weight watchers (I know, I know) and I remember in one meeting there was a discussion about getting “enough” water and all the ladies in the meeting were tying themselves up in knots over how to drink more water, and I said “seltzer counts, right?” And the leader said yes, and the entire mood of the room visibly relaxed. Not that I even think you need to stress about getting 64 oz a day of water or whatever, but I know I would have just been shut down if I had suggested that.
I am here to speak up for kale. I got into it as a diet health food but...I really do prefer it to lettuce it's got more flavor and texture. I've got a kale, chickpea and avocado salad that is *chef's kiss.*
Also when you're driving a long distance, a big ol' ice cold diet dr. pepper is the nectar of the gods.
I completely enjoy kale sauteed with eggs or pasta, or in salads. I just don't think it's necessary in smoothies where it adds no flavor and messes up the texture!
I choose Dino kale as my green of choice whenever I make a substantial salad with lots of toppings - it can hold all of the cheese, meats, nuts, etc perfectly and doesn’t get soggy when I drench it with dressing!
Count me in as a Diet Coke devotee. And Diet Dr Pepper. And sometimes Diet Pepsi. Just give me all the bubbles but only if they are fake sweet AF :)
I grew pretty fond of the “skinny” or “thin” buns that I used to use for their low-calorie-ness but now like because I’m more about the meat in my burger and less about fluffy buns.
Whole Grain Cheerios were also a low-cal pal but I genuinely like them better than the other flavors. And any kind of snack pack—I used them for portion control to stave off the binging (and still do tbh) but I also just like having a little bag of teddy grahams I can hold on to or take with me somewhere.
I feel like buns got really huge at some point which meant the ratios of bread/patty/veggies got all thrown out of whack. I love a thin bun or just a classic potato bun.
I love rice cakes as a hummus or peanut butter delivery system. Few other things have that very distinct crunch. As for the second question? We only ever had low-fat (namely Healthy Choice) ice cream growing up. My mom would jokingly refer to it as "ice milk." I loved it, until I had actual hard ice cream and felt deeply betrayed. I tried frozen yogurt recently and still just tasted cold disappointment water.
I totally love rice cakes and so do both of my teenaged daughters! Plain rice cakes were a first finger-food for both girls, and now they like them with cream cheese and everything-bagel seasoning any time of day. I stopped thinking of them as diet food a long time ago because they were such a favorite snack for my kids!
(plain) Rice cakes were one of my consistent foods as a very picky child and I'm intrigued about the idea of adding cream cheese and everything-bagel seasoning now as a less picky adult
I'm back to enjoying one CokeZero a day. Diet soda is so stigmatized by so many diets that it feels like a wonderful middle finger to some of the eating plans that tortured me (that I allowed to torture me) over the years. I also sincerely adore Starbucks' sous vide eggs and was offended when Ronan Farrow, in his Grub Street eating chronicle, said they were for sad people who had given up bread, or words to that effect. However, over the weekend I made asparagus frittata muffins for my daughter and me, which had far more vegetables and were even better than the sous vide ones.
Oh I enjoy those sous vide eggs too! Didn't even realize they were a diet thing, I just thought they were nice when you're a little hungry but not full-egg-sandwich hungry.
Diet food for me is pb2 and I know how reviled it is, but when I make sesame noodles (note actual pasta being used) the taste and mixing is better than peanut butter. For pb&j though? Skippy all the way! As for non diet, I had been convinced that I had to be dairy free - was eating all non dairy frozen desserts. Turns out ice cream & I get along fine and at least in my book real ice cream wins over all!
I have an aversion to PB2 because we had to use it when my daughter was on a medically-prescribed low-fat diet following heart surgery as a toddler. (NOT a weight loss thing; she was experiencing weird lymphatic side effects.) It made me super sad because all she wanted was a legit PB&J and we couldn't give it to her... but I can totally see how it would be the right texture for peanut sauce!
PB2 is so great for peanut sauce! Mine is usually a combination of pb2, oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Maybe some garlic and ginger too. The nice thing about pb2 instead of peanut butter is that it mixes better and you can add a bunch of sesame oil without it turning out too oily (too oily for my personal taste/texture preferences, that is).
oh jeez, I have a funky relationship to a lot of "healthy" (F**K FOOD SHAMING) substitute dairy foods because of a dairy allergy I've had since childhood. in the last ~5 years I found out (through the allergist!! and a food challenge!! don't try this at home!!) that I can eat baked dairy. the proteins denature enough that my shitty immune system is ok with it. and friends -- holy shit butter and buttermilk and cream are LIFE-CHANGING in baked goods. I really enjoy how different the texture is! it's so much easier to get chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (my favorite) when you use butter.
I also really enjoy vegan protein powder because 1) as above, no dairy=no whey and 2) I like lifting heavy stuff and getting strong, but the people who generally associate themselves with vegan protein powder are kinda ... scary & mean, for lack of better/nicer words. So I think that making my sludgy smoothies with vegan protein powder while laughing at toxic fitness culture and using my sludge to nourish my body is a nice way to push back.
I am absolutely wild for Quaker Oats mini cheese rice cakes (I think they call them rice crisps and used to call them Quakes). I used to eat when they first came out because, naturally, it felt like an acceptable snack for a fat teenager. But I could never get enough of them. I always felt out of control and guilty eating them and still being hungry.
During my intuitive eating honeymoon when I realized that I’m an adult with my own disposable income and that I could buy these rice cakes in bulk and eat as much as I wanted. So I did. I think I ate six to ten bags at a time and they don’t really fill me up or satisfy me. They’re pricey so I couldn’t really keep this up but just having a week where I had unconditional permission to eat these was so helpful in making me decide if I actually like them or if I liked them for a diet food.
