Why Do I Feel Guilty After Eating? 5 Ways to Combat Food Guilt

What Is Food Guilt?

Food guilt means experiencing negative emotions after eating. People often experience these feelings because they label foods as “good” or “bad” or have “unacceptable” eating patterns. When someone deviates from their desired eating habits, guilt can range from mild regret that passes fairly quickly to severe self-criticism and persistent obsessiveness.

Examples of Food Guilt

Food guilt can come in various forms. Sometimes, feeling guilty after eating explicitly occurs within a social setting. Someone may think, “I shouldn’t be eating this!” Other times, someone might privately and internally shame themselves after eating, even if they act normally around others. Food guilt often feels magnified when dieting or trying to lose weight.

Here are a few examples of food guilt:

• Apologizing about the amount or type of food consumed
• Feeling anxious after eating certain foods
• Feeling gross, bad, or ‘weak’ after eating
• Obsessing about how the food impacts the body (i.e., gaining weight)
• Feeling guilty when eating ‘bad’ foods
• Getting upset for not having ‘enough control’ around food
• Frequently comparing eating habits to others and feeling inferior

Is Feeling Guilty After Eating an Eating Disorder?

Food guilt can be a symptom of an eating disorder. However, assuming that experiencing guilt around eating indicates a mental illness is too short-sighted. Research shows guilt related to eating is common, particularly in girls and women. In fact, society often normalizes food guilt.¹ While eating disorder types vary, they generally entail chronic preoccupations with food, body image, and losing weight.

The pattern becomes more problematic when guilt around food motivates someone to take action. For example, they might start restricting their intake, compensating for how much they eat via purging, or engaging in binge-restrict cycles. These behaviors are some of the main symptoms of eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder.

Why Do I Feel Guilty After Eating?

Many people feel socially conditioned to feel guilty after eating. Some grew up watching their loved ones shame themselves over-consuming certain foods. Others want to adhere to a diet, feeling ashamed when they don’t conform to their standards. In some cases, guilt coincides with fatphobia or being criticized for one’s body image.²

The next time you experience this guilt, ask yourself, “Where is this feeling coming from,” or “When do I think I first felt it?” These questions may help you cultivate greater insight into the origin and triggers of your food guilt.

Reasons you may feel guilty after eating include:

• Diet culture: Diet culture refers to the pervasive standards people have around how much and what to eat. Diet culture entails an obsessive preoccupation with calories, macronutrients, or exercise expectations.
• Societal standards of health and beauty: Diet culture goes hand-in-hand with societal standards about physical appearance. These expectations can result in food guilt, as people worry that eating in certain ways causes them to “deviate” from what they should look like. There is a known link between body image and eating disorders.
• Food guilt from others: Some people openly guilt or food shame others for how they eat. This behavior can be a form of bullying that happens with family, friends, healthcare professionals, or even strangers.
• Perfectionism: Those who identify with perfectionism may struggle with food guilt. They may assume they need to eat ‘perfectly’ at all times, and straying away from their rigid standards can cause adverse reactions.
• Low self-esteem: People with low self-esteem may also experience food guilt, especially if their self-esteem is tied to their physical appearance.

Impact of Food Guilt

Guilt itself is not a harmful emotion. You can’t help how you feel, and everyone experiences negative emotions from time to time. But constantly feeling guilty after eating can turn into shame, eroding self-esteem and confidence. The impact of food guilt can include increased anxiety, rigid rules around meals, and social isolation from others.

Potential impacts of food guilt include:

• Negative body image: Food guilt can cause negative body image, especially if you identify with feeling “fat” after consuming a particular food or meal.
• Development of an eating disorder: Sometimes food guilt can lead to an eating disorder when the guilt motivates you to engage in restricting, binge eating, purging, or a combination of these behaviors.
• Resentment of others or social withdrawal: Some people project their food guilt onto others, causing them to guilt those around them. Others will refuse to engage in certain social activities if certain ‘bad’ foods are served because they don’t want to deal with the temptation.
• Exacerbated depression or anxiety: Food guilt may magnify mental health symptoms of depression or anxiety, partly due to self-loathing that can come from feeling bad after eating.

