90's Nostalgia

mandabeth34

Remember in the 90's when everyone decided fat must be removed from all foods for good health? What were some of the foods you ate back then thinking it was "good" for you that you now know better. Here's a few I can think of: Fat free Raspberry Vinaigrette (So. Much. Sugar), Snackwell cookies, reduced-fat Cheezits...
Thank you WW's for teaching me how bad those actually were for weight loss/ maintenance!!

RelCanonical

I was a little too young to hit the bad-fat craze (born in 87), but I was super into that Too Fat for 15 show that was on a few years ago. The food program at their boarding school was super low-fat (10 grams or less per day!) and some of the things they would eat in order to be "on program" seem, frankly, a little disorderly now. One poor kid kept wondering why he never lost weight when he went home even though he was "on program" and it was because his portion size was astronomical.

SuzySunshine99

I ate ALL the gummi bears because they are FAT FREE and therefore healthy.

whitpauly

I lived off big bakery bagels cuz if thought they were"healthy" and cereal straight out of the box

RelCanonical

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

I ate ALL the gummi bears because they are FAT FREE and therefore healthy.

At least they're not those sugar-free ones that like to cause digestion...issues. (:

cwolfman13

I thought low fat craze started in the 80s...

IDK, in the 90s I was in my late teen and into my 20s...I didn't worry about such things.

janjunie

Well I was mostly a kid in the 90's, but I remember my mom loved her Snack Well cookies and Crystal Light.

SuzySunshine99

RelCanonical wrote: »

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

I ate ALL the gummi bears because they are FAT FREE and therefore healthy.

At least they're not those sugar-free ones that like to cause digestion...issues. (:

That's a very polite way of putting it. Luckily, I never came across those and have now read the awesome Amazon reviews.

BethAnnieT

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

I ate ALL the gummi bears because they are FAT FREE and therefore healthy.

I was just about to say Gummi Bears! And Twizzlers. And Dr. Pepper.

lemurcat12

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I thought low fat craze started in the 80s...

IDK, in the 90s I was in my late teen and into my 20s...I didn't worry about such things.

I think so.

I remember making fun of Susan Powter, but I only started thinking about weight loss in the early '00s, and by then (at least in my circles) low fat was no longer a thing and Atkins was in. I don't think I've ever bought a low fat product that wouldn't naturally be low fat other than dairy or lean ground beef or skinless, boneless chicken breast.

Hamsibian

I was a late 80s baby, and didn't care about heAlth. but I remember thinking Capri Sun, Life cereal, and unfrosted pop tarts were healthier options than their counterparts.

WVWalkerFriend

Now I have that Blind Melon song in my head. I was in high school in the 90's so I had cereal for breakfast, Pizza or bread sticks for lunch, and whatever mom made for dinner. I was not yet diabetic, lol.

ClubSilencio

Well, I ate whatever my mom bought. I was so confused the first time I bit into a SnackWell's brownie. Actually made me afraid of all brownies for awhile.

JPotamus

Snackwell cookies. Yes, I remember those. They were pretty horrid.

cwolfman13

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I thought low fat craze started in the 80s...

IDK, in the 90s I was in my late teen and into my 20s...I didn't worry about such things.

I think so.

I remember making fun of Susan Powter, but I only started thinking about weight loss in the early '00s, and by then (at least in my circles) low fat was no longer a thing and Atkins was in. I don't think I've ever bought a low fat product that wouldn't naturally be low fat other than dairy or lean ground beef or skinless, boneless chicken breast.

When I was a kid in the 80s, my mom was really into this monstrosity...



“Move over, bacon, there’s something leaner!”

And this guy...



My 90s nostalgia consists namely of Pearl Jam, playing beach volleyball and drinking beer, Marine Corps PT, Carl's Junior, and chow hall cuisine....

__TMac__

It's for this reason that I'm grateful for my mom. She's been a whole-foodie my entire life. She always laughed off that stuff, so in the 90's (when I was in my 20's) I did too. I still eat the way she taught me. Just less of it.

lemurcat12

cwolfman13 wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I thought low fat craze started in the 80s...

IDK, in the 90s I was in my late teen and into my 20s...I didn't worry about such things.

I think so.

I remember making fun of Susan Powter, but I only started thinking about weight loss in the early '00s, and by then (at least in my circles) low fat was no longer a thing and Atkins was in. I don't think I've ever bought a low fat product that wouldn't naturally be low fat other than dairy or lean ground beef or skinless, boneless chicken breast.

When I was a kid in the 80s, my mom was really into this monstrosity...



“Move over, bacon, there’s something leaner!”

And this guy...



My 90s nostalgia consists namely of Pearl Jam, playing beach volleyball and drinking beer, Marine Corps PT, Carl's Junior, and chow hall cuisine....

Simmons is definitely '80s! I remember watching him when I was home from school. I don't remember his diet recs, just the exercising and the crying.

Also '80s:




When I was in high school a friend of mine came home to find her mother had just purchased the Jane Fonda pregnancy workout and freaked out. It turned out her mom just figured that would be the easiest one to start with and was not pregnant.

Lower cal, no sat fat thing I do recall now that my college roommate insisted on:

lemurcat12

I also remember carob chips being a thing, which was more of a low sugar/health food kind of trend, not low fat.

ahamm002

Memories of the 90's nutrition misinformation are painful! I used to eat tasteless pretzels because I thought they were a "healthy" snack. And then there were these awful things we used to eat because they had no cholesterol or fat:

nvmomketo

Ugh. I embraced low fat, and carb loading, along with my aerobic exercise. Saturated fats will clog your arteries, doncha know.

Iceberg lettuce with low-fat cucumber dressing, Instant oatmeal packets, skim powdered milk, margarine - or better yet just fat-free jam on toast, juice evryday, no fat yogurt, low fat cheese (I can't believe I ate that - ugh), fig newtons, sherbert over ice cream, lite cheez whiz.

No wonder I enjoy LCHF now. I tortured myself in the 90's.

JessicaMcB

As a 90's kid I enjoyed many a school lunch featuring fruit by the foot and Sodalicious gummies because low fat = healthy lol. How Sodalicious is no longer around astounds the mind

Alatariel75

Gawd, I remember being on the WW Fat n Fiber program - guidelines were under 20g of fat, over 20g of fibre per day.

You know what has next to no fat and a decent whack of fiber? Bread... wholegrain pasta... hot cross buns... Under that plan I could basically eat as much pasta with sauce as I wanted. And I wondered why I didn't lose weight.

Alatariel75

lemurcat12 wrote: »

I also remember carob chips being a thing, which was more of a low sugar/health food kind of trend, not low fat.

Oh lord, I remember crying as a kid because I couldn't eat chocolate and my mum bought me a carob Easter egg one year. It ruined Easter for me. What a travesty.

yayamom3

I ate the Snackwell's cookies. Only problem was, I would eat the entire box! I also ate big bags of marshmallows, because they started printing on the bag, "A naturally fat-free food". Remember the fat-free Pringles with Olestra? Oh gawd, what those did to my um digestive system. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I still tried 2 or 3 cans of them, thinking each time that this time would be different.