Turns out I love the texture, the crunch, the cheese dust! But I also eat them knowing that if I’m hungry then I will need something more filling at the same time.
This is the approach I’ve taken to all foods more or less (my poor mouth the couple months it took me to allow myself to eat the sour candy I denied myself for years!), but the rice cakes are the only “diet food” that I think it’s turned out that I actually like.
Unsweetened chocolate almond milk! I first started using it because its low in carbs and calories and really does taste like chocolate, but now that all foods fit I find I really DO love it on cereals hot and cold and as an occasional between-meals snack.
How about a food that used to "off limits" that I thought I loved and now think maybe not so much? Full-fat ranch dressing! Like, the low fat versions are universally icky and I would only use the "real" version on days when I was being indulgent. Once all foods fit I went crazy over it and used it on everything. . .for a while. . .
My "diet" food that I like anyway is brown rice. I never liked white rice growing up (I think it was a sticky texture thing?) and brown rice is sort of crunchy in a nice way. Now when I order it in my Chipotle bowls, my husband scoffs. But it's good! (I do like white rice now too, but when I have an option for brown, I take it.
I am cracking up because we have "never again brown rice!" and "I love brown rice!" comments back to back in this thread. Shows how very personal these questions are!
Also NO ONE is saying "I actually really like cauliflower rice". I like cauliflower as a veggie, not the soggy mess that it makes when you grind it up to make it look like rice :)
Here's my caffiene themed contribution! :) Started drinking my daily coffee black & still love it. Re: non-diet version is legit much better - ordering full milk instead of skim milk lattes/cappucinos.
I simply like sugarfree sodas better. I can't seem to get away from it - regular sugary sodas feel weird in my mouth. (The only exception here is Irn Bru, which tastes okay sugarfree but truly magical in its original.)
I agree regular sodas are weird but my mom always had Diet Pepsi in the house. I don't drink much sodas but every now and then Coke Zero hits the spot.
For a long time, I "swapped" (such a diet culture word!) almond butter for peanut butter, and I briefly convinced myself I liked it better. I've been having PB more lately, and it's so freaking delicious and has a much better texture for me! I also recently discovered chicken thighs--I was stuck in an "only chicken breast" diet/wellness trap for decades. Chicken thighs are way more forgiving in terms of cooking (IMHO), cheaper, delicious (especially after marinating), and much easier for kids to cut themselves!
Oh god, I had forgotten about almond butter. It’s so disappointing! Totally agree about chicken thighs; I haven’t bought chicken breast in years. Do not miss!
One of my favorite tweets of all time (which I forget the author of so I can't provide attribution) said "Almond butter is great if you like peanut butter but think it tastes too good"
I’ve just started working with an intuitive eating nutritionist and I’m trying to figure out the answers to these questions right now (like, maybe I don’t love chicken?), so I don’t have anything to add except that I love skimming this whole thread.
It took me forever to switch to Diet Coke from regular but now I eat whatever and how much I want, I am hooked on Diet Coke. And I’m comfortable with myself and my pants zip, my only way I care what I weigh. I wish I had done this at 15 or whatever too young age I worried about my weight.
Old-fashioned oatmeal with raisins, peanut butter, soy milk, and Splenda. Splenda isn't exactly a comfort food, and I don't use it much in other contexts, but dang it, the oatmeal needs to be 4-year-old level of sweet, and using that much brown sugar makes me feel sluggish and headachy. So Splenda it is.
Similar to the cottage cheese convo, I only discovered that I like oatmeal when I had it in a savory situation, like a sub for grits/polenta. Just a suggestion if you’re still trying to like oatmeal! Put an egg on it seems to be my solution to broadening all my food horizons.
I like oatmeal with a packet of stevia and a sprinkling of chocolate chips, which of course melt when you mix them in. Or, for a more savory effect, oatmeal with salt in it, which tastes kind of like matzo brei.
Yasso froyo bars are legit good and don’t taste like diet food. A food that’s completely reclaimed and is not replaceable in any way is a proper NY/NJ bagel with lox and cream cheese.
Hard boiled eggs are a thing I ate a LOT of during the low-carb years but I still love as a breakfast or snack, as in yes I will eat them on vacation at the Hampton Inn breakfast bar.
Low-fat peanut butter! I love the texture--it's almost like a paste? I know that doesn't sound appetizing but I love it. A spoonful of low-fat peanut butter and a Diet Coke is an amazing snack.
Fiber One cereal, topped with blueberries and skim milk. I used it to game the Weight Watchers system so many times (the fiber basically made it a ‘free’ food), and it has artificial sweetener which I don’t use at any other time. But I really do love it as an evening snack and it has become a comfort food for sure.
I listened to the talk against butter and I switched away from butter to olive oil “butter”. We got used to the taste but the comfort of toast and butter wasn’t there. I finally switched back to real butter and now eat salted butter on my toast every morning. The day just starts better
I had precocious puberty growing up which caused me to be pretty curvy at the age of 10. My family doctor made the decision the determination that I was getting “fat” and sent me to a dietitian. I was placed on an extremely restrictive diet, under 1000 cals a day. The only snack I was allowed to have was a singular pickle. I didn’t like pickles before that, but I came to love them and I still do to this day.
I never really ate these when I was actively dieting, but I sincerely love Grapenuts cereal. It’s so crunchy and not too sweet, so it’s a perfect complement to yogurt with fresh fruit and honey (frequent summer lunch).
