Today’s episode is a blast from the past. Think back to your favorite childhood snacks: Lunchables, Dunkaroos, SlimFast bars, and fat-free everything. Did these foods quietly wire you for a lifetime of complicated food choices? If you've ever wondered why you're chasing charcuterie boards and still tracking diet trends, this episode will hit differently.

Jenn Trepeck of Salad With a Side of Fries opens the snack drawer of nostalgia and compares iconic 90s foods side by side with their modern counterparts, reading actual ingredient labels from both eras. From Slim Jims to grass-fed jerky, from Crystal Light to electrolyte packets, the names have changed, but the marketing playbook looks surprisingly familiar. The 90s were a wild time for nutrition, and the truth about what was actually in these foods might shock you. This one is equal parts fun, eye-opening, and genuinely useful.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

✅ How the fat-free diet culture of the 90s quietly transformed into today's protein-packed wellness obsession, and why they are more similar than different.

✅ The shocking differences in food labels from the 90s versus today, using real ingredient comparisons from Wonder Bread, Kraft Mac and Cheese and McDonald's French Fries.

✅ Why do so many modern processed foods contain lab-made additives, cheaper fillers, and synthetic ingredients and what economic incentives are driving those formulations?

✅ How the thin ideal has returned with new tools, including GLP-1 medications and social media, echoing the same harmful messaging that defined 90s diet culture.

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast, hosted by Jenn Trepeck, explores real-life wellness and weight-loss topics, debunking myths, misinformation, and flawed science surrounding nutrition and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Welcome to a nostalgic deep dive into 90s diet culture and iconic snack foods

04:34 Blast from the past: Hamburger helper, fruit roll-ups, Shake ‘n Bake, Lunchables and Kids Cuisine

09:18 Comparing SnackWell's to today's Halo Top and the evolution of "guilt-free" processed foods

10:47 From SlimFast bars to protein shakes, how fat-free diet culture shaped a generation's eating habits and the upgrade from mystery meat to clean protein-packed snacking

12:32 I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and spray dressings; then versus now in food additives and fats

15:32 Dunkaroos to Nutella Dippers and Capri Sun to cold-press juice, beloved nostalgia snacks revisited

20:37 Reading real food labels, Wonder Bread's original ingredients versus today's chemical-laden version and Kraft Mac and Cheese

24:36 McDonald's French Fries in 2000 had three ingredients; today's list is a chemistry lesson

28:22 Food dyes and how to change the food industry

33:42 Diet culture is back, the return of the thin ideal, heroin chic, and skeletal beauty standards driven by social media

36:15 Biohacking, orthorexia, and GLP-1 medications and new names for the same old diet culture pressure

39:19 Is 90s nostalgia fueling heroin chic, or is heroin chic fueling 90s nostalgia

43:13 Processed food chemicals, plastics, and rising colon cancer rates and the long-term health cost of 90s snack foods

44:01 Convenience culture of the 90s versus today

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

💎 Diet culture never disappeared; it just rebranded. The fat-free obsession of the 90s is today's protein-packed wellness movement, and recognizing the pattern is the first step to breaking free from it.

💎 Real food labels tell a story that marketing never will. The same beloved products from your childhood now contain significantly longer ingredient lists, cheaper fillers, and synthetic additives that did not exist in earlier formulations.

💎 The food industry is economically incentivized to use cheaper ingredients while maintaining or raising prices. Meaningful change in processed food quality requires a shift in that incentive structure, not just individual consumer choices.

💎 The return of extreme thinness as a cultural ideal, now amplified by social media and GLP-1 medications, makes it more important than ever to build awareness around body image and wellness trends rooted in health rather than appearance.

