I came across a post on Facebook feed last week that included food and drink items from the 1970’s and 1980’s. My grandmother’s refrigerator and pantry flashed before my eyes, and I really wanted a Tab soda pop or one more square of Ayds mint flavored diet candy from her pantry. Disgust quickly replaced longing, and I thought about what a disservice society served to women in this time era and continues to still serve us today.
When I was eight years old, I drank Tab soda with my grandma because she drank it, and I liked the taste. I did not know she was drinking Tab because this calorie free soda was an alternative to the sugar filled 7-Up or other Coca-Cola options that make you fat. I remember learning that diet soda was “the way to go” when I was in junior high school. One of my best friends was on a diet and she explained to me that Diet Pepsi was a powerful help to her in losing weight. The world tipped because a couple of years prior, we were all being told to clean our plates so that we could grow up to be big and strong. What happened, were we no longer supposed to be big and strong? Additionally, I had no idea that Ayds were supposed to dull my taste buds and make eating other foods unpleasant. Call me a genetic anomaly, but I liked the taste of Ayds and would have several at a time because, who does not like chocolate mint candy? I suppose I ate fewer alternative foods for a good 15 minutes after indulging in Ayds, but that was only because I was full of eating several squares of the diet candy.
Shortly after the revelation that growing up to be big and strong only applied to boys, the physical education department began annual or bi-annual weigh-ins and physical fitness testing. How in the hell was I supposed to do a pull-up when I had been shoveling in mashed potatoes so that I could grow up to be big and strong? I quickly learned that it was acceptable to grow up to be big and strong until you reached an age where your value was based on how you looked and how well you fit into societal norms and expectations, those being slender and pretty. In the era I grew up, this would have been thirteen or fourteen years of age. No one wanted to see anyone wearing a pair of Levi 501’s with anything but a 28”-30” displayed on the back.
When I was in high school, most of my friends were on diets or spending time worrying about how they looked, me included. While I think pre-occupation with looks and meeting expectations is a normal aspect of adolescent development, it is not healthy for anyone when these expectations are skewed and harmful. It was in high school that I bought my first and only pack of Dexatrim at the Valley Drug Store. Women on television were swearing that you could take Dexatrim and magically be super thin. After two days, I threw that packet of diet pills out because I thought my heart was going to explode. Thus began a lifetime of looking at marketing and sales gimmicks that the diet industry bombards us with that are guaranteed to be a quick fix in meeting societal expectations. News flash, it was all bullshit then and still is today.
Ayds appetite suppressant candy went out of business in the early 1980’s when their unfortunate name choice matched that of the horrific emergence of the disease AIDS. In the spirit of full disclosure, when I occasionally find Tab for sale in the grocery store, I will buy it in excessive amounts. I have done this on numerous occasions when travelling in different areas of the country, because I like the taste of Tab, and it reminds me of my grandma. I have zero expectations that drinking Tab is going to result in me magically being able to do a pull-up or that this magical elixir will negate my love for mashed potatoes. I just like the taste of Tab.