I also had a similar experience to your Diet Coke one with Diet Snapple iced tea. I started drinking it when I was on Weight Watchers after high school because it has no calories, but the regular Snapple is too sweet for me now and I just prefer the taste of the Diet. (Now if they would put it back in the old glass bottles, that would be great...)
Grape nuts mixed with Raisin Bran might by my favorite “diet” food- I definitely used to eat it as a true diet food but it actually SLAPS especially with unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Sweet and crunchy and nutty all at once.
Update on the Grapenuts front: a friend gifted me some stewed peaches and I warmed them up and topped them with Grapenuts and vanilla ice cream. It was like a microwave crumble. Heaven!
I could write a whole novel about my love of Diet Coke. I never drank it as a diet food per se, but because I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child I was put on a pretty restrictive portion controlled diet, and regular soda was off limits. I didn’t even like it at first, but I wanted to be a regular kid and have soda at restaurants or the movies. Eventually I started to drink it in the mornings for caffeine and by the end of high school I was a full-on addict. I don’t even think of it as a diet food even though diet is right there in the name.
Like you, I really love & need my smoothies! I deal with a lot of jaw & dental issues that sometimes prevent me from chewing, so my blender is essential for the post-op recovery time to be flavorful and filling.
I adore sparkling water. I didn't grow up drinking soda, bc I only like Dr. Pepper and it's hard to find there, but I occasionally drank Pepsi bc my mother did and it was around. Only in the last 5 years have I discovered that what I really like about soda is the carbonation---it instantly makes me feel cooler and more refreshed. I get a case of Italian Sparkling mineral water at Costco and go through it in ... maybe ... 10 days in the summer, longer when it's not hot.
Love this thread! Unsweetened almond milk, either regular or vanilla flavor - I don't know that it's necessarily "diet" but I love it in coffee, chai, Earl Grey tea. I add my own stevia for sweetness, which is a diet food/item that I really love. (Trader Joe's liquid stevia is my favorite.) While I have a love-hate relationship with dairy, eating real gelato is sooo much better than any dairy-free or low-carb/low-fat frozen dessert thing. Miss me with those frozen desserts that have low calories-per-pint listing but require special handling in order to eat them (ie., leave out for 10-20 minutes before eating).
Frozen, unroasted, unsalted almonds. There’s something really satisfying about the texture when they’re cold and snappier, and they have a lot of sweetness that is too hard to taste when they’re salty.
Hot-air popcorn, spayed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and sugar substitute. I realized that I disliked every version of microwave popcorn that I tried. I don't like movie-style popcorn, either. So controlling what goes on my popcorn makes me happy. Also, diet soda. I dislike the syrupy mouthfeel of the sugary kind.
We do stovetop popcorn with coconut oil, originally to have a "healthier" fat and now because we prefer it. Topped with nutritional yeast because we have dairy issues around here.
omg, Cool Whip Lite! i’m not sure that even counts as food, it’s just straight chemicals, but i prefer the taste and texture to real whipped cream! somewhat horrifying, hahaha.
I grew up on Cool Whip because I have always been allergic to dairy. There is something both nostalgic and horrifying to me on the rare occasions when I eat it now.
Kale is too strongly flavored for most smoothies IMO, but I love spinach in smoothies. Whenever I add spinach to a smoothie I stick with light colored fruit (pineapple, mango, apple - definitely no blueberries) so that it stays bright bright green, which makes me happy.
My daughter and I have recently crowned Cape Cod Waves as the best potato chip, as they are SO CRUNCHY. My husband accidentally bought some reduced-fat Waves over Christmas, and after I recovered from my disappointment, I realized that . . . they're even better?! They're the crunchiest potato chip I've ever crunched. I feel weird recommending them to people, but they're just so good.
I actually love Dreyer's Slow Churned ice cream!! My stepmom used to get it when she was on diets when I was a kid, so I bought in college when I was trying to lose weight. Then I rediscovered, like, actual ice cream (and started questioning my anti-fat bias, etc) and never looked back.
Buuut I got it again recently because it was the only thing the store had... and the texture is so good! Creamy and almost fluffy? I'll still get Tillamook and Ben and Jerry's for their flavors, but Slow Churned going in the permanent rotation as a genuinely joyful option, especially for topping fruit cobblers and pies.
PS - I really love this kind of discussion thread, I hope it goes well so you/we can do more!
I love green smoothies! I always drank them after a run or as a quick breakfast on the go. They still hit the spot and I constantly change up the flavors so it never gets boring.
Another one is salads now that I allow myself to use romaine instead of kale/spinach and choose the dressing I think tastes best instead of “healthiest”.
Our family's "diets" were not weight-loss ones but medically restrictive elimination diets my daughter had to follow through a series of health challenges. We actually discovered a ton of foods we would never have tried otherwise! Now that she's totally healthy and unrestricted, we still eat a lot of them. Virginia, please delete if this isn't ok, but I've written about the breakfast foods we ended up keeping in our world after the six-food-elimination diet just because they're great: http://swallowmysunshine.com/accidentally-safe-six-food-elimination-diet-breakfasts-i-accidentally-love/
Original Special K. Even though I now know it is not even healthy for you, it still tastes good. I do eat some of the healthier variety on occasion (or sale) but original is my go-to sweet morning cereal.
Someone recently reminded me of the Special K diet, which I think I had blocked from my memory entirely. I used to love special K, especially the red berries one, but I haven’t bought cereal in years because I never found it that filling. I might need to try it again…
sugar free cream soda. sugary soda makes my teeth feel weird, but having a really good sugarless cream soda, root beer, or ginger beer feels like a decadent treat. I used to make sure any bread I bought had ALL the fiber, minimal or no sugar, and was thin-sliced. With lots of butter (or lots of peanut butter and jelly) it was edible, but I'm back to baguettes and brioche.
