Why Do I Feel Guilty After Eating?

Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN

Feeling guilty after overeating or after eating certain foods like sweets, chips, or fried foods is unfortunately pretty common. Many of us have learned to think of eating certain foods as “bad”, which makes us feel bad about ourselves when we eat them (cue the guilt!). 

The good news is that you don’t have to stay stuck feeling guilty after eating forever. We’ve seen countless clients let go of food guilt by improving their relationships with food, learning positive nutrition, and embracing an all foods fit mentality. 

Keep reading to learn what food guilt is, what causes it, and how to stop feeling guilty after eating.

What is Food Guilt?

Food guilt happens when you feel like you did something wrong by eating. It may be that you “overate” or that you ate foods you deem as “bad” or “unhealthy”. You are likely placing a moral judgment on yourself for eating.

Being trapped in a cycle of feeling guilty after eating can be mentally and emotionally draining. It’s often a part of the binge-restrict cycle, where you move through restriction, food obsession, binge eating, and food guilt on repeat. 

This cycle may be a sign of disordered eating or an eating disorder like bulimia nervosa.

Food Guilt vs. Guilt Eating

Before we dive further into food guilt, let me clarify the difference between food guilt and guilt eating (yes, there is a difference!). 

Food guilt is when you feel guilty after eating.

Guilt eating is when you eat in response to the emotion of guilt. It’s a type of emotional eating. This likely means you’re using food to cope with the unpleasant emotion of guilt.

Read our blog post on emotional eating if you want to learn more!

Food Guilt and Eating Disorders

Guilt after eating is very common with eating disorders, whether it be anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder. 

In the case of an eating disorder, you may feel guilty for eating a very small amount of food or you may be struggling with binge eating followed by feelings of guilt

The guilt is usually very intense and may lead to compensatory behaviors like vomiting, excessive exercise, or severe restriction.

Feeling intensely guilty after eating may be a warning sign of disordered eating or an eating disorder. If you think you may be at risk, Project Heal has resources to help.

Why Do I Feel Guilty After Eating?

There is no one cause for food guilt, but oftentimes, it’s related to diet culture, internalized weight stigma, and/or food restriction. Learn more about the reasons you may feel guilty after eating below.

You May Have Diet Culture-Driven Food Beliefs

Diet culture promotes black and white thoughts about food. It labels some foods as “good” and others as “bad”, some as “healthy” and others as “unhealthy”. Not only that, but diet culture has made us think that we’re bad if we eat a “bad” food. 

Food should not have this kind of morality attached to it. Cake is not bad and eating it does not make you a bad person. Your cultural foods are not bad and eating them does not make you bad. 

You’re simply a human who likes good tasting food! It’s totally okay to derive pleasure from food.

Given that diet culture has made us think we are bad if we eat certain foods, it makes sense that you’d feel guilty if you don’t abide by diet culture’s arbitrary food rules.

You Have Internalized Weight Stigma

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), weight stigma is “discrimination or stereotyping based on a person’s weight”. Weight stigma is so pervasive in our society. It happens in doctor’s offices, in the media, amongst family and friends, and more. 

When you become aware of it, it’s hard to find places where weight stigma isn’t present. 

Since weight stigma is so pervasive, many people are constantly trying to lose weight. It makes sense because diet culture teaches us that weight loss is the cure to all of our problems whether it be a lack of confidence, health issues, or loneliness. 

Especially for those living in larger bodies or with other marginalized identities, attempting to lose weight can also be a means of trying to achieve safety. This is a super nuanced topic and we will never judge anyone for wanting to lose weight.

That being said, most people try losing weight by dieting or restricting food in some way. This often leads to weight cycling, a fraught relationship with food, periods of restriction and bingeing, and lots of guilt when you can’t stick to the diet (even though diets simply don’t work). 

It can also perpetuate diet culture-driven beliefs about certain foods being bad and others being good, which leads you to feel guilty after breaking the diet and eating “bad” foods.

You May Be Restricting Certain Foods

If you feel guilty eating certain foods, it may be because you’re restricting those foods. You may have a specific idea of what healthy eating is, and when your eating doesn’t align with that, it brings up guilt or shame.

