Episode 69May 20, 2026· 5:02

Why I Feel Guilty About Food (Even Though I Don't Believe in Diets)

▸ Show notes from the creator

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About this episode

Ashley Grant discusses food guilt and cravings — specifically for sweets, pasta, carbs, and soda — while holding an anti-diet-culture stance. She reflects on the tension between her values and her current experience, speculating about hormonal or emotional causes. She describes her personal coping approach: increasing movement, drinking water, allowing herself to indulge while pairing indulgences with healthier…

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Who this episode is for

This episode may resonate with you if:

You genuinely don't believe in diet culture, but you still feel guilty every time you eat something 'bad' — and that contradiction is quietly exhausting you.

You've been craving comfort foods heavily lately — sweets, pasta, soda — and you can't figure out if it's hormones, stress, or something else, and the not-knowing makes it worse.

You're scared that if you let yourself feel too guilty about eating, you'll swing the other way and binge — and you've seen that pattern in yourself before.

You're someone who tries to stay active and eat mindfully, but you're in a rough patch right now — sick, stressed, or just off — and you feel like you're failing your own standards.

You feel alone in your health journey because most fitness content is either too perfect or too extreme — you want to hear from someone who's also in the messy middle.

Questions this episode wrestles with

Why do I still feel guilty about food even though I know diet culture is harmful?

open question

Ashley sits with this contradiction without resolving it — she names the guilt as real ('feeling hella guilty') while speculating it might be hormones, being sick, or looking for comfort, but doesn't land on a clear answer for why the guilt persists despite her beliefs.

"know if it's hormones I don't know if it's you know I don't know what it is but Basically, I just have been wanting sweets and pasta and all the things that are bad for you lately and soda."

Can you reject diets and still feel shame about what you eat?

answered

Ashley's experience is that yes, you can — she describes herself as someone who doesn't subscribe to diet culture and yet is 'feeling hella guilty' about her cravings, framing it as a messy middle rather than a failure of her values.

"I wanted to make it clear that just because I'm moving as much as I am and I am trying to be mindful of all the things that I'm consuming, it doesn't mean that I'm not. constantly having"

Does feeling guilty about food actually make you more likely to overeat?

answered

Ashley says yes — she connects guilt directly to binging, describing that if she lets herself feel too guilty or doesn't allow any indulgence, 'that's when the binging happens' and she over-consumes.

"cravings take over because I know that if I let myself feel too guilty or if I don't allow myself to just indulge at least a little bit Then that's when the binging happens. That's when I overdo it. That's when I over consume. And so I hope"

Is using exercise to suppress food cravings really different from dieting?

open question

Ashley doesn't interrogate this tension — she shares that taking a walk makes her 'feel the craving just a little bit less' and frames it as one of her coping strategies, without questioning whether using movement to reduce cravings sits differently from restriction.

"how much I'm moving. But when I'm getting these kinds of cravings, I've noticed that if I take a walk or just like do something movement wise, I feel the craving just a little bit less. And"

Setting expectations: This episode is not a guide to overcoming food guilt or a structured anti-diet framework — it's Ashley talking through a personal moment where she's been craving sweets, pasta, and soda and feeling guilty about it despite not believing in diets. It's a candid, unresolved check-in from someone in what she calls 'the messy middle,' not a before-and-after story.

Tensions inside this episode

Moments where Famous Ashley Grant names something — and contradicts it inside the same episode. Both quotes are verbatim from the transcript.

Doesn't subscribe to diets or food restriction

Ashley states she doesn't believe in holding yourself back from anything you want to consume, yet admits she's been 'feeling hella guilty' about craving sweets, pasta, and soda.

Claim

"that I don't subscribe to diet culture. I don't think that we should, you know, hold ourselves back from... anything that we want to consume"

but

Contradiction

"I have just been like craving the sweets and the carbs and the pasta and all the things and I'm like feeling hella guilty about it I've been"

Tone & style

Ashley starts from a stated belief that restriction is the wrong approach, then finds herself blindsided by intense cravings she can't explain. Noticing that unchecked guilt leads her to binge, she adjusts — moving more, drinking water, allowing some indulgence while pairing it with something healthier. No clean resolution: she ends by saying she's in a 'messy middle' and doing her best.

Personal experience and self-reflection from someone in the middle of the situation she's describing. Not dietary or medical advice.

toneCandid & self-aware

focusAshley admits she's been craving sweets, pasta, and soda constantly and feeling guilty about it — even though she doesn't believe in diet culture — and shares how she's muddling through it.

stylepersonal_confession

energymedium_low

complexitybeginner

pressure Levellow

emotional Texturehonest, slightly vulnerable, self-contradictory, warm

Notable quotes

"but y 'all I don't know what it is lately but I have just been like craving the sweets and the carbs and the pasta and all the things and I'm like feeling hella guilty about it I've been"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"mean, it's kind of like... don't push the red button. What do you want to do? All you can think about is that damn red button. You want to push"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"cravings take over because I know that if I let myself feel too guilty or if I don't allow myself to just indulge at least a little bit Then that's when the binging happens. That's when I overdo it. That's when I over consume. And so I hope"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"be messy. And right now I am in a messy middle and I'm dealing with it in the best way that I know how. So if you want to share your fitness"

— Famous Ashley Grant

Episode transcript

Organized into 3 chapters — open any part to read the full text.

0:001. Craving Sweets and Carbs Despite Not Believing in DietsAshley introduces the episode by admitting she's been intensely craving sweets, pasta, and soda lately and feeling guilty about it, even though she doesn't subscribe to diet culture. She speculates it might be hormones or something else she can't pin down.1:002. How She's Handling the Guilt and CravingsAshley shares what she's actually doing: moving more (noticing walks reduce cravings a bit), drinking water, allowing herself to indulge while pairing indulgences with something healthier, and trying not to let guilt spiral into binging. She frames it as being in a 'messy middle' and doing her best.3:323. Inviting Listeners to Share Their Own JourneysAshley wraps up by asking listeners if they ever feel the same way about food guilt, directing them to famousashleygrant.com/fitness, and explaining that the whole reason she started the show was to help people like her feel less alone.

Open full transcript

Mentioned in this episode

personFamous Ashley Grant

The host of More Movement Please — she's sharing her personal experience of craving sweets, pasta, and soda while feeling guilty, despite not believing in diet culture.

websitefamousashleygrant.com/fitness

Ashley's website where she invites listeners to share their own fitness journeys and tips with her community.

Key themes

Food guilt despite anti-diet beliefs

Ashley is experiencing guilt over craving sweets, pasta, and soda even though she openly doesn't subscribe to diet culture, and she's sitting with that contradiction.

Unexplained cravings

Ashley can't pin down why the cravings are happening — she floats hormones, being sick, or seeking comfort as possibilities but doesn't land on an answer.

Restriction leads to binging

Ashley's core reason for not restricting herself is the belief that telling yourself you can't have something makes you want it more, and that guilt left unchecked is what causes her to overdo it.

Pairing indulgence with something healthier

Rather than avoiding the pasta or sweets, Ashley lets herself have them but makes sure to pair them with a salad or something healthy alongside.

Movement as a craving response

Ashley has noticed that taking a walk or doing something movement-related when a craving hits makes her feel it a little bit less.

Being in the messy middle

Ashley frames her current situation not as a failure or a success but as a 'messy middle' — imperfect, ongoing, and something she's just dealing with as best she can.

Feeling less alone in the journey

Ashley says the whole reason she started the show was to help someone like herself feel less alone, and she asks listeners directly whether they ever feel the same food guilt.

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