I absolutely love Reduced Fat Jiff peanut butter. It has the best texture! For a while I felt like buying it was going against my anti-diet values. But this post/article made me realize it’s ok because I actually like it more than regular peanut butter!
I can’t stand most spiralized/noodle-ized vegetables, but I still love spaghetti squash with a good hearty meat sauce. If I had access to good fresh pasta all the time, I may feel differently, but there’s something about the sweet squash with a bolognese that I like more than store-bought dried pasta.
I also learned that chicken breasts can be moist and delicious, I just never had them that way growing up (and actually became vegetarian for a while as a teen so I wouldn’t have to eat dry chicken).
I’m completely burnt out on hummus and likely will never go back… now if I want a dip for veggies, i just make ranch dip with hidden valley packets and sour cream.
I love smoothies! I started making them a few years after I read a book by Harley Pasternak claiming that one should have two smoothie meals a day, how awful! I love chewing my food. Anyway, I enjoy making them now but mostly as a snack or as a complement to my meal. With tons of peanut butter, chia seeds, Greek yogurt and banana.
I have always loved cottage cheese, even before I joined the world of dieting. Even dieting couldn’t kill my enjoyment of it. But do not ever try to put fruit in my cottage cheese…it must be eaten with salt and pepper only. Thank-you.
Yes! Full fat cottage cheese with freshly cracked pepper and hot sauce is one of the world’s tastiest snacks.
OK, I have never liked cottage cheese, but I am intrigued by this.
yes!!! savory full fat cottage cheese is the way to go. i never ate it because i thought of it as a dirt food, but now i am obsessed. also, the baby cups are perfect for when you are hangry and need something filling FAST. I’m an olive oil-maldon salt- fresh pepper- hot honey fan.
I've never tried it with hot sauce, but I think I'll have to. That sounds delicious.
ooh. I only eat cottage cheese plain but am now trying these savory ideas!
Cottage cheese may be my favorite food! Diner “diet plates” really did a beating on its reputation.
I remember my mom ordering a half cantaloupe with a scoop of cottage cheese in the center!
Me too! Cottage cheese was a never a diet food for me but whenever I ate it in public someone would ask me if I was on diet or trying to lose weight.
I worked at a Kmart when I was in high school and college in the 80s (I am old), and I would often go to the Kmart Grill on my breaks and purchase a dish of cottage cheese for a snack. It was a single round scoop for about 50 cents. Definitely made me a weirdo in the break room where others were eating popcorn or candy bars!
Current fave is cottage cheese and Kimchee in a tortilla. Perfect snack.
Cottage cheese and blueberries with a drizzle of honey. So good!
I have NEVER tried cottage cheese in my life, and now I’m very intrigued!!
If you can find Good Culture (brand) cottage cheese, it’s so deliciously decadent!
Good Culture cottage cheese eaten with salty potato chips is like the ultimate summer snack!
Oooh cottage cheese is dreamy & filling.
I grew-up eating lots of (low fat) cottage cheese (it’s ok) and then fat free cottage cheese (it’s nasty). Now I’m on the full fat creamy cottage cheese bandwagon and will never look back! I do a mix of sweet-savory toppings, current favorites are pepitas or walnuts, chopped dried figs, a drizzle of tahini and plenty of Maldon. YUM!
Butter. We used to do "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter." Since we now have a toddler who eats solids, we moved back to real butter (Kerrygold to be specific). I will never go back to fake tub butter again.
Kerrygold is so f*cking good.
Yes! I grew up on “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Light!” which, believe it or not, is the more diet-y version of diet butter. When I moved out and started eating real butter, it was like the skies opened and choirs of angels were singing. When I cook for my mom she’ll comment on how good things like mashed potatoes taste and it’s like well, yeah, that’s because butter is delicious.
Same with me! I only discovered real butter when I moved out for college. I use tons of it now.
Hard agree. Also full fat milk. Will never go back to skimmed.
My grad school roommate ate lots of spray butter on saltines as her dinner, with a side of Diet Coke and cigarettes. No joke.
Real butter is so good! I love the convenience of spreadable stuff, but I can just leave out the butter to soften and then it's ... even better than the spreadable stuff? And I only feel very slightly silly for having a butter dish out all the time?
I actually love ICBINB, because it's so easy to spread on bread.
My diet food that I still love now is salads! I genuinely enjoy the taste of lettuce (even plain sometimes), and appreciate the blank slate that a big bowl of lettuce is. Am I feeling like blueberries in my salad today with some almonds? Or am I feeling like black beans and avocado? WHO KNOWS?!
The "diet food" I almost never choose anymore is brown rice. Why would I want to eat the rice that takes 3 times as long to cook and doesn't taste as good???
Seltzer with a splash of juice. I find most sodas too be overly sweet for my liking and artificial sweeteners give me headaches. It has nothing to do with calories, just what is more refreshing and tasty to drink!
I am a long time seltzer devotee and yeah it’s just absolutely the most refreshing drink ever.
same re: seltzer! my first intro to it was when my mom was on a weight loss kick so always side-eyed it, but a cold seltzer on a hot day is SO specifically delightful in its own way.
Have you tried Spindrift seltzers? Lime and grapefruit in my fridge right now. I’ve never been a soda drinker for the same reasons but these are a refreshing summer treat.