Restricting certain foods makes you more likely to binge on those foods, and binge eating often brings up feelings of guilt or shame. It may seem counterintuitive, but letting yourself eat the foods you enjoy will help you to find food freedom over time.

You May Be Restricting Your Overall Energy Intake

Whether you’re following a restrictive meal plan, tracking calories in an app, or counting macros, you may be fueling an unhealthy relationship with food. Especially if you’re trying to limit your calories, you may actually not be eating enough.

I know, we’re often told that we could all stand to eat less, but there’s a lot of misinformation out there about how much we actually need (no, 1200 calories is not enough for an adult!).

When you make food choices rooted in restriction or diet culture’s “less is better” ideology, it could lead to food guilt.

Think about it. If you have internalized the idea that you should only eat a certain amount per day, you’ll probably feel guilty if you exceed that. 

Plus, setting a caloric maximum for yourself may make you more likely to binge since your mind and body will feel deprived.

How to Stop Food Guilt

Reframe All-Or-Nothing Food Thoughts

As I mentioned above, diet culture makes us think all-or-nothing thoughts about food. We deem certain foods off limits and center others as the cure-all for our ailments. 

To prevent food guilt and dismantle this hierarchy of foods, it helps to reframe these thoughts. Remember that it’s okay to derive pleasure from food. Food is meant to taste good! If it didn’t, we wouldn’t have the drive to eat, which we need to do to survive.

Incorporate your forbidden foods into your regular eating pattern so you can stop fearing them and reduce the power they have over you. As you start to trust yourself around them, you can stop feeling guilty after eating them. 

Eat Enough

Eating food is a necessary part of not just staying alive, but thriving. If you deprive yourself of the amount of food you need and the variety of foods you love, you won’t be able to thrive.

Eating enough also opens the door for you to practice more mindful eating over time. By that, I mean being present with your food non-judgmentally and noticing when you’re satisfied. 

If you’re constantly operating from a place of either restriction or binge eating, it will be really hard to be present with your meal and notice your body sensations. And if you’re not eating enough, you’re more likely to binge, feel guilty, and perpetuate the binge-restrict cycle.

Practice Body Acceptance

Since body image struggles often go hand-in-hand with food guilt, fostering a healthier body image can help. This obviously takes time, work, patience, and reflection, but it is so worth it. 

You may initially think of body positivity or body love as your goal, but these feel out of reach for many people. For that reason, it may help to start by working towards body acceptance, body trust, or body neutrality.

You don’t have to immediately love the parts of your body that you currently hate, but can you work to accept them? 

If you can start to accept your here-and-now body, then you may be better able to handle natural body changes. 

It can help to remember that everyone’s body is unique. We were not meant to all have the same body and even if we all ate the same and worked out the same, our bodies would still be different.

Work With An Anti-Diet Dietitian

Having someone to talk with about these struggles can be immensely helpful. An anti-diet dietitian could be a great support person to help you connect with your body’s cues, ensure you’re eating enough, and find ways to incorporate your favorite foods, even if you’re managing a chronic health condition.

They can teach you positive nutrition focused on adding nutrition to your meals and learning about the nutrition benefits your favorite foods have to offer.

Here at Your Latina Nutrition, we have a team of registered dietitians available to meet with you for 1:1 nutrition counseling sessions. These sessions are covered by many insurance providers and we’re licensed in 14 states and counting! If you want help overcoming food guilt, verify your benefits here.

Final Thoughts

Experiencing food guilt is no fun, but you can take steps to reduce guilt after eating. Since it’s often caused by diet culture-related food beliefs, food restriction, or internalized weight stigma, it helps to reframe black and white thoughts about food, make sure you’re eating enough, and practice body acceptance. 

For education on how to ADD nutrition to your favorite Latine cultural dishes, make peace with food, and focus on your health without dieting, join our nutrition library for just $27/month.

If you liked this post, you may also like: 

Enjoy Eating Again With These 7 Tips

Fear Foods: How to Identify and Reintroduce Them

Emotional Hunger vs. Physical Hunger: How to Tell the Difference