So, this week marked the first week back to school for kids here in the Cleve. It’s September 1st and 90 degrees outside, perfect!
I remember growing up and being so excited for the first day of school. I always had a new outfit to wear along with the coolest binders (trapper keeper anyone?) and supplies. As I got older, the excitement faded away as I slowly realized getting older also marks the inevitable demise of summer. Now, I forget that I used to have summers off. How great is that? I think we could all use a little 3 month summer break in our life.
Anyway, I read an article today about childhood obesity and school lunches. Obviously, the lunches offered at schools are not the healthiest. They aren’t full of salad bars, grilled chicken, or fresh fruit. It’s more like sloppy joe’s, grilled cheese, and chicken fingers. I get it though: they’re feeding a ton of kids and have to do it at the cheapest price, so I’m sure it’s tough.
Honestly, as I think back at what I ate during grade school, it was pure crap. I didn’t struggle with weight though like a lot of kids today. I’m sure that has to do with genetics, but possibly also the fact I was extremely active? Who knows.
Although childhood obesity is anything but funny, I found it kinda humorous looking back on the foods I used to eat. Here are a couple classics…
Hostess Cupcakes
I have so many memories eating these babies everyday in Middle School. Everyday!! That’s pretty gross…and kind of awesome. I’m a little jealous of my Middle School self.
Lunchables
Oh ya…the classic lunchable. I thought these were so cool when I was younger. I always looked forward to the Andes mint chocolate for dessert :).
Cheese Dogs
(source)
My husband thinks this is so disgusting. All I can say is…don’t knock ’em till you try ’em.
Carmel Frappuccino
(source)
Okay, so I started drinking these a little later in life. I used to go to Starbucks everyday after class during college and pickup a carmel frappuccino. Shockingly, I didn’t gain the freshman 15. I think it’s because my diet was only frappuccino’s and cereal, oh and booze. Ya know, the top 3 food groups: carbs, sugar, and alcohol! 🙂 Speaking of cereal…
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
(source)
Nom nom…
This was also a little later in life, post-college actually. When I lived in San Francisco, I continued my love affair with cereal, especially Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I have to say if you put a bowl in front of me today, I’d kill it! That stuff is taaaasty.
I asked my Twitter followers what some of their odd eats were growing up. Here are some of my favorites:
Samantha at Never Say Never:
Mmm miracle whip…
Caroline:
Okay, Gushers are awesome. Caroline, now that you’re an adult, go buy some!
Katie at Nutrition in a Peanut Shell:
That kind of sounds amazing…
Julia at Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body:
Seriously, Goldfish are delicious.
Carrie at Moves N’ Munchies:
To this day, I love Kraft Mac and Cheese. It is the best mac and cheese out there…Annie’s ain’t got nothin’ on Kraft.
It’s so funny to think about all the weird things we ate as kids. I see candies and other foods at the store now and always wonder, “who buys that?” Most likely, parents…for their children..who are begging them for it!
Did you eat any weird/gross things growing up? What do you think about childhood obesity-lazy kids or bad food (or neither)?
ding dongs! i was obessed. Can’t believe the crap thats actually in them now. ugh.
My sister and I were obsessed with Kraft mac n cheese, and my parents put cut up hot dogs in it. You know, for the protein :). Also Mama Celeste microwavable vegetable pizza that we folded up like taco shells. It’s funny to remember this!
I ate EVERYTHING here when I was in elementary. Except for the cheese dogs, they were replaced with cheese chicken nuggets!
I so agree on this! And I am the exact same- I didn’t really start caring about nutrition until after university. I remember eating Jos Louis, chocolate chip cookies and Kraft Dinner like they were going out of style.
and p.s. I LOVE MAGAZINES… I bought all the fall fashion ones. I’m in heaven!
hahaha i so agree with gushers! those were precious! esp over in london since they dont have them here!