I pretty much constantly drink seltzer. I was a Diet Coke drinker before my first pregnancy, then switched to seltzer because I was worried Diet Coke wouldn’t be good for the baby, and the habit just stuck. I particularly love the Polar “Seltzer ade” flavors. I still like Diet Coke occasionally but not as a staple. Seltzer is so refreshing.
I was once a member of weight watchers (I know, I know) and I remember in one meeting there was a discussion about getting “enough” water and all the ladies in the meeting were tying themselves up in knots over how to drink more water, and I said “seltzer counts, right?” And the leader said yes, and the entire mood of the room visibly relaxed. Not that I even think you need to stress about getting 64 oz a day of water or whatever, but I know I would have just been shut down if I had suggested that.
*to
I am here to speak up for kale. I got into it as a diet health food but...I really do prefer it to lettuce it's got more flavor and texture. I've got a kale, chickpea and avocado salad that is *chef's kiss.*
Also when you're driving a long distance, a big ol' ice cold diet dr. pepper is the nectar of the gods.
I completely enjoy kale sauteed with eggs or pasta, or in salads. I just don't think it's necessary in smoothies where it adds no flavor and messes up the texture!
Oh totally. I admit I am ENTIRELY anti smoothie.
VALID
I actually love kale (or spinach) in a smoothie, but also that smoothie has to have peanut butter in it for it to be worthwhile to me 😂
I choose Dino kale as my green of choice whenever I make a substantial salad with lots of toppings - it can hold all of the cheese, meats, nuts, etc perfectly and doesn’t get soggy when I drench it with dressing!
Diet Dr. Pepper!
Any chance of finding that recipe online, or is it from a cookbook? I need a chef’s kiss recipe for those things.
Turns out I really do like grapefruit. And there is no substitute for real butter!
Butter is better than not-butter. Don't even try to argue.
agree!
Count me in as a Diet Coke devotee. And Diet Dr Pepper. And sometimes Diet Pepsi. Just give me all the bubbles but only if they are fake sweet AF :)
I grew pretty fond of the “skinny” or “thin” buns that I used to use for their low-calorie-ness but now like because I’m more about the meat in my burger and less about fluffy buns.
Whole Grain Cheerios were also a low-cal pal but I genuinely like them better than the other flavors. And any kind of snack pack—I used them for portion control to stave off the binging (and still do tbh) but I also just like having a little bag of teddy grahams I can hold on to or take with me somewhere.
There is something very adorable about the idea of a comfort bag of teddy grahams.
Yes, those thin buns are great! Sometimes brioche can be special but usually there’s too much bread in sandwiches and burgers
I feel like buns got really huge at some point which meant the ratios of bread/patty/veggies got all thrown out of whack. I love a thin bun or just a classic potato bun.
I love rice cakes as a hummus or peanut butter delivery system. Few other things have that very distinct crunch. As for the second question? We only ever had low-fat (namely Healthy Choice) ice cream growing up. My mom would jokingly refer to it as "ice milk." I loved it, until I had actual hard ice cream and felt deeply betrayed. I tried frozen yogurt recently and still just tasted cold disappointment water.
I totally love rice cakes and so do both of my teenaged daughters! Plain rice cakes were a first finger-food for both girls, and now they like them with cream cheese and everything-bagel seasoning any time of day. I stopped thinking of them as diet food a long time ago because they were such a favorite snack for my kids!
(plain) Rice cakes were one of my consistent foods as a very picky child and I'm intrigued about the idea of adding cream cheese and everything-bagel seasoning now as a less picky adult
I like plain rice cakes as a slice-of-cheese delivery system too.
Melted cheese on rice cakes has been my most hard-core comfort food since childhood, the one I bring out after the really terrible break-ups.
I'm back to enjoying one CokeZero a day. Diet soda is so stigmatized by so many diets that it feels like a wonderful middle finger to some of the eating plans that tortured me (that I allowed to torture me) over the years. I also sincerely adore Starbucks' sous vide eggs and was offended when Ronan Farrow, in his Grub Street eating chronicle, said they were for sad people who had given up bread, or words to that effect. However, over the weekend I made asparagus frittata muffins for my daughter and me, which had far more vegetables and were even better than the sous vide ones.
Oh I enjoy those sous vide eggs too! Didn't even realize they were a diet thing, I just thought they were nice when you're a little hungry but not full-egg-sandwich hungry.
The sous vide eggs from Starbucks are my special road trip treat! I just really like them.
I like the sous vide eggs on an English muffin myself!
I love the egg bits with a croissant, like a little diy sandwich!
Diet food for me is pb2 and I know how reviled it is, but when I make sesame noodles (note actual pasta being used) the taste and mixing is better than peanut butter. For pb&j though? Skippy all the way! As for non diet, I had been convinced that I had to be dairy free - was eating all non dairy frozen desserts. Turns out ice cream & I get along fine and at least in my book real ice cream wins over all!
I have an aversion to PB2 because we had to use it when my daughter was on a medically-prescribed low-fat diet following heart surgery as a toddler. (NOT a weight loss thing; she was experiencing weird lymphatic side effects.) It made me super sad because all she wanted was a legit PB&J and we couldn't give it to her... but I can totally see how it would be the right texture for peanut sauce!
PB2 is so great for peanut sauce! Mine is usually a combination of pb2, oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Maybe some garlic and ginger too. The nice thing about pb2 instead of peanut butter is that it mixes better and you can add a bunch of sesame oil without it turning out too oily (too oily for my personal taste/texture preferences, that is).