RESOURCES:

Become a Happy Healthy Hub Member

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

About Uncomplicating Wellness

Text ‘Book’ to 833-801-0500

Nutrition Nugget: Cereal

April Fools: These Healthy Foods aren't as Healthy as you Think

Nutrition Nugget: Rice Cakes

QUOTES:

22:02 "When people say they ate something as a kid and were fine, we need to recognize that the same foods are not actually the same food we’re sold today." Jenn Trepeck

14:02 "A lot of protein bars fall into the category of glorified candy bars and we feel like we're making a quality choice." Jenn Trepeck

29:14 "The way to change the food industry is to change the incentive structure. They are incentivized to use cheaper and cheaper ingredients." Jenn Trepeck

34:14 "That pendulum has swung back. We are back to thin at all costs, and the thinner the better and it is so sad to me." Jenn Trepeck

36:51 "We have developed orthorexia as a disease state where we take the so-called healthful choices to an extreme." Jenn Trepeck

SEO KEYWORDS:

Jenn Trepeck, Salad With A Side Of Fries, Nutrition Nugget, Health Coach, Weight Loss For Real Life, Diet Culture, 90s Diet Culture Vs Today, Processed Food Ingredients Then And Now, Snack Foods, Nostalgia, Fat Free, Protein Packed, Food Labels, Processed Foods, Slim Jim, Chomps, Beef Jerky, SlimFast, SnackWell's, Halo Top, Kind Bars, Kudos Bars, Dunkaroos, Capri Sun, SunnyD, Crystal Light, Poppi, Electrolyte Packets, Mocktails, Wine Coolers, Wonder Bread, Kraft Mac And Cheese, McDonald's French Fries, Chicken Nuggets, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Food Additives, Artificial Ingredients, Magnum Ice Cream, Coca-Cola, Reese's, Body Positivity, Thin Ideal, Supermodels, GLP-1, Orthorexia, MAHA, Food Industry, Wellness Trends

[00:00:34] Steph: Mm-hmm

[00:00:38] Steph: Welcome to

[00:00:57] Hey, friend. Welcome back to a new episode of [00:01:00] Salad with a Side of Fries. I'm Jenn Trepeck, your health and lifestyle coach here with you every week for wellness without the weirdness. Joining me today is a familiar voice for our longtime listeners. Steph is back. Hi.

[00:01:12] Jenn Trepeck: How are you? Hey,

[00:01:14] Thanks for having me.

[00:01:29] Steph: yes- Yeah ... celebrities and now athletes are doing it. Yes. It, it's actually really cool.

[00:01:51] Steph: or, you know-

[00:01:53] whatever they were doing in the '90s.

[00:02:02] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. So we were talking about this, and then we were like, wait a minute. Because of all the '90s nostalgia that's happening too, there's conversation about food from the '90s.

[00:02:21] Steph: Mm-hmm.

[00:02:45] Steph: Oh, yeah.

[00:02:47] Steph: I'm so excited 'cause I literally ate them all.

[00:03:06] So the first recipe is for healthier Hamburger Helper, a full meal, one pot. I think it's one pot, more or less. And your other recipe is for fruit leather. So you're gonna make it yourself, know exactly what's in it. It's easier than you think it is. So if you want these recipes, be sure you're a member of the Happy Healthy Hub.

[00:03:54] It really is the next best thing to working with me as your health coach in my signature 12-week [00:04:00] program, so maybe that's a fit for you, maybe it's not, but the Happy Healthy Hub is always an option, and super affordable and accessible. So if you're ready to level up and support this podcast at the same time so we can keep doing this with you, go to asaladwithasideoffries.com/membership, or you can click the link in the episode notes and then you don't have to remember the whole URL.

[00:04:34] Steph: I mean, that's such '90s nostalgia too. I know. Like Hamburger Helper, I remember those commercials with the guy that was like the oven mitt.

[00:04:41] Steph: And then fruit leather, like fruit roll-ups, oh my God.

[00:04:50] Steph: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:06] Yeah. So the fruit roll-up is the fruit leather. You know, our members are getting that recipe. We talked about Lunchables.

[00:05:16] Jenn Trepeck: So by the way, though, which Lunchables did you... 'Cause they were the big ones and the small ones. Oh, man. The ones that came with a dessert, the ones that didn't.

[00:05:29] Yeah. And like I remember somebody once threw the meat against the wall- ... in the lunchroom. We were in like elementary school, and it stuck for a few days.

[00:05:39] Steph: That's probably the bigger question, but like-

[00:05:44] Steph: now. Yeah. Sorry. There's probably a lot of sodium in that.

[00:05:48] Okay, so today's Lunchable, there are sort of two that we came up with. One is the Starbucks boxes. Yeah. They have the one that's like the cheese and [00:06:00] fruit.