Looking back, I realized I ate fairly healthy as a child. My mom never bought us any “fun” food – no chips, no cookies, no pop, no juice… I hated it at the time, but now I am so thankful!
My mom used to cut up hot dogs in our Kraft mac ‘n’ cheese. It’s super processed, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t eat it now, cause I would! I also loved Snowballs, made by Hostess. You knew it was a special day (or that dad packed your lunch) if you got one of those!
How nostalgic! I used to love the pizza lunchables as a child, so disgusting!
I too ate horrible as a kid. My house was filled with pop-tarts, 3 boxes of little Debbie cakes, pop, fried bologna sandwiches, whole milk(Mom wouldn’t even buy 2%), and of course chesse dogs wrapped in a cresent roll. I could go on and on. Also, I’m from the south so we had lots of southern homemade meals(soooo good, but now good for you). However, I’ve never ben overweight and neither were my brothers. But, I’m a first grad teacher and I se how things have changed. Kids are soo big now. For snacks they send more like a meal!! The lunchroom food isn’t good for you either. I think what’s happened is that kids may eat the same crap (maybe a little more) than we did growing up, but they don’t move!! I was soo active all my life. Kids go home and sit in front of a tv, video game, or on the computer. This is how bad it is: we had a class bday party @ 2:00 that included capri suns, cupcakes, and cheseballs.The kids ate for about 15 minutes, then played the last 15min of recess. At 2:30 we came in to pack up to go home. This (2:30) is snack time right before we leave at 3:00. I said pack up and come to the carpet. They all said ” what about our snack?!!!” I said guys we just had a bday party 20minutes ago, we don’t need a snack right now. However, I didn’t want to get comments from parents saying why didn’t we have snack, so…..they ate their snacks which are almost like a meal!!! Sooo sad. Sorry, so long of a coment, it just breaks my heart that kids are so unhealthy.
yeah i definitely by no means ate healthy, but i think you’re right..we were probably a much more active generation. it’s kind of scary actually… kids should be kids and want to run around and play…not sit around and eat. thanks for the comment..im sure you’re a great influence on your kids!
for a drink I remember SQUEEZE ITS!!
and also remember always eating Goldfish and Pizza Lunchables!
Things were so different for us growing up. I remember having morning and afternoon recesses and a long recess at lunch time. Kids now a days are given much less time outside. They also dont have PE as long and as often as we did and i doubt it is as in tense as it was for us. We also didnt have video games and if we did they werent played often. We lived to play outside and our parents rarely hqd to worry about us. Now it seems that as a parent you worry just to have your child walk home from next door. Things have changed so much for children and it doesnt seem that much of it benefits them. I really hope that i can teach my children the importance of being active and staying healthy when they get older.
Hostess cupcakes were the best! I remember trying them several years ago and being shocked at how terrible they tasted–my memories of them were always SO amazing!
Probably the one of the gross foods I ate as a kids was Bologna, American Chesse, and Mayo sandwiches (on white bread, of course!). I think I ate one every day for an entire summer and never ate one again.
I think the rising obesity rates is a combination of both factors. I NEVER see kids playing outside. I practically lived outside when I was little. We were always riding bikes, playing flashlight tag, etc. Also, the amount of chicken nuggets that kids eat these days is obscene. I am shocked by how many kids I know that consider french fries the only “vegetable” they eat–um, nice try!
My mom never let us buy any junk food but I remember going to friends houses and feeling like I hit the motherload with the Cap’n Crunch!
Looking back I hated all the Wheat Bread (just give me Iron Kids!) but now I’m so happy she did that!
Have you ever tried Fiber One Caramel Delight cereal? Somehow it tastes JUST like cinnamon toast crunch to me? and its healthy. And, my guilty pleasure is kraft mac n cheese. I buy it when its on sale and have it around for one of those days when ya just need it!!
ooo no ive never tried it. ive seen it and kinda just assumed it would be too sweet…ill have to try it!! thanks!