. tonight on "nightline," snackaholics, it could strike at home or at work. it's mindless eating and millions are doing it. tonight one family kpronts the startling truth, they're not as healthy as they think. >> pump up kicks, made a appearance in nirvana's anthem, now they party rock with lmfao. and cool sneakers once worn everywhere, are making a major secret. and from miss america to desperate housewives, we thought we knew all about vanessa williams. tonight she opens up about a secret even her mother didn't know.

good evening. i'm cynthia mcfadden. we've reported many times on this broadcast about america's growing obesity problem. but tonight we bring you a new twist. an epidemic affects people who are a healthy weight. it's called mindless snacking. from gobbling chips on the couch to scarfing birthday cake at the office. we've all done it. it's wreaking havoc on people's health in unforeseen ways. neal karlinsky introduces us who one family kproconfronting the habits they never knew they had. >> meet the bolsteads of seattle. they see themselves as above average when it comes to healthy

eating. they're in for a surprise. because they are among the millions of americans that nutritionists say are engaging in a potentially harmful habit. they call it mindless eating. it's happening to nearly everyone all the time. >> seems like people do a better job of being thoughtful and having more balance with their meals. it's the snacking in between that tends to be the culprit, that mindless eating that happens. >> which is why we brought in jennifer adler, long-time nutritionist, for an eye-popping look at their diet. >> i'm looking to see where is the sugar in the list of ingredien ingredients. if it's in the top five, that's generally a bad sign. >> okay. >> reporter: we put them through the paces, scouring their pantry, fridge, and watching them over the course of 48 hours. from the afternoon m & ms and the steaming latte to the box of crackers next to the bed, snack,

stitched together from morning until night. since when is pasta sweet? jennifer found added sugar in their pasta and many so-called healthy choices. >> the sugar content of two of these girl scout cookies is the same as the glazed pecans. >> in this kaus, the first increedient is sugar. >> forget your sweet tooth, there's added sugar in bagles, soup, kech-up, all kinds of foods, you wouldn't think. enough sugar for the average american to consume seven times more the recommended level every day. >> the recommendation is eight grams of sugar or less per day. >> really? >> yes. >> oh, man. >> so you can see how in all these packaged goods that really don't need sugar, that can start to add up. >> reporter: let's face it, we're a nation of snackaholics

with a zombie like adiked to the nearest cookie or chip whether we're hungry or not, and it's feeding dangerously high obesity rates. sure enough, we watched them eat some healthy meals. but here's one big problem, the same one most of us have, the filler, those mindless munchies between meals. >> just a big box of oreos, so i could grab a whole tube and sit there and kind of pop in a couple. >> i'll remember eating the first one and then i'm like what happened to the other ones? and there's empty wrappers. >> hidden calories are called hidden for a problem. it's more than cookie-deep. we went shopping at the grocery store, sure enough, every aisle, almost every item, jennifer found options without added sugar. >> i like this. it's just pineapple.

no sugar. >> look on the back. apples and water. >> from beans to bread, if you look close enough, there are versions with and without sugar added. >> we can't make the assumption that organic will be less sugar. >> reporter: when it comes to cereal, she recommends buying plain or shredded wheat. sugar is fine when it's part of the natural ingredients, it's all the added sugar that makes up bad calories. what does all that added sugar really mean? >> we can think of our waistline as our life line. the bigger our abdominal feet, the bigger our risk for disease and diabetes. >> reporter: is this an eye-opener? >> it is. i always thought we were pretty healthy. but i guess i wasn't paying attention so much to the amount of sugar that we should have. >> reporter: when it comes to

snacking, she has something called preventative eating. >> in between lunch and dinner, it's a really good idea to schedule in a thoughtful snack. it's 3 or 3:30. >> not just run into it? >> no, i have people set it on their phones, where they remember to have a snack, so you can have something thoughtful, nutrient dense so you're not going to the candy bowl. >> the chips i'm eating with hum us dip, fine. a good way to avoid the cake down the hall later. >> do you think you can stick with this? >> absolutely. i think a lot of these things are in the realm of what we already like, so it's just finding that little bit different of ingredient. >> reporter: even at the pace of raising a family, hidden calories are easy to find and avoid if you know where to look. i'm neal karlinsky for "nightline" in seattle.

