The advent of social media has helped inspire movements of health-conscious people. With a simple internet search, there are easy and healthy recipes here and there. However, there was a time when quick and easy meant unhealthy and microwaveable foods that we stacked in our refrigerators. Truly, that was a lawless time for food! Today, we’re bringing 10 foods that may be nostalgic, but are unhealthy in many ways.
10. Bagel Bites
Remember the jingle that goes “pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening, pizza at supper time?” Yup, that’s from Bagel Bites, which honestly sounds so… unhealthy. These tiny discs of processed cheese are on top of miniature bagels, marketed as the appropriate breakfast food. Well, what can we say? That’s pizza and convenience for us!
9. Surge Cola
Appearing in the ‘90s, Surge Cola was one of the drinks you can’t believe your parents let you drink. You see, Mountain Dew is unhealthy enough, but Surge Cola, with the tagline “Fully Loaded,” is a health attack marketed to teenagers. It’s a bright green beverage, which is Coca-Cola’s response to Mountain Dew. That’s caffeine and artificial coloring rolled into a sugary-sweet soda.
8. Dunkaroos
We bet Dunkaroos’ comeback noise was just nostalgic cries from many adults. But if we made Dunkaroos today, then that kangaroo from the commercial might get #cancelled from millennial parents. The concept of Dunkaroos is just a cookie dipped in frosting, like a sugar dipped in sugar.
7. Sizzlean
We were scammed into thinking that Sizzlean is better than bacon. The concept of Sizzlean is to make bacon from beef instead of pork, which results in processed meat. They didn’t try to emphasize that Sizzlean is essentially beef jerky in bacon-shaped strips packed with sodium and preservatives. Today, clean-eating advocates on social media would probably have a field day with its ingredients list.
6. Hamburger Helper
Marketed as a family meal, Hamburger Helper convinced us that a box of pasta, powdered cheese, and artificial flavoring is enough to power us up. It’s funny how the Cheeseburger Macaroni flavor claims to replicate the taste of a cheeseburger through chemical engineering. Not to mention, it’s been served at school cafeterias in the past, where children were made to consume it.
5. Kid Cuisine
Frozen dinners are known to be one of the worst unhealthy types of foods. However, Kid Cuisine was created specially for kids. These foods feature a main course of chicken nuggets or mini corn dogs. There’s also a side of mac and cheese, plus a dessert of brownies. Balanced nutrition is doomed in this microwaveable meal! While it still exists today, it isn’t really the choice of millennial parents for their children.
4. Heinz EZ Squirt
Heinz decided regular red ketchup wasn’t cool enough, so they created the EZ Squirt in green, blue, and purple varieties. While dipping your food in blue colored ketchup is disturbing enough, wait until you learn of its contents. Each bottle has high fructose corn syrup, sodium, and artificial dyes, which is enough for a red flag. Well, it was just a kid-friendly creativity back then.
3. McDonald’s Super Size
For McDonald’s, their large sizes weren’t enough back in the ‘90s, so they created the Super Size option. The Super Size fries have 6 grams of trans fat and 540 calories, enough to be a potato farm. The Super Size Coke has 42 ounces of sugar. This inspired a documentary called “Super Size Me” about a man who ate nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days. Because of this, McDonald’s discontinued it. A good use of media, I guess.
2. WOW! Chips
‘90s was the year of fat-free products, so Lay’s created the WOW! Chips with Olestra. It’s a fat substitute that passes to the human body undigested. However, side effects include abdominal cramping and loose stools. Still, these chips were sold to the public, ignoring side effects. Today’s health-conscious advocates will create viral warning campaigns for it.
1. Ayds Candy
The most tragic product name is probably Ayds Candy, but behind it, there’s a weird concept behind the candy. They’re marketed as a weight-loss solution by promising to suppress your appetite. Too good to be true? Social media users today would think so too.