I love it with siracha (cant spell it but I love it) - and totally on the sesame oil
oh jeez, I have a funky relationship to a lot of "healthy" (F**K FOOD SHAMING) substitute dairy foods because of a dairy allergy I've had since childhood. in the last ~5 years I found out (through the allergist!! and a food challenge!! don't try this at home!!) that I can eat baked dairy. the proteins denature enough that my shitty immune system is ok with it. and friends -- holy shit butter and buttermilk and cream are LIFE-CHANGING in baked goods. I really enjoy how different the texture is! it's so much easier to get chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (my favorite) when you use butter.
I also really enjoy vegan protein powder because 1) as above, no dairy=no whey and 2) I like lifting heavy stuff and getting strong, but the people who generally associate themselves with vegan protein powder are kinda ... scary & mean, for lack of better/nicer words. So I think that making my sludgy smoothies with vegan protein powder while laughing at toxic fitness culture and using my sludge to nourish my body is a nice way to push back.
I am absolutely wild for Quaker Oats mini cheese rice cakes (I think they call them rice crisps and used to call them Quakes). I used to eat when they first came out because, naturally, it felt like an acceptable snack for a fat teenager. But I could never get enough of them. I always felt out of control and guilty eating them and still being hungry.
During my intuitive eating honeymoon when I realized that I’m an adult with my own disposable income and that I could buy these rice cakes in bulk and eat as much as I wanted. So I did. I think I ate six to ten bags at a time and they don’t really fill me up or satisfy me. They’re pricey so I couldn’t really keep this up but just having a week where I had unconditional permission to eat these was so helpful in making me decide if I actually like them or if I liked them for a diet food.
Turns out I love the texture, the crunch, the cheese dust! But I also eat them knowing that if I’m hungry then I will need something more filling at the same time.
This is the approach I’ve taken to all foods more or less (my poor mouth the couple months it took me to allow myself to eat the sour candy I denied myself for years!), but the rice cakes are the only “diet food” that I think it’s turned out that I actually like.
I absolutely love this journey! What a liberating process to help you understand how you really want to relate to a food.
I forgot about those and now I want them. The crunch is soooo good!
Unsweetened chocolate almond milk! I first started using it because its low in carbs and calories and really does taste like chocolate, but now that all foods fit I find I really DO love it on cereals hot and cold and as an occasional between-meals snack.
How about a food that used to "off limits" that I thought I loved and now think maybe not so much? Full-fat ranch dressing! Like, the low fat versions are universally icky and I would only use the "real" version on days when I was being indulgent. Once all foods fit I went crazy over it and used it on everything. . .for a while. . .
Ranch dressing is SO GOOD.
Chocolate “milks” are the best.
Virginia - this thread is a hit! Please, please consider making it a regular thing.
Aw, yay! I'm so pleased. It's making my Friday so fun. We'll def do it again.
It's making my Friday fun as well!
My "diet" food that I like anyway is brown rice. I never liked white rice growing up (I think it was a sticky texture thing?) and brown rice is sort of crunchy in a nice way. Now when I order it in my Chipotle bowls, my husband scoffs. But it's good! (I do like white rice now too, but when I have an option for brown, I take it.
I am cracking up because we have "never again brown rice!" and "I love brown rice!" comments back to back in this thread. Shows how very personal these questions are!
Also NO ONE is saying "I actually really like cauliflower rice". I like cauliflower as a veggie, not the soggy mess that it makes when you grind it up to make it look like rice :)
I just rediscovered how much I like brown rice. I have been eating a lot of brown rice and vegetable dinners because I find that delicious!
Here's my caffiene themed contribution! :) Started drinking my daily coffee black & still love it. Re: non-diet version is legit much better - ordering full milk instead of skim milk lattes/cappucinos.
I feel completely the same about fine with daily black coffee, but def need full fat milk in lattes and mochas.
I simply like sugarfree sodas better. I can't seem to get away from it - regular sugary sodas feel weird in my mouth. (The only exception here is Irn Bru, which tastes okay sugarfree but truly magical in its original.)
I agree regular sodas are weird but my mom always had Diet Pepsi in the house. I don't drink much sodas but every now and then Coke Zero hits the spot.
For a long time, I "swapped" (such a diet culture word!) almond butter for peanut butter, and I briefly convinced myself I liked it better. I've been having PB more lately, and it's so freaking delicious and has a much better texture for me! I also recently discovered chicken thighs--I was stuck in an "only chicken breast" diet/wellness trap for decades. Chicken thighs are way more forgiving in terms of cooking (IMHO), cheaper, delicious (especially after marinating), and much easier for kids to cut themselves!
Oh god, I had forgotten about almond butter. It’s so disappointing! Totally agree about chicken thighs; I haven’t bought chicken breast in years. Do not miss!
One of my favorite tweets of all time (which I forget the author of so I can't provide attribution) said "Almond butter is great if you like peanut butter but think it tastes too good"
I’ve just started working with an intuitive eating nutritionist and I’m trying to figure out the answers to these questions right now (like, maybe I don’t love chicken?), so I don’t have anything to add except that I love skimming this whole thread.
Hooray for doing this work and so glad this was a fun/useful addition to that!
It took me forever to switch to Diet Coke from regular but now I eat whatever and how much I want, I am hooked on Diet Coke. And I’m comfortable with myself and my pants zip, my only way I care what I weigh. I wish I had done this at 15 or whatever too young age I worried about my weight.
Old-fashioned oatmeal with raisins, peanut butter, soy milk, and Splenda. Splenda isn't exactly a comfort food, and I don't use it much in other contexts, but dang it, the oatmeal needs to be 4-year-old level of sweet, and using that much brown sugar makes me feel sluggish and headachy. So Splenda it is.
Yes, oatmeal! When it’s got something in it (me: cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, butter, and sugar) it’s amazing.
