Why I ate junk food after school

What did you secretly scoff after school? Sorry mother, but salt and vinegar Chipsticks and Time Out chocolate bars were the reason why I couldn't finish dinner.

Teenage rumbles

It is impossible for a teenager to go through a day at school without snacking on salt, fat and sugar. Nor do I blame them for it. I remember what it was like to be prodded awake at 7am, gingerly pick at breakfast (no-one’s hungry that early), and then sit through two monotonous lessons before the first break of the day. At 10:20am sharp, I’d tear open my packed lunch and ravenously hoover up anything remotely sugary.

It was even worse when I got home from school. Back by 3:45pm, and over two hours until dinner? No-one can expect a kid to wait that long for sustenance. So, because I often came back to an empty house, I’d ignore the banana lovingly left out for me and raid the top cupboard for junk food instead.

Crisps and chocolate were the staples. I remember one incident where I ate two bags of salt and vinegar Chipsticks and a Time Out chocolate bar in front of Sabrina the Teenage Witch… so utterly happy was I, until I heard the key in the lock. As swift as a teenager can be, I hurriedly hid the offending packaging down the side of the sofa, just as mother dear came into the room. (I later popped them into the bathroom bin, so don’t be too angry with me mum.)

Nothing beats sugar

That’s not to say I wasn’t fed properly at school. My packed lunch boxes were famous for their variety and volume of content… I was the only kid to have dried fruit, vegetable crudités with dips, different cheeses and slices of proper butcher’s ham – I adored my mum for the effort she put in. But even though I ate so well, there was still an undeniable craving for pure, processed sugar. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, if indulged in moderation (a subject I've explored before).

Some schools have banned vending machines now, while others have replaced the fizzy pop, chocolate and crisps with fresh apples and breakfast biscuits. I think it’s great that we’re trying to tackle childhood obesity, but for me the stats just don’t make sense… all of my friends ate rubbish throughout our school years, and none of us were ever even remotely overweight – not then, or now. Plus we didn't exercise much either, apart from the odd PE lesson. Maybe, as a school in general, we had more willpower when it came to binging than the majority?

Is it really so bad?

Teenagers are 70% water, 30% sugar. And somehow we seem to get through it relatively unscathed. I ate crisps and chocolate (without my parents knowing) probably every day, and have never had any health problems. And it’s not just me who was built on junk…

I put the ‘what did you eat after school?’ question to our Facebook friends, and Emma Anderson said she snacked on Mint Club biscuits; John Tunnicliffe went for penny chocolate logs; Mark Norris had peanut butter and cheese; Georgie Panter bought cream cakes from the bakery on the way home; Dan Gowar McCarthy had Pickled Onion Monster Munch; and Donna Watson unashamedly tucked into a sugar sandwich. You see? Not a piece of fruit in sight!

What did you eat when you got home from school, and do you think it’s OK for kids to snack on junk food every now and then? Talk to us in the Comments box below.

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