Indulging Without Guilt: Food
Guilt and Why We Feel It

What happens when we feel guilty about eating?

When we eat more than we intended or have an “off-plan” food while dieting, it’s common to experience guilt. But it’s not just the eating behavior we judge — we often end up judging ourselves entirely, assigning personal worth based on what we’ve eaten (e.g., “I was good today because I ate a salad”).

How does this self-talk affect us and our relationship with food?

Tying our self-worth to what we eat — whether through compliments or criticism — isn’t helpful. It only reinforces a rigid, need-disconnected view of food and eating habits. As a result, we increase the likelihood of feeling guilt again whenever we’re faced with foods labeled as wrong/bad/fattening/unnecessary.

But here’s the truth: there are no “good” or “bad” foods. There’s no food that inherently causes weight loss or weight gain. There’s just food.

Avoiding certain foods simply because our culture labels them as “bad” often backfires, especially in moments of stress — driving us toward those exact foods.

Instead, tuning in to our body’s signals, emotions, and true needs can help us feel more satisfied — and when we’re satisfied, we no longer feel the need to “cheat.”

Here are three tips to ease food guilt:
1. Stop labeling food — and stop labeling yourself based on what you eat.
Food’s primary function is to nourish and support your body and brain. It doesn’t define who you are.
2. Learn to express emotions without using food as a coping tool.
Recognize your emotions, accept them, and try to understand them — rather than suppress or ignore them.
3. When you feel like you’ve “messed up,” forgive yourself.
Then, approach the next similar situation with more awareness. Ask yourself: What can I do differently next time?

Giulia Zanchi
Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist in Training