[00:06:01] Jenn Trepeck: They have the one that's the egg-

[00:06:03] Jenn Trepeck: like grapes ... the crumpet thing, the grapes. Yep. The nut butter that has honey in it. Yep. And then of course, a charcuterie board.

[00:06:26] Jenn Trepeck: And then it made me think of,

[00:06:32] So like I

[00:06:46] Steph: Kids Cuisine.

[00:06:49] Steph: Yeah.

[00:07:00] things that we get now.

[00:07:17] But that's what we like, like it's kind of like a treat. Like oh, it's convenient. You don't wanna cook, and that like, to your point, the factor meals today for sure.

[00:07:39] Like we'd make a cake. We'd make- Yeah. I don't know. We made a lot of stuff. We would bake after school.

[00:07:44] Jenn Trepeck: From a box. Yeah. We would bake. But the Kraft Mac & Cheese, which when we get to the labels later, I have a then and now- Ooh ... on Kraft Mac & Cheese label. What do you think is today's Kraft Mac & Cheese?

[00:08:10] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. And then cereals, we'll also come back to cereals when we have some labels, 'cause I have then and now of labels.

[00:08:25] Steph: Oh, yeah.

[00:08:34] Steph: Yeah, maybe.

[00:08:44] Steph: And like Special K, uh, it, that was like marketed as like the diet cereal. Oh, the

[00:08:49] Steph: Like Special K with the re- and then the red berries. Ugh.

[00:08:53] Steph: I loved Special K red berries.

[00:08:59] Steph: [00:09:00] Uh-huh.

[00:09:02] Steph: Triscuits.

[00:09:04] Jenn Trepeck: Now I see Nut-Thins-

[00:09:08] Jenn Trepeck: and like Mary's Gone Crackers.

[00:09:16] Jenn Trepeck: Yes. What do you think... When I think of '90s, 'cause we had, you know, fat-free everything, right? Mm-hmm. It was the SnackWell's life. Oh,

[00:09:25] Jenn Trepeck: Like we had...

[00:09:38] Steph: I don't know, but there's a lot of like... I don't know. All I can think of is like that, like Halo Top ice cream that's like you can eat the whole thing and there's no fat.

[00:09:47] Jenn Trepeck: we talked about that in our April Fools' episode. Yeah. So everybody can- ... go back to that.

[00:09:56] Jenn Trepeck: Yes.

[00:10:02] Jenn Trepeck: I still ate them.

[00:10:26] Steph: Yeah, like why our generation is obsessed with like protein shakes and smoothies and all this- Yes ... is because we were told like, "Just have a can of SlimFast for lunch." Right. Or like, "Eat a SlimFast bar for... That's your lunch."

[00:10:38] Steph: Yeah, and we didn't even- Be smaller ... look at what was in them. It was just like, oh, it's just got, you know, how many calories and- It

[00:10:43] Steph: and that's good 'cause it's SlimFast. And you're like, "I'm on the SlimFast diet."

[00:10:57] Steph: Well, I feel like this is kinda where this whole [00:11:00] episode originated is I was eating the Chomps version, which I feel like is pretty clean, and I was telling you that I, I keep them in my bag, you know, at work if I need like a snack or whatever, I'm traveling.

[00:11:18] Jenn Trepeck: I think they were too salty for... Because in my house, we lived under every fad diet there was. And of course, part of fat free, sugar free was also salt is the enemy.

[00:11:31] Jenn Trepeck: Right? So I mean, I know I've tasted a Slim Jim, and I just...

[00:11:39] Steph: Ugh. I loved Slim Jims.

[00:11:47] Steph: Oh, jerky is having a moment.

[00:11:51] Steph: Yeah.

[00:11:58] I was like, "Oh, didn't know they made jerky." [00:12:00]

[00:12:14] And now you see all these, like, wellness influencers being like, "I have this grass-fed jerky and I keep it on me."

[00:12:25] Steph: Exactly.

[00:12:31] Steph: Yep.

[00:12:40] Steph: Oh, yeah. W- mar- I grew up on margarine.

[00:12:55] Steph: I used those. Yeah.

[00:12:59] Steph: [00:13:00] Yep.

[00:13:02] Steph: Exactly. Exactly.

[00:13:09] Steph: Right.

[00:13:12] Steph: I like the delivery of it because it's like dressing on the side, but then this time you can kinda just spray.

