why were people so skinny in the 70s?

tigersword

It's worth a mention that diet pills were far less regulated and far more common, too, as were crash diets, self-medicating with booze and prescriptions (yes, they can make you eat too, but a lot depends on user mindset), smoking like chimneys, etc. My mom also said bulimia was eeeeverywhere when she was in high school in the 60s and that when Twiggy came in with a super-thin body ideal it got worse.

What about kids? I don't think diet pills & crash diets were a major factor for kids..
look around.... so many over weight kids today !!
look at pics from the 70's - kids were more average weight, or even on the thin side.

70's kids = More exercise calories burned. Less calories consumed.

I really think the overweight kids thing is seriously exaggerated. My daughter's school bus stop has about 15 kids, and only 1 of them is overweight. I work in retail, and I see very few overweight kids. Obesity is a problem, but it's actually been declining for a couple years now, the media just continues to sensationalize it.

fittocycle

If you look back at pictures of people from the 1940's (post WW2) you'll notice they look extremely lean. I've often wondered if it was partly due to the sugar rationing during the war. Of course, I think gas was also rationed so maybe they walked more as well!

fittocycle

By the way, I grew up during the 70's and I was a fat child! Being overweight was due to too many snacks, not enough exercise, and sugary drinks! At least it was for me!:ohwell:

elsyoommen

I agree - I keep hearing about all the overweight kids but I don't see it much myself. I have 4 kids ranging in age from 4 to 20 so I see lots of children of all ages and I don't find that they are very heavy at all. There is maybe 1 or 2 "fat" kids in each class that I notice. This is about the same as when I was their ages. None of my kids had an issue with being overweight... they did have issues with being underweight but we work on that. I also find that they have lots of very positive physical activity at their schools and much better playgrounds than we did when we were their age. Gym class and recess seem to be much more positive experiences for my kids than it was for me growing up in the 70's. - this is the positive side of more supervision and more organized activities. There are pros and cons to it really.

EmilyEmpowered

:laugh:

Had no interest in eating when tripping on acid, now when smoking pot I ate many treats, but we did a lot of walking to get that next quarter bag...

harleygroomer

LOTS OF DRUGS

eric_sg61

No video games, kids played outside, people worked more labor intensive jobs, and cocaine is a helluva drug.

skadoosh33

I agree - I keep hearing about all the overweight kids but I don't see it much myself. I have 4 kids ranging in age from 4 to 20 so I see lots of children of all ages and I don't find that they are very heavy at all. There is maybe 1 or 2 "fat" kids in each class that I notice. This is about the same as when I was their ages. None of my kids had an issue with being overweight... they did have issues with being underweight but we work on that. I also find that they have lots of very positive physical activity at their schools and much better playgrounds than we did when we were their age. Gym class and recess seem to be much more positive experiences for my kids than it was for me growing up in the 70's. - this is the positive side of more supervision and more organized activities. There are pros and cons to it really.

There are lots of fat kids. When we lived in FL my kids were called the skinny kids because most were overweight or obese. And I've had an 8 year old patient who was 186lbs and mom was proud. It's poor parenting. Now we live in Denver,Co the healthiest state and aren't as many.

TheVimFuego

Muscle wastage, my Granny is tiny.

skadoosh33

It's worth a mention that diet pills were far less regulated and far more common, too, as were crash diets, self-medicating with booze and prescriptions (yes, they can make you eat too, but a lot depends on user mindset), smoking like chimneys, etc. My mom also said bulimia was eeeeverywhere when she was in high school in the 60s and that when Twiggy came in with a super-thin body ideal it got worse.

What about kids? I don't think diet pills & crash diets were a major factor for kids..
look around.... so many over weight kids today !!
look at pics from the 70's - kids were more average weight, or even on the thin side.

70's kids = More exercise calories burned. Less calories consumed.

I really think the overweight kids thing is seriously exaggerated. My daughter's school bus stop has about 15 kids, and only 1 of them is overweight. I work in retail, and I see very few overweight kids. Obesity is a problem, but it's actually been declining for a couple years now, the media just continues to sensationalize it.

Childhood obesity is still on the rise and you see it more in certain areas. It is also more common in lower income families. There are 2020 goals to reduce this.

skadoosh33

No more mothers at home. No more home cooked meals. All fast food now that both parents work.

then there was way too much pressure on mom to keep everyone eating correctly. everyone should know how to eat healthy. if your wife doesnt cook you dinner, it doesnt mean you can eat ice cream and gummy bears instead

No, it was because the mothers had all day to prepare healthy meals. Now there is no time in the average household, families don't eat together and just grab something quick. They go to Chic-fil-a and think it is healthy.

rainbow198

Disco baby! People were out dancing and shaking their groove thang (and doing other things at the club lol) and not on the computers and phones all day and night.

xmysterix

PPs: yeah, kids have a very different life now, but I mentioned that in the post I made before the one about pills.

