Canned Pineapple Rings
These were sweet and tropical and parents thought they were healthy, but the syrup made it more dessert than fruit.
Tab Diet Soda
Tab was marketed as a “slim” choice in a slim-obsessed age, but it was loaded with artificial sweeteners that left people just wanting more sugar.
Fruit Cocktail in Syrup
Sure, it was fruit… but swimming in heavy syrup that turned a healthy snack into anything but.
Instant Breakfast Drinks
These promised a “complete meal” in a glass, but they were mostly sugar, artificial flavoring, and powdered vitamins. Emphasis on the sugar.
Diet Shakes
These were popular with dieters, but they were full of chemicals and barely kept you full. Another one where people were lured in by good marketing - although that marketing sems super problematic today.
Granola Bars
These looked natural and wholesome and many folks were fooled. They were usually packed with corn syrup and fat… basically candy bars in disguise.
Canned Fruit Juice
Fruit juice was marketed as pure and refreshing, but it was packed with added sugar and stripped of fiber.
Carob Chips
Everyone’s forgotten these now. They were marketed as a “healthier” chocolate alternative, but they were loaded with sugar and lacking the benefits of cocoa.
Tang
Some fantastic marketers worked on Tang campaigns, but it wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. It was really just flavored sugar water with added vitamins.
Fat-Free Cookies
Fat-free didn’t actually mean healthy. So-called healthy cookies were loaded with sugar and preservatives.
Cottage Cheese Diets
Everyone thought cottage cheese was the magic diet food. It wasn’t, especially when eaten in crazy amounts without balance.
Iceberg Lettuce Salads
People thought eating a salad was healthy, but iceberg lettuce is basically crunchy water with no nutrients.
Canned Soup
These were marketed as healthy, but most were loaded with sodium and artificial flavors. They’re still doing well in the present day, though…
Rice Cakes
Rice cakes were touted as the ultimate diet snack and their popularity lasted into the 90s, but they were nutritionally empty and guaranteed to leave you hungry.
Low-Fat Margarine
Remember the margarine craze? It was pitched as better than butter, but in truth it was often full of trans fats that turned out way worse.
Powdered Milk
This stuff claimed to be just as healthy as real milk (and it lasted longer) but it was lacking in nutrition… and it tasted truly awful.
TV Dinners Labeled “healthy”
Nope, they were never healthy. They had fewer calories, but the sodium levels were through the roof.
SlimFast Cans
A diet craze all right, but they were mostly sugar and powdered milk. Not exactly balanced nutrition. Still, SlimFast is still around.
Vitamin-Fortified Sugary Cereals
The box said “with added vitamins!” but inside was sugar, sugar, and more sugar. Only recently have people realized the importance of eating an actually healthy breakfast.
Fruit-On-The-Bottom Yogurt
These seemed healthy once upon a time, but turns out they were loaded with sugar, basically pudding with a splash of yogurt.
Jell-O Salads
Tossing fruit into Jell-O didn’t magically make it healthy - it was still gelatin and sugar. The Jell-O trend is one a lot of people are secretly glad to be rid of.
Bran Muffins
Bran muffins were thought to be healthy, but many were massive sugar bombs disguised as “healthy.” Still better for you than today’s chocolate chip muffins though.
Canned Tomato Juice
This was marketed as a vitamin-rich drink, but it was usually packed with salt. This is another one that lasted well into the 90s and many a kid was forced to drink it.
Low-Fat Ice Cream
They cut the fat but cranked up the sugar. Not much of a win. Unfortunately, there’s simply no shortcuts when it comes to diet.
Instant Oatmeal Packets
Everyone really thought these were healthy, but they were full of sugar and artificial flavorings.
Whole Wheat Bread
Unless it was homemade, whole wheat bread wasn’t as good for you as advertised. It was often just white bread in disguise really.
Egg Substitutes
Trail Mix
Trail mix fools a lot of people. It looked really healthy in the 70s, but the store-bought kind was full of candy and salt.
Artificial Fruit Snacks
These were marketed to kids as “made with real fruit,” but they were gummy candy, plain and simple.
Wheat Germ Sprinkles
In the 70s these were added to everything as a “health boost,” but it was mostly empty hype unless you ate a lot of it.
Frozen Yogurt
Everyone thought frozen yogurt was healthier than ice cream. Turns out, it wasn’t… it was just as sugary.
Vegetable Oil Spreads
These were advertised as being good for your heart, but alas, they were often loaded with hydrogenated oils and trans fats.
Imitation Cheese
Fake cheese was marketed as affordable and low-fat, but it was processed beyond recognition and missing the nutrients of real cheese.
Canned Peas
Back in the day, moms insisted canned peas counted as a serving of vegetables—and technically, they weren’t wrong. But anyone who opened a can knows these little green spheres were more about convenience than nutrition. Packed with sodium and tasting a little metallic, they were a far cry from the fresh peas you’d get at the farmers’ market. Still, they showed up on plenty of dinner tables, often swimming in butter or mixed into casseroles.