I have tried so many times to like oatmeal and failed. Maybe Splenda is what I'm missing...
Similar to the cottage cheese convo, I only discovered that I like oatmeal when I had it in a savory situation, like a sub for grits/polenta. Just a suggestion if you’re still trying to like oatmeal! Put an egg on it seems to be my solution to broadening all my food horizons.
I feel this way about Splenda or Sweet n Low in iced coffee. Regular sugar just doesn’t dissolve well enough to sweeten the drink!
I like oatmeal with a packet of stevia and a sprinkling of chocolate chips, which of course melt when you mix them in. Or, for a more savory effect, oatmeal with salt in it, which tastes kind of like matzo brei.
I really do like rice cakes. But no thank you for fat free dairy products.
Yasso froyo bars are legit good and don’t taste like diet food. A food that’s completely reclaimed and is not replaceable in any way is a proper NY/NJ bagel with lox and cream cheese.
Absolutely NOT replaceable in any way!!
Hard boiled eggs are a thing I ate a LOT of during the low-carb years but I still love as a breakfast or snack, as in yes I will eat them on vacation at the Hampton Inn breakfast bar.
Low-fat peanut butter! I love the texture--it's almost like a paste? I know that doesn't sound appetizing but I love it. A spoonful of low-fat peanut butter and a Diet Coke is an amazing snack.
I feel like I would need some crackers (Cheez-its!) for dipping but I'm there.
Cheez-its in peanut butter? I am confused but also... intrigued.
Ooh yes. Have you ever had those cheesy crackers with peanut butter that come in a little six-pack for kids' lunchboxes? So odd but so good.
omg OF COURSE. Genius.
Those are addictive and especially good for long road trips.
Fiber One cereal, topped with blueberries and skim milk. I used it to game the Weight Watchers system so many times (the fiber basically made it a ‘free’ food), and it has artificial sweetener which I don’t use at any other time. But I really do love it as an evening snack and it has become a comfort food for sure.
I listened to the talk against butter and I switched away from butter to olive oil “butter”. We got used to the taste but the comfort of toast and butter wasn’t there. I finally switched back to real butter and now eat salted butter on my toast every morning. The day just starts better
Pickles.
I had precocious puberty growing up which caused me to be pretty curvy at the age of 10. My family doctor made the decision the determination that I was getting “fat” and sent me to a dietitian. I was placed on an extremely restrictive diet, under 1000 cals a day. The only snack I was allowed to have was a singular pickle. I didn’t like pickles before that, but I came to love them and I still do to this day.
Oh gosh. A single pickle! That breaks my heart.
It was 30 years ago but it’s mindbending how far our understanding of the human body has grown since then!
I never really ate these when I was actively dieting, but I sincerely love Grapenuts cereal. It’s so crunchy and not too sweet, so it’s a perfect complement to yogurt with fresh fruit and honey (frequent summer lunch).
I also had a similar experience to your Diet Coke one with Diet Snapple iced tea. I started drinking it when I was on Weight Watchers after high school because it has no calories, but the regular Snapple is too sweet for me now and I just prefer the taste of the Diet. (Now if they would put it back in the old glass bottles, that would be great...)
Oh yes, the glass bottles were the best!
Grape nuts mixed with Raisin Bran might by my favorite “diet” food- I definitely used to eat it as a true diet food but it actually SLAPS especially with unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Sweet and crunchy and nutty all at once.
I loved GrapeNuts when I was a kid, want to add it to my grocery list now!
Update on the Grapenuts front: a friend gifted me some stewed peaches and I warmed them up and topped them with Grapenuts and vanilla ice cream. It was like a microwave crumble. Heaven!
There’s a place by me that serves Grapenuts ice cream that they make in-house — my husband, who LOVES Grapenuts, thinks it’s the bees’ knees!
I ate a lot of GrapeNuts as a kid. Must try it again.
I could write a whole novel about my love of Diet Coke. I never drank it as a diet food per se, but because I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child I was put on a pretty restrictive portion controlled diet, and regular soda was off limits. I didn’t even like it at first, but I wanted to be a regular kid and have soda at restaurants or the movies. Eventually I started to drink it in the mornings for caffeine and by the end of high school I was a full-on addict. I don’t even think of it as a diet food even though diet is right there in the name.
Like you, I really love & need my smoothies! I deal with a lot of jaw & dental issues that sometimes prevent me from chewing, so my blender is essential for the post-op recovery time to be flavorful and filling.
I adore sparkling water. I didn't grow up drinking soda, bc I only like Dr. Pepper and it's hard to find there, but I occasionally drank Pepsi bc my mother did and it was around. Only in the last 5 years have I discovered that what I really like about soda is the carbonation---it instantly makes me feel cooler and more refreshed. I get a case of Italian Sparkling mineral water at Costco and go through it in ... maybe ... 10 days in the summer, longer when it's not hot.
I had to reduce sodium for medical reasons a few years ago and now I prefer unsalted tortilla chips and low sodium products in general.
Love this thread! Unsweetened almond milk, either regular or vanilla flavor - I don't know that it's necessarily "diet" but I love it in coffee, chai, Earl Grey tea. I add my own stevia for sweetness, which is a diet food/item that I really love. (Trader Joe's liquid stevia is my favorite.) While I have a love-hate relationship with dairy, eating real gelato is sooo much better than any dairy-free or low-carb/low-fat frozen dessert thing. Miss me with those frozen desserts that have low calories-per-pint listing but require special handling in order to eat them (ie., leave out for 10-20 minutes before eating).