>> our thanks to the bolstead family and neal neal karlinsky. just ahead, we'll show you lmfao and how this rebel shoe is staging a come back np. it's tax time, and with the hundreds i saved on my car insurance with progressive, i'm out here, giving a little tax relief. are you guys touring? we are. we're going to need some savings. oh, you certainly will. [ laughs ] forget tax season -- it's saving season. what do you do for a living, sir? i work at a green grocery. there's a little green for your grocery. thank you. absolutely. and as part of my saving stimulus package from progressive -- this can go in my wallet. that can go in your wallet. 30 bucks. whoo! [ male announcer ] you're at the age where you don't get thrown by curveballs. ♪ this is the age of knowing how to get things done. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way?

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. well, they're the iconic sneakers famously worn by some of the biggest legends in music from elvis to the stones to nirvana, but even those chuck taylor may be the best selling shoes of all time, the company has come under fire in recent years and has decided to go back to its roots, betting its future on the rock'n'roll of its past

that ridginally made its footwear a legend. ♪ >> reporter: lmfao party in converse sneakers. so does baby-faced justin bieber. ♪ ♪ i thought you'd always be mine ♪ ♪ >> reporter: they're the shoes that set the beat for a generation in nirvana's teen anthem. they epitomize cultural cool for decades. >> we've been worn by some of the greatest artists, elvis, beetles, stones, ramones. converse is a century-old american brand raised on rock'n'roll. >> they really haven't changed in 103 years. >> when people think about converse, this is what comes to mind. >> i had a pair of these in high school. >> i think everybody did. >> reporter: outside boston, in 1908, converse was born as a

basketball shoe, though it quickly outgrew its place in that market. it emerged as a piece of american pop culture. >> we sell about 200,000 pairs of those every single day around the world, best selling shoe of all time and continues to be really our iconic product. >> reporter: in the last decade, converse found itself struggling, filing for bankruptcy and failing to compete in a saturated sports market. >> reporter: where did things go wrong with the company? >> i think we tried to go down a sports performance path when there were other brands spending more money and were better at it than us. >> reporter: ironically it was nike that bought up and bailed out converse. the shoe that once boasted a made in the usa stamp isn't even made in america anymore. to cut costs, the company moved its u.s. plant to countries like vietnam and indonesia, where last summer reports of worker

abuse surfaced. >> workers were saying supervisors throw shoes at them, call them dogs and pigs. what are you doing about that? >> unfortunate and unacceptable. we take workers' rights seriously. >> reporter: critics say converse is falling short in meeting workers' complaints. >> reporter: has the problem been fixed? >> that specific incident was resolved, but it's a never-ending loop to be honest with you. in this global economy. >> reporter: so it could be going on right now? >> we don't believe in that incident that it is. >> but somewhere? >> it certainly could be. i'd be less than sincere if i said no problem will ever happen again. >> despite the controversies and financial problems, the comp is now betting its future on a return to his musical roots.

converse began inviting music n musiciamusicia musicians like the gorillaas to cut original tracks to build social buzz around the brand. the goal, to win back that rebel consumer of hard to woo hipsters. >> welcome to rubber tracks. this is where we are. come on in. ♪ >> reporter: the company also recently build a 5200 state of the art recording studio in brooklyn. >> the idea was to build a place, to say thank you to all the artists who have done all the great work with our shoes over the years. >> reporter: so far 150 upstart acts short on cash have been invited to record on converse's dime. >> we met the artists here today and we gave them this golden record to come in and record. >> reporter: so this record means that you get free recording time. this is a big deal? >> yeah, it's a big deal. >> hey, guys. how many songs are you

recording? >> we're going to be doing three new songs. >> reporter: the artists are invited to post their music on the converse facebook page, one of the most significant apparel brands in social media, but does the buzz translate to sales? >> we're not measuring it. we truly believe in the idea of doing good things for the consumers. good things will happen to us in return. >> reporter: they built an empire with collaborations with celebrity musicians and sales have been on the rise even in these tough economic times. converse is already looking to that next generation of consumer. for "nightline," i'm andrea canning in new york. baby loves the sneakers. up next, vanessa williams, beautiful, controversial, and tonight she reveals things about her past you have never heard before. ti-aging lotion? because if it's on the label,