How to Stop Feeling Guilty After Eating

Feeling guilty for eating is not healthy, and you should never shame yourself for honoring your needs. Remember, you’re certainly not alone in these struggles. However, you can implement certain strategies to overcome your feelings and build a more meaningful relationship with both food and your body. These steps alone may not “stop” you from feeling any guilt, but they can lessen the impacts to improve your overall well-being.

Here are five ways to stop feeling guilty after eating:

1. Practice Mindful Eating

Mindful eating refers to eating intentionally by staying present during mealtimes. When someone eats mindfully, they don’t engage in other distractions (like watching TV or being on their phone). Instead, they focus on enjoying the sensations of their food. This can help you pay better attention to your satiety signals, which can improve mind-body awareness.³

2. Try to Let Go of Food Rules

Many people have rigid rules about how they should eat. For example, you might believe you should only eat X daily calories or shouldn’t eat after a certain time. The problem with these rules is they can be inherently restrictive. If you break one of them, you may feel guilty.

3. Unfollow Social Media Accounts That Trigger Guilt

Diet or weight-loss accounts may only perpetuate guilt around eating. Subsequently, negatively comparing yourself to certain people online may lead you to feel worse about yourself. Consider blocking or unfollowing accounts that exacerbate food guilt- pay attention to see if this change makes a difference.

4. Practice Gratitude for Eating

Sometimes, appreciating your food can help you combat food guilt.⁴ Take note of the scene, including anyone around you. Pay attention to your five senses, such as the tastes in your mouth, the feeling of the food, any sounds you hear, visible surroundings, and any aromas associated with the meal.

5. Strive for Body Neutrality

Body neutrality means embracing your body for what it does, rather than what it looks like. This acceptance can help you cultivate greater respect for your body and encourage you to nourish and take care of yourself appropriately. Sometimes, this helps mitigate food guilt, as you may no longer feel the need to place morals around eating or body image.

Treatment Options for Food Guilt

Managing food guilt entails changing your perspective around eating. This type of healing can take time and often means deconstructing from insidious diet culture messaging. Having support can make a tremendous difference in your journey. Therapy, in particular, can help you unpack themes of guilt and start building a better relationship with food.

Effective treatment options for food guilt include:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): CBT focuses on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Identifying and changing distorted thoughts around food may help reduce overall guilt and encourage more adaptive, mindful eating habits.
• Nutritional counseling: Nutritional counseling may be beneficial if you struggle with disordered eating or an eating disorder. This approach can also help with health conditions that require nutritional support. A registered dietician can guide you in making optimal choices around food based on your unique physical and emotional needs.
• Support groups: Some people find support groups can help treat guilt surrounding food. These groups may include a combination of psychoeducation along with topics rooted in self-esteem, healthy relationships, coping skills, and more.
• Somatic therapy: Somatic therapy connects the mind and body to enhance emotional well-being. These techniques can help you feel more attuned to your body, which may decrease anxiety or guilt about eating.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): Food guilt may coincide with trauma symptoms, and EMDR helps people who feel stuck in emotional distress. EMDR supports effective memory reprocessing and can help people feel more regulated in daily life.
• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): DBT focuses on interpersonal effectiveness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and mindfulness. The blend of these interventions can help people manage food guilt and choose healthy ways to cope with stress about eating.

When to Seek Professional Support

Consider seeking professional help if your food guilt is a symptom of disordered eating or an eating disorder. At this point, dismantling this guilt on your own can be challenging, and you may not know if you have an eating disorder. You may also benefit from having guidance if working on your guilt only leads to more rigid thinking or behaviors.

Look for a provider specializing in eating disorders to get started. You can browse through an extensive online therapist directory or consider an online therapy platform. The length of treatment will vary based on your symptoms, progress throughout care, and overall treatment goals.