[00:13:29] Steph: Yeah

[00:13:32] Steph: Yeah.

[00:13:41] Steph: Yep.

[00:13:48] Steph: Yeah, exactly.

[00:13:53] Steph: Yeah.

[00:14:01] Steph: Yeah.

[00:14:06] Steph: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:13] So Handy Snacks.

[00:14:15] Jenn Trepeck: So Handy Snacks were the ones where you had the cracker and the red plastic rectangle- Stick, yep ... that was used as a knife.

[00:14:25] Jenn Trepeck: And then you would spread the cheese, in air quotes.

[00:14:30] Jenn Trepeck: yeah. Or was it the same Handy Snacks that were the orange crackers with the peanut butter?

[00:14:36] Steph: that's different. Those were something else. No, but the... Yeah, Handy Snacks were like, yeah. Oh, man, it was like that artificial cheese. Yeah, you'd- Yeah ... spread it on. The cracker was buttery and salty.

[00:14:47] Steph: Yep, Club crackers.

[00:14:49] Steph: Yeah.

[00:14:52] Right. But today's Handy Snacks, you had this one, which I thought was great, of, like, the Sabra little things of [00:15:00] hummus with, like, pretzels on

[00:15:03] Jenn Trepeck: I mean, you can take the kids out of the '90s, but you can't take the '90s- No ... out of the kids apparently. I

[00:15:13] Jenn Trepeck: I mean, I think they could figure that out. Like, you could just add a little red stick for the hummus. Yeah, yeah. Maybe we'd upgrade to, like, a bamboo little spoon- Right ... that's, like, biodegradable.

[00:15:28] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. ...

[00:15:30] Jenn Trepeck: To say the least.

[00:15:32] Jenn Trepeck: And then Dunkaroos.

[00:15:40] Jenn Trepeck: Teddy Grahams?

[00:15:42] Jenn Trepeck: Or no?

[00:15:52] Jenn Trepeck: Obviously.

[00:15:54] Jenn Trepeck: Well, and today you have-

[00:16:05] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. All right, a couple drinks. Today we have cold press juice, also part of our April Fools' episode.

[00:16:17] Steph: Oh my God, SunnyD was like... Yeah.

[00:16:24] Steph: Orange flavored drink or something.

[00:16:27] Steph: Remember, like, the Ecto Coolers?

[00:16:29] Steph: That had, like, the Ghostbuster guy on it, and that was...

[00:16:35] Jenn Trepeck: That I don't remember.

[00:16:37] Jenn Trepeck: But those weren't really my vibe. We were big soda people. And by soda, at the time, it was pop.

[00:16:43] Jenn Trepeck: And we had an entire refrigerator that was just pop. Or we also had Crystal Light.

[00:16:51] Jenn Trepeck: yeah. So today, on those, we have Poppi- Yep

[00:16:56] Steph: Yep.

[00:17:01] Steph: Oh, yeah. And like, all this flavored sparkling water too.

[00:17:08] Steph: Yep ...

[00:17:14] Steph: Uh-huh.

[00:17:25] Steph: So many. And it was like, like, there's a time and a place for a spritz, and it was like 45 degrees. Like, it was not- ... spritz season. And I'm like, "Oh my God." Uh, but yes, when we were little...

[00:17:36] Jenn Trepeck: We shared that. We were like, "Well, that was a Shirley Temple."

[00:17:40] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. My nephew loves a Shirley Temple, although he has- Yeah ... upgraded to, like, a mudslide. Oh. A virgin mudslide. Yeah, yeah. So speaking of virgin drinks, mocktails are all over every menu these days.

[00:17:53] Jenn Trepeck: And then today we have Truly and whatchama call it? Moon? High Noon.

[00:18:02] Jenn Trepeck: All of those seltzers were, I remember, I'm apparently sharing this for the world, that being underage and drinking, like, Zima and Boone's Farm- ... and like these wine coolers and random things. Oh,

[00:18:16] were the hot drink in the '90s. My parents would have barbecues and they have wine coolers, and I would always be like, "Can I have a sip of a wine cooler?" I'm like 10. You know? But like, they just seem so cool, and like, you couldn't find a wine cooler now.

[00:18:35] Steph: Oh, yeah. What kind of jelly though?

[00:18:39] Steph: Okay. Yeah. I

[00:18:51] Steph: Yeah.