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she made history back in 1984 as the first black miss america, then famously has to give her crown back. these days you may know vanessa williams as the newest housewife on wisteria lane. tonight she tells juju chang about the secret she's kept for a lifetime. in tonight's "nightline interview." ♪ >> reporter: when vanessa williams became a "desperate

housewife" two years ago, the veteran actress fit right into the make-believe neighborhood. >> well you owe me a less tacky gift. >> you always come off playing a sort of vaguely bitchy -- >> oh, yeah. vaguely! you're being kind. >> narcissistic, vicious. >> so basically it's type-casting, right? >> let's check out the lane. >> reporter: her fellow housewives say, in real life, she's quite the opposite, the anti-diva. but there are a lot of things you might not know about vanessa williams. before tv, she was a star on broadway and had a bunch of number one singles like "saved the best for last." ♪ you go and save the best for last ♪ >> reporter: and if you're younger than 28, you weren't even alive when vanessa williams made history as the first black

miss america. >> our new miss america, is vanessa williams! >> reporter: it was a milestone, but the racist backlash required sharpshooters to protect her at some of her events. how many death threats did you get? >> well, my mom had a red box at home. of course she wouldn't discuss them with me, because she didn't want me to be freaked out for an entire year. while i did my appearances. >> reporter: then it all came crashing down, as racy photos of her surfaced in a penthouse magazine spread. williams gave up her crown. now, with kids in college and a career she's happy with, williams has written a surprising memoir with her mother. it's called "you have no idea." and both say, as they wrote it, vanessa told her mother secrets she'd kept her entire life. vanessa revealed for the first time she was molested by an older girl at the age of 10. >> i was young. it happened in the summer going into fifth grade. it happened one night where she told me come over here. i knew it wasn't right because i

wasn't supposed to tell anybody. >> and you never told anybody? >> no. i never told my mom. she didn't know until i wrote the book. >> what was your reaction to hearing about the mom station? >> stunned. absolutely stunned. but, in retrospect, it kind of put into place some of her reactions during her preteen years. >> reporter: williams says she was so young she didn't realize what had happened for years. but now she believes the episode left a scar, causing her to act out in ways that were highly sexualized. >> as a teenager, i was like, okay, this will be fun. it will be adventurous. it's different. i wanted to be wild. >> reporter: her mother was a strict disciplinarian and she says that's why when she had an abortion as a senior in high school she never told her parents. >> was it hard for you as a nice catholic girl to go through that? >> oh, yeah. >> what was your decision-making process? >> well, it's frightening. being pregnant is the most frightening thing that happens in your life. and i knew in high school that was something i was not prepared to do or fight or struggle with.

>> reporter: and when those photos surfaced, you can imagine her mother's reaction. >> i didn't look at the shocking parts of it. i looked into her eyes, and i could see that she was uncomfortable. >> reporter: still, they never really talked about why. the two marriages and two messy divorces came and went. but it wasn't until they started writing that all of those secrets came tumbling out. >> it churned up a little bit of, i'm sorry she had to go through this by herself. >> it kind of helped inform my mom with what i was struggling with by myself. and i dovely -- definitely think that it raises a level of respect. >> reporter: all of the things that as a child williams feared would break them apart has brought them closer as adults. >> well, i did buy her a mercedes for her 60th birthday for all the gray hair i had given her up to that point. >> that's a lot of guilt! >> yes. and she's paying for it all