So-called Diet Desserts

I kind of feel like the Food Police talking about this, but I wonder if others are coming across the same thing of people being oblivious to what they are really eating.

 

 

Last evening my sister sent me the picture above with the text, "Diet cheesecake...can you believe it?"

The first thing I thought was, "No, I don't believe it." I asked her what was in it and she said FF cottage cheese, RF cream cheese, RF sour cream, FF caramel sauce on top. I asked her what the brown stuff was on top and she said that it was 2 Health Bars chopped up!!!  HOLY HELL!  How can someone really believe that this is "diet" food and that it's good for you??  She also told me that she made "diet" pimento cheese spread.  How can you make pimento cheese diet? It's cheese and mayo and you spread it on bread. Ummm, no.

Keep in mind that my sister is about 80 pounds overweight, and her husband, although slim, has heart disease and is pre-diabetic. He is the kind of man that wants a hearty full course meal, every meal, of meat and potatoes and a new dessert every day. She likes to cook and is always scouring recipe books for new things to make. She is another that sticks her nose up at primal eating, because she doesn't understand it, has no desire to understand it, and because she eats things that are too complicated. By that I mean that she wants to eat casseroles and foods with too many ingredients and then complains that it's too hard to count calories. I tried to tell her that she's making it too hard. She needs to eat whole foods. A lean protein, lots of vegetables and a little fruit and nuts. Too boring for her, I guess. Well, I'd like to eat the casseroles and sauces and desserts, too, but I know that I cannot eat that way and be healthy and expect any kind of weight loss. I also cannot eat that way without cravings and overeating.

In my opinion, I need to stay away from all "makeover" desserts (and foods for that matter) and stick with whole foods. You're only fooling yourself with the makeovers and I believe that you'll still get cravings from those foods, because they still contain sugar and fat (I looked up the cheesecake recipe out of curiosity and it has 15 grams of fat per slice!  Told you I felt like the Food Police.)

A while back, and only for a minute, I contemplated making desserts/pancakes out of the "fake" flours (almond, coconut, buckwheat) but I decided that would put me on a slippery slope to allowing more and more of the things that I should be staying away from that could cause cravings, and therefore, cause binging. Maybe one day I'll be able to eat those foods, but not now.

I've gotten off track a little about people not realizing what they are actually eating and how so-called "diet" desserts, that for the most part, still aren't good for you.  I think a lot of people, my sister for one, are in denial of how bad the food that she's eating really is because:  1) she still wants to be able to eat it and believe/tell herself it's healthy while still indulging   2) she likes to cook, and especially bake, and she can if she still has this way of thinking  3) she wants to "take care of" her family and show her love with food.

I think that for the most part it's denial.  There may be some people out there who can indulge in these types of foods and still remain slim and healthy but I think they're most likely people who do not have food addictions.

Of course, this is only my opinion, what are your thoughts on so-called "makeover, diet" desserts/foods?