[00:18:55] Steph: Yeah, raspberry.

[00:19:00] Steph: Oh,

[00:19:02] Steph: Oh, totally. Anything pliable.

[00:19:22] And then I also wanna talk diet culture then versus now

[00:19:28] Jenn Trepeck: Okay. One reader described my book Uncomplicating Wellness as refreshing, honest, and deeply human. Another said it reminded them that they are the expert of their own body. And I have to tell you all, like for me, hearing from readers might be my favorite part of this whole thing because truthfully, somewhere along the way, wellness became about outsourcing our trust, outsourcing it to influencers, to trends, to the rigid rules [00:20:00] or these one-size-fits-all plans.

[00:20:35] Again, text the word book, B-O-O-K, to 833-801-0500. Okay. So admittedly, when I was trying to find online all of the old labels from '90s or earlier compared to, you know, products today, it was very difficult to find, and I am relying on other people who have posted this because they found [00:21:00] them. So some of them are from the 2000s, like early 2000s, maybe the year 2000.

[00:21:09] Steph: Oh, yeah.

[00:21:17] Steph: We were Wonder Bread. Yeah. When I was younger, my grandma was tried and true Wonder Bread- Really? ... till the day she died.

[00:21:33] Steph: Okay. Those all seem like ingredients to me.

[00:21:39] Steph: Correct.

[00:22:02] Like when people say, "I ate this as a kid and I was fine"-

[00:22:07] Jenn Trepeck: we need to recognize that the same food was not the same. Even, I mean, and we've talked about this in other episodes, but even apples today don't have the same nutrition as an apple from 20, 30 years ago, or broccoli, or spinach- Yeah ... or all of these things.

[00:22:29] Steph: Makes me feel better about my choices back then, then.

[00:22:46] Definitely on Spotify you can comment.

[00:22:48] Jenn Trepeck: You know, on the episodes. I think Apple is adding some of that stuff. Or send a message. Tell us your favorite nostalgic food and what today's version is. Or if you're able to find [00:23:00] a then and now package of Slim Jim, send it in. Okay. You ready for this Kraft Mac & Cheese?

[00:23:07] Jenn Trepeck: From the year 2000: macaroni, Kraft cheddar cheese, skim milk powder, whey powder, salt, sodium phosphonate, color, and citric acid.

[00:23:22] Jenn Trepeck: It may be that the sodium phosphate was for color. Unclear. But they used some kind of color. Whatever. Okay. This is very difficult to read.

[00:24:03] I

[00:24:03] Jenn Trepeck: is. So be careful. It's a food dye- Oh ... essentially. Sometimes it's in salmon also to, like, give it a, like a different color, the salmon, so it's a more potent color. So it tends to give that, like, orangey pink-

[00:24:17] Jenn Trepeck: color to things. Or here, yellowish.

[00:24:20] Jenn Trepeck: You know. Then there's cheese that's made of milk, skim milk, powder, corn starch, and salt.

[00:24:35] Steph: Yeah.

[00:24:45] Steph: Beef tallow?

[00:24:47] Steph: Wow.

[00:25:10] I don't even know what that is It's a lot.

[00:25:13] Jenn Trepeck: Uh-huh. So admittedly, the chicken nuggets are almost, also from McDonald's- Yeah ... almost as difficult to read as the Kraft Mac & Cheese now. But I can tell you the list is inordinately longer-

[00:25:29] Jenn Trepeck: and really not a lot of actual foods. But the original Chicken McNuggets-

[00:25:39] It was always a Chicken McNugget Happy Meal.

[00:25:41] Steph: With honey.

[00:25:46] Steph: call. I was not the ketchup girl. I liked the honey. Fries and the honey.

[00:25:50] Steph: No, I st- uh, honey. Oh. Honey in the f- chicken nuggets, honey on the fries.

[00:26:08] Steph: Yeah, that sounds like I could buy some chicken and make that tonight.

[00:26:13] Steph: Yeah.

[00:26:38] Raising agents, and then a bunch of like diphosphates, sodium something else that I can't read, stabilizers, vegetable fiber, yeast extract, paprika extract. That paprika extract is definitely for color.

