THE FABULOUS FAT FREE 80’S AND OTHER DIETARY DISASTERS
It was the best of times, it was the fat freeless of times. The medical community generally decided through flawed science that all fats were the enemy of good health and especially our hearts, so one must cut out the dietary fat. Never mind that fats are an incredibly important substance that helps us absorb nutrients, produce hormones, insulate our organs, nourishe our brain, transport messages between nerve fibers, and keeps us warm! The mentality was that all fats are bad and all fat can negatively either make us fat or clog our heart. So off to the races go the food manufacturers and clever marketers with every conceivable product that seduces us to still eat the foods we love sans the evil fat. But of course, what do you replace all that satiating fat with? Loads of salt, sugar and cheap carbs. So ironically, the fat free recommendations that were supposed to lean us out actually created more obesity and diabetes than ever before. Remember how sugar substitutes were also supposed to make us a skinny nation??
But let me tempt you with a dessert I made back in the FF 1980’s that was, *cough*, healthy. Snackwell fat free chocolate sandwich cookies crushed up with trans fat filled reduced fat margarine pressed into the pan as a crust. Skim milk whipped up with sugar free, fat free instant artificially flavored pudding mix spread over that, a nice thick white goopy layer of fat free gum and stabilizer filled fat free cream cheese with several cups of powdered sugar, then swirl an entire tub of fat free Cool Whip over that, drizzle with fat free hot fudge sauce made from high fructose corn syrup, and sprinkle with reduced fat candy bar chunks. Funny thing is, we just swooned over this and thought it tasted absolutely rad, bragged about how many fat free things we packed into that single recipe and how great we felt after enjoying such temptation. It was so fat free that we could actually enjoy 3 pieces of the dessert, not just one! Sugar shmuger, who cares about our pancreas passing out when we only had 1.75 gm of fat per serving! And yet we wondered why it never seemed to satisfy, why after eating an entire row of this chemical factory sugar bomb, we just had a crashing headache and an odd feeling of being duped. Yes, we were totally screwed over by slick ads full of smiling skinny moms enjoying a sinful afternoon treat of fat free chocolate mousse cups that were one ingredient shy of being polymer.
Thank goodness Mr. Atkins showed up to save us all with the announcement that carbs were the enemy, not fat! Load up on the bacon, but avoid that carrot or apple full of useless carbs! Who needs all that fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins anyway! As is our national trend, we jumped onto the next all or nothing food fad and today we still don’t catch on to the concept of moderation. Or using common sense. I recall researching some low carb options for a cooking class client and finding nachos made with the saving grace of deep fried pork rinds instead of carby plain tortilla chips. I couldn’t make that up if I tried.
Now we have come full circle in our national dieting trends and it is eat all the fat you can get your hands on, carbs are once again the enemy! I am sure there are folks out there giddy with the diet plan of adding more butter to their smoothie or having yet another cheesy fried egg covered burger. It will be interesting what long term effects we will see in the coming years when all that cholesterol and saturated fat comes home to roost. I am all for making sure I am eating plenty of heart healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in my diet from nuts, seeds, olives and salmon. I actually don’t shy away from fat the way I used to, but I also respect it as a high calorie ingredient so I better make sure I make them really count in my diet. Again it seems to be a matter of research, common sense and working with your health professional to find what kinds and amounts of fat are best in your diet. But I think we can all agree on the fact that I don’t need to make that Cool Whip chemical torte anytime soon!!
While recently looking at my CD insert for the Jefferson Starship’s greatest hits, there was a 1980’s photo of them resplendent in padded shoulders and mullets, parachute pants and those muscle shirts that stuck out over the shoulder like pointy Jetson tops. Good for a laugh and a trip back in time, and I think I can safely blame their horrible fashion selections on the lack of brain neuron transmitting fats in their diet.
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