Do you sometimes buy things that are unhealthy for you? (Most people do.) Do you feel guilty for it? or have you accepted it's a normal & kinda necessary part of your life?

We might need to define "unhealthy" here. Mine is going to be different from other people's.

Regarding food, I believe the pop definition of "unhealthy" is wrong. As far as I can tell, after having worked in the food industry on the regulatory side, and after having tried to understand nutrition from a truly scientific standpoint, the biggest goof people make is portion size, and, less commonly, having too "small" a pool of foods they'll eat so certain vitamins/minerals are lacking. The rest of it with added sugars or fat or this or that ingredient being "bad" is smoke and mirrors. Portion size is really, really, really fucking important.

You can be healthy eating just about anything (even McDonald's) as long as the portions are appropriate for your size and amount of exercise, and so long as your diet is varied enough overall to bring in enough vitamins and minerals. So, eating 3 super-sized meals at McDonald's might screw you up because the calories are too much for your level of activity, but if you scale it back to 1 a day and keep the meal size "small", or even eat a happy meal as an adult, you'll be ok.

Regarding vitamins and minerals...in the modern day, people tend to be deficient in vitamin D because they don't get enough sun, so that sometimes needs to be supplemented. And individuals will sometimes be deficient in iron or vitamin C. I supplement with C because I tend not to eat many foods with it, and D because I'm a vampire-like nerd that stays away from the sun.

Anyway. To get back to the question, I basically eat what I want, without regard for whether pop culture thinks it's bad or not, but I pay attention to portion size and I do not snack. I've sometimes fallen into keto behaviors or one-meal-a-day but I don't follow either with any dedication, my natural patterns just fall close to those.

Do I sometimes buy and eat things that are unhealthy for me? Well, by MY standards...not really. I understand nutrition, and I understand portion sizes, and it's not all that hard for me to eat appropriately for my size without worrying about whatever the latest health food fads are blabbing on about. And because I understand what I'm doing, and I have control of it, I don't feel guilt.

Chocolate milk is a nessesity in this complicated world, without chocolate milk I would have nothing to live for

Nutella breakfast. I just love it so much. Also a lot of sitting because of PC gaming.

I occasionally will get fast food. I gave it up for the most part like 2 years ago, but I still get it like once every 3 months or so. It's usually because I'm stressed out or depressed. It never tastes as good as I think it will, and I always feel kind of sick afterwards.

I never buy food that is unhealthy for me... but part of how I measure health is mental health. Something that's modestly unhealthy for my body but enjoyable (like sweetened chocolate) is, on the balance, healthy for me as long as it's in moderation.

Oh yeah. Most of the time it's just because I'm buying something I don't actually need and I feel like I've given into consumerism.

Buying vaping stuff was a big money pit especially around the quarantine

Instructions unclear: buying more beer! There’s years of jeers and cheers and no need for fears or leers or what have you

Candy! I'm an adult male in my 30+ and i always try to have some lollipops or candy in my desk even had go to dentist after some months of abuse.

I keep lengthy shopping lists and that lets me keep a handle on what I buy and therefore what I eat. So I've cut right down on UPF, added sugar and snacks. That does make it a bit tricky for guests as I now just buy what I eat. When my uncle stayed last Christmas I said, if he wanted anything other than porridge for breakfast, he'd have to bring it. Lo and behold on Boxing Day, "what's for breakfast?" "Surely you have some bread..." "No biscuits to go with my tea?". 🤷

I make occasional efforts to be healthy and proceed congratulate myself about it.

I've kindof been on a journey of doing less and less stuff that is bad for me since I was about 20.

The only recreational drug I do is chamomile. No alcohol. Not even caffeine. No fast food. Nothing with added sugar. Very rarely anything with any significant mount of natural sugar. My rule of thumb is nothing sweeter than a tomato or red bell pepper.

(Full disclosure, sugar gives me really bad acute symptoms. So that helps the motivation.)

I maintain a weight not terribly far from my ideal weight most of the time. It's getting close to the holiday season now (Thanksgiving is basically Halmark brand hedonism in the U.S.) and I'm loosening my restrictions a little bit and indulging in things that are a little more caloric. I bought some almond butter the other day. That's very caloric to the point that I don't usually eat it, but I'll go slow on it and cut it back out around January 2nd.

Lest you think I'm some kind of saint, I'm a lot better at not doing things that are bad for me than at doing things that are good for me. I don't maintain a regular fitness routine, for instance, which is very far from optimal.

Edit: Oh. One amendment. About twice a year, I'll do grocery store sushi. (Usually a rainbow roll.) And I think it's fair to say those have some added sugar. And when I eat at restaurants, I mostly avoid places that don't have things on my diet and then always get the thing on the menu that's most in line with my diet, but I'm usually not strict about checking the ingredients for things like added sugar. Whatever the case, none of the things mentioned in this amendment ever cause me any noticeable guilt.

I vape, so, yeah. It stopped me from smoking, and I'm spending less per month on juice and cartridges than I did on smokes. I don't smell like an ashtray from 8:00 to 20:00 either. But it's still something I kinda sorta would like not to spend money on.

I took it up after I developed GAD, and despite doing the rounds on meds and picking up healthy habits, I still can't shake GAD. Probably won't be able to kick my habit until that's over and done with

Don't really mind the adverse health effects. The city I live in is probably doing numbers on my lungs just with car smoke alone.

It really depends how unhealthy that thing is. I won't start smoking, or snort lead paint... But I do have a tendency to buy unhealthy foods on occasion, just not too often.

I just try to remind myself that I don't have money to spend on the unhealthy stuff. Doesn't work all the time

Sometimes I buy junk food and I feel a little guilty about it. Any time I have junk food like chips(cause I don't like sweets) I portion it out, but it still makes me think about it.

I do drink alcohol and I do feel bad cause it's also junk, but with my job it helps me relax after a shit day.

I eat more fast food than I should (at least once a week), and I do feel guilty. But I enjoy every second of it, and my diet is otherwise very balanced.

I do not live a healthy life. I feel zero guilt about that, but am able to recognize it's not the best for me.

I'm a fan of a good bad plan, and also a glutton in most things I enjoy

If being alive wasn't unhealthy for you, you wouldn't die.

It depends on my mood. If I'm having a really good day and I get ice cream to celebrate, I feel like it's ok to enjoy it in moderation. If I'm having a really bad day and I get ice cream to console myself, I feel like I'm a weak-willed fool.

Donuts are a mental health food. Why feel guilty?

Weed, smoking it definitely ain't good for me but man do I sleep good

I suppose buying the privilege to enter a restaurant to eat at my heart's content (or expense rather) kind of counts. I used to have a system with myself that for every other week, I'd go to a restaurant, particularly a buffet as a small reward for enduring an otherwise shit work week or however it goes. But lately, I've been turning it into a weekly thing and that weekly visit is not only piling on the expenses even for a cheap ass chinese restaurant when compared to other restaurants out there. But it's also piling on the pounds, too.

And I always debate with myself every week on whether or not I'm going to go and I always tell myself that it's a good excuse to not eat around what I have at home, to keep around longer.

Unfortunately, yes. My relationship with food in particular has always been kind of messy since I was a kid, especially when I'm going through an especially difficult time mental health-wise. But I try to be mindful of that, and eat healthily for the most part.

If I feel like I've overeaten that day/the past few days, I can definitely feel pretty guilty. But IMO, most things are fine in moderation. Food is a crucial and wonderful part of life, and I'm uninterested in completely cutting out something I genuinely enjoy.

I drink a bottle of whiskey every weekend