[00:26:54] Jenn Trepeck: The ingredients don't need to be that long. Why can't we, you know-

[00:27:01] Yeah. And I'm like, I wonder if... You know, clearly we've had different laws change in terms of food labels, but is it maybe the same and it's just we have to like specify like what's in the chicken breast or what's in something versus before? Like the Kraft one, it just said macaroni. But the new one like described w- how the macaroni was

[00:27:21] What was

[00:27:23] Jenn Trepeck: It's a yes and. So yes, we have different labeling rules. So I think it was around 2014-ish where even a lot of these foods took out some of their genetically modified ingredients.

[00:27:40] Jenn Trepeck: But I think you have this pendulum swing between... I don't know, pendulum swing might not be the right analogy.

[00:27:59] Steph: [00:28:00] Mm-hmm.

[00:28:11] The wheat gluten's a lot less expensive- Yeah ... than the chicken. Than

[00:28:14] Jenn Trepeck: Or using, like a lot of them, for years we would talk about them using what's called like, we call it pink slime.

[00:28:22] Jenn Trepeck: And it's sort of these leftover parts of the chickens, and it's gross, but it's a lot less expensive. It helps you get more out of every bit of the chicken- Mm-hmm

[00:28:59] At the [00:29:00] same time, what it took to get a couple of colors removed from our foods, we don't have the time to wait to have that same effort- Yeah ... for every single thing that is included in these foods.

[00:29:14] Jenn Trepeck: So I believe the way to change the food industry is to change the incentive structure. Right now they are incentivized to have less and less costly ingredients and keep their same price or raise it- Mm-hmm

[00:29:49] Steph: Right.

[00:30:10] Yeah. We're only one of a handful of countries where- Yeah ... the quality foods are more expensive- Mm-hmm ... than all of the processed things.

[00:30:17] Jenn Trepeck: So if we can change the incentive structure where they are penalized or that it changes even the cost of those foods for the end consumer to say, "It's less expensive for me to get the apples and transport the apples than it is the Ritz crackers"-

[00:30:34] Jenn Trepeck: then I think that's how we make a dent. Sorry for my soapbox- Yeah.

[00:30:39] Jenn Trepeck: No. But

[00:30:45] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. So Ritz crackers is another one on here. There's a bunch of these. I'll post a bunch of these on the Salad with a Side of Fries Instagram when we- Yeah

[00:31:09] Steph: Right, which is like their secret ingredient, right?

[00:31:13] and what, you know, their syrup.

[00:31:15] Jenn Trepeck: Okay? Today: water, sugar, carbon dioxide, artificial coloring, caramel E150d, acidifier phosphoric acid, natural flavors including caffeine.

[00:31:36] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah

[00:31:38] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. All right. Do you remember Magnum

[00:31:40] Jenn Trepeck: cream?

[00:31:43] Jenn Trepeck: Okay, 1994.

[00:31:47] Jenn Trepeck: I remember eating them in Israel, like-

[00:31:51] Jenn Trepeck: when I was in high school. No ... in the '90s. No. Yeah. Okay. Magnum Classic 1994 ingredients: milk, [00:32:00] cream, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, vanilla, and the emulsifier is lecithin.

[00:32:06] Jenn Trepeck: Okay. 2025 Magnum Classic: reconstituted skim milk, cocoa butter, sugar, coconut oil, glucose-fructose syrup, cocoa mass, emulsifiers E471, sunflower lecithin, stabilizers E410, E412, E407, and natural flavorings.

[00:32:27] Jenn Trepeck: I think you might be E407 deficient.

[00:32:31] Jenn Trepeck: Said no one ever.

[00:32:35] I know. Well, did you hear the thing too, like the Reese's, which, like, broke my heart 'cause I love a Reese's. The founder or one of the sons of the founder was saying... It came out with all this Easter candy that some of the Reese's didn't use real milk chocolate. They used something, and they just... So you have to look at your bag when you buy it really carefully.

[00:33:04] Jenn Trepeck: I mean, I don't blame him.

[00:33:12] Jenn Trepeck: Or then I just buy dark chocolate and put a spoonful of peanut butter on the piece of dark chocolate.

[00:33:19] Jenn Trepeck: I know, they're not the same. They're not the same. I know. But in a movie, go for the Reese's, whatever.

[00:33:27] Jenn Trepeck: at home, if it's more often, I'm, like, making it work.

