Why we should retire the term "guilt-free"

For as long as anyone can recall, food and wellness companies have been advertising their edible products as “guilt-free”. The term is generally associated with products that are low-calorie, low in fat or sugar, or possess some nutritional value - in short, food that you do not have to feel guilty eating. But what dangerous messages are we really endorsing when we fall for these cheap advertising strategies?

In the early 20th century, before manufacturing industries started exploiting and preying on audiences’ deep-seated, consistently foisted insecurities, advertisements were considered nothing more than a way of relaying information about a product to a person. When did the change happen? When did marketing products become less about the product itself or the value it can add to our lives, and more about what we lack as people?

The cosmetics industry tells us we’re not pretty enough, the fitness industry tells us that if we don’t look like models, we’re not fit enough, and the fashion industry (with their unreliable size charts and hyper-skinny models) tells us we’re not thin enough. And the food industry tells us the same thing, albeit in prettier packaging. They’re subtly milking our pre-existing insecurities, while also heroising themselves for supposedly solving problems they had a hand in causing.

Using the term “guilt-free” to describe foods that are low-calorie implies that you should feel guilty eating foods that aren’t. To a brand, this can mean one of two things - either you should feel guilty for compromising your health, or you should feel guilty for consuming food that could cause you to gain weight. While the latter is a blatant and obvious result of unrealistic societal expectations (that state that everybody should look a certain way, regardless of genetic and cultural factors that determine how a person’s real,“healthy” body looks), the former notion is a quieter, more elusive voice in our heads that persistently fuels emotions like guilt and shame around eating.

Nobody should feel guilty for eating, no matter what it is that you eat. Whether it’s low-calorie, high-calorie, sugary, sugarless, fatty, fat-free, plant-based, manufactured, wholesome, unwholesome, healthy or unhealthy, guilt is an emotion that absolutely does not need to be affiliated with food. That’s not to say that it isn’t undeniably important to understand and be aware of what foods are and aren’t good for your body - maintaining physical well being is an imperative step towards leading a full life. But doing this requires knowledge of the kind of food you consume, and the discipline to pace yourself - feelings of guilt and shame should not act as motivators to keep you from eating certain foods. Because in the long run, negative emotions like guilt will always be worse for your health than any “guilty” snack will ever be.