One of the biggest factors with childhood obesity rates is how the poverty-level population eats. In the previous eras, poor meant going without food. Now it means eating nutritionally substandard, calorie-dense, cheap factory food. There are less fresh vegetable vendors (even major chains) in low-SES neighborhoods, higher costs in the stores that do offer healthier foods, often less ability to get to the store (disability, no money for car or transit, etc) and a higher density of fast food joints with $1 value meals. So, many malnourished poor folk now are obese, rather than wasting away. 21st century 1st world poverty means rising rates of overweight/obesity. So if you're privileged enough to have 'net and a computer, you probably wouldn't see many obese kids at your bus stop. Look a few neighborhoods over and you'll find a lot more.

NerdyTXChick

I was a kid in the 70's, and I remember eating plenty of processed foods, along with sugar, simple carbs and high fat foods. I remember bringing chips and twinkies in my lunch, along with my old school PB&J (on white bread) and a grape soda. We had popcorn with butter every Sunday night for supper, and sugary cereal for breakfast (with whole milk). We ate a lot of hamburger meat, tuna from a can, and Spam was a pretty common occurrence. No one had heard of low fat food.

My Mom did try to make us eat healthy by sneaking bell peppers into everything (I can't eat them to this day), but other than that our veggies came out of a can. Basically, we ate everything that we consider 'bad' today. I'm by no means saying we should go back to this way of eating, just that this is what I remember, and none of us were overweight.

We were definitely more active than most people are now. There was only so much you could watch on TV those days, and most families only had the one. I remember spending a lot of time walking around the neighborhood with my friends after supper.

So what's the answer? We ate a bunch of crap but were less sedentary? I don't know, but I suspect it's probably far more complex than that.

tammymusic1

1. No Internet.
2. No video games.
3. Home cooked meals (from scratch)
4. Kids played outside after school.
5. Parents didn't drive kids everywhere, we rode our bikes or walked.

YUP all of this

RonW956

I was a kid in the 70's, and I remember eating plenty of processed foods, along with sugar, simple carbs and high fat foods. I remember bringing chips and twinkies in my lunch, along with my old school PB&J (on white bread) and a grape soda. We had popcorn with butter every Sunday night for supper, and sugary cereal for breakfast (with whole milk). We ate a lot of hamburger meat, tuna from a can, and Spam was a pretty common occurrence. No one had heard of low fat food.

My Mom did try to make us eat healthy by sneaking bell peppers into everything (I can't eat them to this day), but other than that our veggies came out of a can. Basically, we ate everything that we consider 'bad' today. I'm by no means saying we should go back to this way of eating, just that this is what I remember, and none of us were overweight.

We were definitely more active than most people are now. There was only so much you could watch on TV those days, and most families only had the one. I remember spending a lot of time walking around the neighborhood with my friends after supper.

So what's the answer? We ate a bunch of crap but were less sedentary? I don't know, but I suspect it's probably far more complex than that.

I was a kid in the 70's myself. we had fast food & junk food/pizza/soda....all that stuff however I think it was because we were more active outside than todays generation. Kids played more outside back then then they do today, back then we didnt have Xbox or smart phones. Nowadays we can't even use the "I couldnt find a payphone" excuse when coming home late...

stealthq

Thinking they ate much less processed food at the time too.

**snort**

No. Unless you mean quantity as opposed to % of diet, because clearly people tended to eat less.

Betty Crocker and the like were rocking in the 70s. Portion size was much smaller, though.

mike_ny

Disco, cocaine, peer pressure, tight fitting low cut fashions, super thin post-twiggy models, post World War II parents, fast food was a new trend (it was a treat and not an every day thing), kids would be bicycle riding, playing basketball, or just playing outside almost every day after school, only a few TV channels and no videos, no video games (unless you count pong and space invaders) , no internet besides very basic message boards, and the President's physical fitness test that all students were forced to take publicly and we're ranked in amongst their peers.

They may have been the continuation of the free love days, but there were still lots of social pressures for both drop outs and mainstream people to keep up their physical appearances in their peer groups. And most people were a lot more active than people today. Overweight people were often stigmatized and left out of a lot of social circles. Unlike today with high obesity rates with overweight people in almost all social circles, being fat in those days made you the one fat kid or heavy person in a crowd. There were still overweight people and even obese people, but it was a lot harder to fit in and being overweight was definitely not the norm like is is in so many communities today.

ereck44

Thinking they ate much less processed food at the time too.

**snort**

No. Unless you mean quantity as opposed to % of diet, because clearly people tended to eat less.

Betty Crocker and the like were rocking in the 70s. Portion size was much smaller, though.

yeah, I remember eating some frozen dinners at least once a week because my mother didn't like to cook, but there wasn't a large selection. It was predicted that in the future all food would either be frozen or powdered form and reconstituted.

Sabine_Stroehm

They ate (real) food and moved some.

yes, we ate some frozen foods, but even then, NOTHING compared to today.