[00:33:32] Jenn Trepeck: and peanut butter is a great combination no matter what.

[00:33:41] Jenn Trepeck: Fair.

[00:33:42] Jenn Trepeck: All right. I think this now brings us to diet culture of the '90s versus now.

[00:33:53] Steph: Oh, thin is in. Cocaine skinny, you know, the Kate Moss. Yep. I mean, all of those celebrities- Yeah ... and just [00:34:00] being... And, but I feel like we've come to that point again.

[00:34:11] Steph: Mm-hmm. Like skeletal skinny.

[00:34:19] Steph: Oh, yeah. 'Cause we went through so many years in, like, the 2010s- Mm-hmm ... late 2000s where it was like body-

[00:34:25] Steph: Yeah, body positivity- Yep ... and curves are beautiful. They even had, like, workout studios called Curves for that reason.

[00:34:41] Jenn Trepeck: So back then in the '90s, I suppose there were actors and stuff that were on magazine covers, but it was really the supermodels-

[00:34:52] Jenn Trepeck: that drove all of that.

[00:34:55] And so-

[00:34:56] Steph: supermodels- Right ...

[00:34:57] Steph: Crawford-

[00:35:02] Steph: Yep ...

[00:35:04] Steph: Oh, yeah.

[00:35:06] Steph: Yep.

[00:35:08] Steph: Oh, yeah.

[00:35:18] Steph: Oh, yeah.

[00:35:35] Steph: Mm-hmm.

[00:35:37] Steph: Mm-hmm.

[00:35:42] Steph: But even, like, reality TV shows now- Yes ... is like you watch, like, a, the first season of a show, and then the second season the people are, like, half their size.

[00:35:51] Steph: But it's like you didn't see that before. It was like they just look like normal people.

[00:36:06] The '90s was low-fat, no-fat, low-calorie, eat less, move more stuff.

[00:36:15] Jenn Trepeck: Right. Now the trend is in the eating clean, protein packed, you know, all of those trends. I mean, we've talked about them over and over on Salad with a Side of Fries over the last almost seven years of this show, which is also wild.

[00:36:39] Steph: name. Mm-hmm.

[00:37:03] Steph: Mm-hmm.

[00:37:21] Steph: Oh, yeah. I mean, I see all these influencers now and people being skinny, and it's like Diet Coke is having a moment again.

[00:37:30] Jenn Trepeck: Right.

[00:37:36] Jenn Trepeck: And even today with, you know, again, then it was magazine covers. Mm-hmm. Now it's social media.

[00:38:03] Steph: Right ...

[00:38:13] Steph: And also people realize, like people lie on those too. They're like, "Oh, what can I make- Yes ... that I have today, but I really don't eat that." Right. Or, "I eat that once in a blue moon, but normally I have like a rice cake." Rice cakes were huge in the '90s.

[00:38:30] And there's a nutrition nugget- Yeah ... out of rice cakes also. Yeah. I think the other piece that's the same with maybe... I don't even know if this one has a different frame any, but even the perfectionism, the... Like, we talked about the Special K diet. Mm-hmm. It was a bowl for breakfast, a bowl for lunch- Yeah

[00:38:52] Steph: Yeah, like a piece of grill, you know, steamed fish and vegetables- Yeah ... and then that's it.

[00:39:08] Steph: Mm-hmm.

[00:39:09] Steph: Yeah, because you're hungry. Your body is like starved for calories, and then when you eat they're like, "Oh my God, we're getting real food" and then-

[00:39:16] Steph: it's starving. Like, I would be starved.

[00:39:42] Steph: That's a good question. I mean, I think a little bit of both. Because I think the new generation is just so fascinated by the '90s, that they're like, "Oh, I'm gonna try to, like, emulate that," and like-

[00:39:54] Steph: them. Yeah. The mom jeans, and like, yeah. It's-

[00:39:59] [00:40:00] Jenkos. I mean, listen, some of the wide-leg pants now are very Jenkos. And we were having this conversation before these kids even knew what Jenkos were. I remember being like- Uh-huh ... apparently Jenkos are back.

[00:40:16] Yes. 'Cause I think right now, especially post-COVID, like, things just feel, like, off, and I think we're trying to grasp anything we can. So, like, I see some of the food parallels and things that are coming back. Like, they're bringing back the OG Pizza Hut. Like- Yes ... with, like, all the lighting and the buffet, with, like, the dessert pizza that was, like, fricking delicious, because people are, like, craving these things from the '90s.