I tried Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi when I was "low carb," but they are legit delicious and I still eat them all the time now.
Frozen, unroasted, unsalted almonds. There’s something really satisfying about the texture when they’re cold and snappier, and they have a lot of sweetness that is too hard to taste when they’re salty.
Just as long as you don't count them out and limit yourself to 12 or whatever, like poor President Obama!
That makes my teeth cower in fear. Almonds are already so hard!
Hot-air popcorn, spayed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and sugar substitute. I realized that I disliked every version of microwave popcorn that I tried. I don't like movie-style popcorn, either. So controlling what goes on my popcorn makes me happy. Also, diet soda. I dislike the syrupy mouthfeel of the sugary kind.
Popcorn is the best snack! I like air popped better than stovetop at this point
We do stovetop popcorn with coconut oil, originally to have a "healthier" fat and now because we prefer it. Topped with nutritional yeast because we have dairy issues around here.
omg, Cool Whip Lite! i’m not sure that even counts as food, it’s just straight chemicals, but i prefer the taste and texture to real whipped cream! somewhat horrifying, hahaha.
I grew up on Cool Whip because I have always been allergic to dairy. There is something both nostalgic and horrifying to me on the rare occasions when I eat it now.
The non-diet version that is so much better: A big-a$$ bagel with cream cheese. As much cream cheese as I want. The whole thing.
The "diet" food that I just enjoy because it makes me happy: sugar-free sweet cream coffee creamer. I just like it, man.
Kale is too strongly flavored for most smoothies IMO, but I love spinach in smoothies. Whenever I add spinach to a smoothie I stick with light colored fruit (pineapple, mango, apple - definitely no blueberries) so that it stays bright bright green, which makes me happy.
Same here. I have a fruit smoothie with spinach every morning, and have had for years and years.
Reduced fat wheat thins! I genuinely find the regular ones greasy and unappetizing.
Totally agree! Also prefer reduced fat Cape Cod potato chips for the same reason!
Ditto the reduced fat vegetable thins!
My daughter and I have recently crowned Cape Cod Waves as the best potato chip, as they are SO CRUNCHY. My husband accidentally bought some reduced-fat Waves over Christmas, and after I recovered from my disappointment, I realized that . . . they're even better?! They're the crunchiest potato chip I've ever crunched. I feel weird recommending them to people, but they're just so good.
I actually love Dreyer's Slow Churned ice cream!! My stepmom used to get it when she was on diets when I was a kid, so I bought in college when I was trying to lose weight. Then I rediscovered, like, actual ice cream (and started questioning my anti-fat bias, etc) and never looked back.
Buuut I got it again recently because it was the only thing the store had... and the texture is so good! Creamy and almost fluffy? I'll still get Tillamook and Ben and Jerry's for their flavors, but Slow Churned going in the permanent rotation as a genuinely joyful option, especially for topping fruit cobblers and pies.
PS - I really love this kind of discussion thread, I hope it goes well so you/we can do more!
I love green smoothies! I always drank them after a run or as a quick breakfast on the go. They still hit the spot and I constantly change up the flavors so it never gets boring.
Another one is salads now that I allow myself to use romaine instead of kale/spinach and choose the dressing I think tastes best instead of “healthiest”.
Nothing is better than super crunchy romaine.
I'm growing red and green romaine on my balcony. It should be ready this weekend. I'm a little too excited :-)
Our family's "diets" were not weight-loss ones but medically restrictive elimination diets my daughter had to follow through a series of health challenges. We actually discovered a ton of foods we would never have tried otherwise! Now that she's totally healthy and unrestricted, we still eat a lot of them. Virginia, please delete if this isn't ok, but I've written about the breakfast foods we ended up keeping in our world after the six-food-elimination diet just because they're great: http://swallowmysunshine.com/accidentally-safe-six-food-elimination-diet-breakfasts-i-accidentally-love/
Original Special K. Even though I now know it is not even healthy for you, it still tastes good. I do eat some of the healthier variety on occasion (or sale) but original is my go-to sweet morning cereal.
Someone recently reminded me of the Special K diet, which I think I had blocked from my memory entirely. I used to love special K, especially the red berries one, but I haven’t bought cereal in years because I never found it that filling. I might need to try it again…
sugar free cream soda. sugary soda makes my teeth feel weird, but having a really good sugarless cream soda, root beer, or ginger beer feels like a decadent treat. I used to make sure any bread I bought had ALL the fiber, minimal or no sugar, and was thin-sliced. With lots of butter (or lots of peanut butter and jelly) it was edible, but I'm back to baguettes and brioche.
I absolutely love Reduced Fat Jiff peanut butter. It has the best texture! For a while I felt like buying it was going against my anti-diet values. But this post/article made me realize it’s ok because I actually like it more than regular peanut butter!
I can’t stand most spiralized/noodle-ized vegetables, but I still love spaghetti squash with a good hearty meat sauce. If I had access to good fresh pasta all the time, I may feel differently, but there’s something about the sweet squash with a bolognese that I like more than store-bought dried pasta.
I also learned that chicken breasts can be moist and delicious, I just never had them that way growing up (and actually became vegetarian for a while as a teen so I wouldn’t have to eat dry chicken).
I’m completely burnt out on hummus and likely will never go back… now if I want a dip for veggies, i just make ranch dip with hidden valley packets and sour cream.
I love smoothies! I started making them a few years after I read a book by Harley Pasternak claiming that one should have two smoothie meals a day, how awful! I love chewing my food. Anyway, I enjoy making them now but mostly as a snack or as a complement to my meal. With tons of peanut butter, chia seeds, Greek yogurt and banana.