[00:40:53] Jenn Trepeck: not drinking- Oh, no ... which also isn't a great choice.

[00:41:13] Steph: Mm-hmm. '

[00:41:18] You know the game the floor is lava- Yeah ... from the '90s? Yeah. Like, I literally- Yeah ... feel sometimes like our world right now is the floor is lava.

[00:41:26] Jenn Trepeck: And so maybe part of this nostalgic piece is getting to that to help us feel- Mm-hmm ... not so like we're jumping from pillow to pillow.

[00:41:37] Jenn Trepeck: At the same time, I find it really frustrating.

[00:41:52] Steph: No.

[00:42:06] He's like, "But it sounds so great and perfect." And I'm like, "Yes, and some of those things can be helpful, and you're taking supplements to support these things, and we need that to be part of the sleep and the stress management and the quality food choices." Like- Mm-hmm ... as we say all the time, you're not gonna supplement your way out of all of these other

[00:42:27] Mm-hmm.

[00:43:05] Mm-hmm. And having conversations around it so that we can consider the example that we're setting and consider the input that these kids are getting.

[00:43:27] and all this stuff. And part of that is some of the chemicals or some of the foods or the plastics and stuff that we ate. I mean, look at James Van Der Beek and-

[00:43:47] from the stool sample what kind of Parkinson's you have because, you know, the microbiome is different. Mm-hmm. And all of these things are really just exacerbating everything that we're experiencing now [00:44:00] and what we're going to experience later on.

[00:44:04] Like most- Yes ... of our, our parents when we grew up in the '90s- 80s for

[00:44:07] Steph: 80s and '90s- Yeah ... both parents were working. Like their generations, it was like, you know, usually they had at least a parent home making all the food. So it was like parents would come home from work, you're trying to shuffle your kids to whatever after school activity or whatever.

[00:44:33] Jenn Trepeck: are. And I see it because kids, I mean, we had a lot of activities.

[00:44:38] Steph: so, so scheduled.

[00:44:40] Steph: I mean, yeah,

[00:44:47] Steph: microwave, yep. Versus, and- And we never had any of that. It was like Mom made the SpaghettiOs and Mom made this.

[00:44:56] Jenn Trepeck: think it's just an awareness piece- Mm-hmm ... so that maybe as we're [00:45:00] on this nostalgia trend, maybe we can go back even a step further to the glass and ceramic-

[00:45:09] Jenn Trepeck: less microwave.

[00:45:11] Jenn Trepeck: Whole Foods.

[00:45:14] Jenn Trepeck: Yes.

[00:45:16] Jenn Trepeck: machine. A popcorn maker.

[00:45:26] Steph: All

[00:45:36] Steph: Yeah ...

[00:45:37] Yeah. So this one came from Maryanne on Instagram. By the way, if you have an idea, send it in. Website is asaladwithasideoffries.com or all social media I am at Jenn Trepeck. If you want it to be covered sooner, priority is given to the Happy Healthy Hub members. So become a member, we'll get your nutrition nugget request or whatever topic sooner.

[00:46:07] Steph: Ooh.

[00:46:25] All right, friends, well, as always, I'm your host, Jenn Trepeck. Connect with me on all social media. I am @jennstrepeck, J-E-N-N-T-R-E-P-E-C-K. Website is asaladwithasideoffries.com. Pick your platform, send a message, because I truly love hearing from you, your takeaways, your ideas, your questions. This is also the easiest way to learn more about working with me as your coach.

[00:46:49] Steph: Thanks for having me. I loved the '90s throwback. It's always fun. I know.

[00:46:56] Steph: Totally ...

[00:46:58] Steph: There's your Snack Wells. Oh my God, those mini [00:47:00] muffins.

[00:47:01] Steph: there you go.

[00:47:25] Also, you get discounts, curated content, and then this week's recipes for the healthier Hamburger Helper and the fruit leather. So until next week, remember times move forward, and yet it seems with diet culture, there's a cycle. With food ingredients, there seems to be a cycle too. So let's consider if the newer versions truly serve us.

[00:48:07] Happy, healthy.