why were people so skinny in the 70s?
Options
Replies
-
There were no gmo foods not like we have today. There weren't as much preservatives etc that came out in the 80s and 90s and then they came out with hfcs, and lowfat foods. They ate whole real foods not prepared boxed meals17
-
The baby boomers were in their twenties. Now they are geriatrics.3
-
I think that was just the look at the time. Rock stars made it the "cool" or sought after look. Mick Jagger was small AF. The "heroin chic" look was considered sexy.1
-
angelexperiment wrote: »There were no gmo foods not like we have today. There weren't as much preservatives etc that came out in the 80s and 90s and then they came out with hfcs, and lowfat foods. They ate whole real foods not prepared boxed meals
Are you kidding? Everything my mother made seem to come from a can or a box.11 -
angelexperiment wrote: »There were no gmo foods not like we have today. There weren't as much preservatives etc that came out in the 80s and 90s and then they came out with hfcs, and lowfat foods. They ate whole real foods not prepared boxed meals
You obviously weren't around back then.15 -
So I'm trying to figure out why people were so skinny about 40 years ago vs today....here are some reasons i can think of and i want to know yours:
1. little to none high fructose corn syrup
2. more activity.....people didnt sit on their computers and smart phones all day
these are just two main ones i can think of, anyone else have any ideas?
No GMO's lots of disco dancing.5 -
angelexperiment wrote: »There were no gmo foods not like we have today. There weren't as much preservatives etc that came out in the 80s and 90s and then they came out with hfcs, and lowfat foods. They ate whole real foods not prepared boxed meals
Lolno. There were plenty of prepared/boxed meals in the '70s. "TV dinners" were pretty common fare, as were things like boxed macaroni and cheese, etc. Again, I suspect this is a perspective from somebody who wasn't even alive in the '70s.
[ETA:] And GMO has nothing whatsoever to do with obesity, nor do preservatives (which have been around a lot longer than you apparently think, btw).11 -
moosmum1972 wrote: »angelexperiment wrote: »There were no gmo foods not like we have today. There weren't as much preservatives etc that came out in the 80s and 90s and then they came out with hfcs, and lowfat foods. They ate whole real foods not prepared boxed meals
Lolno. There were plenty of prepared/boxed meals in the '70s. "TV dinners" were pretty common fare, as were things like boxed macaroni and cheese, etc. Again, I suspect this is a perspective from somebody who wasn't even alive in the '70s.
I want to know "what" 70's they lived through. ...boxed puddings, vesta meals, FINDUS pancakes that you could see from space....a few.of MANY meals that i believe were made.out of colours, flavours and preservatives and never ever saw "food" as an ingredient
Let us not forget Tang and Space Food Sticks.9 -
angelexperiment wrote: »There were no gmo foods not like we have today. There weren't as much preservatives etc that came out in the 80s and 90s and then they came out with hfcs, and lowfat foods. They ate whole real foods not prepared boxed meals
Lolno. There were plenty of prepared/boxed meals in the '70s. "TV dinners" were pretty common fare, as were things like boxed macaroni and cheese, etc. Again, I suspect this is a perspective from somebody who wasn't even alive in the '70s.
[ETA:] And GMO has nothing whatsoever to do with obesity, nor do preservatives (which have been around a lot longer than you apparently think, btw).
The quality of frozen food has vastly improved since then, in fact. I still remember those TV dinners.
We also had plenty of Kraft mac and cheese when I was growing up. My mother used to fry up some hamburger, stir that into mac and cheese and heat some canned veggies, throw some bread and butter on the table and that would be dinner some nights.
Don't get me wrong, on other nights, we had scratch cooked meals. Though I have to say, most of the time, our vegetables came from cans. Corn and string beans. Corn and string beans. I don't remember anything else until suddenly they had frozen broccoli in cheese sauce in the store.7 -
This brings back so many memories. What a difference between the 50s and the 70s.
In the 50s, I never saw a fast food place or chain restaurant. Don't know if they existed or not. But when dad sold cattle or wheat (each once
A year), we got to go to town and get 5 hamburgers for $1 on Saturday night. We asked someone to eat with us, because there were only 4
Of us. The burgers were the size of McDonald's $1 burger now, but full of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, so very filling. We didn't get anything
To drink, but they had 4 oz cokes at the drugstore.
In the 60s, there was an a&w about 40 miles away. A rare but oh so good treat.
We had a 9" black and white tv, and cable didn't exist? Or at least we hadn't heard of it. Everyone had antennas.
8 -
So how did this one get revived? Weird.
My own take, but individual like everyone else's, is that people ate less often and smaller portions, on average. Restaurant meals were less frequent, more meals were home cooked (although often using processed food/ingredients -- I think the idea that there was no processed food in the '70s is bizarre, the last time I had a Twinkie may have been 1980, heh). A ton more options exist for getting food delivered (and a huge range of foods) now, too.
Also, I think people on average were more active back then just in daily life.0 -
Less chemicals in the food itself and less processed food overall. Less cheap 'fast' food that is nothing but junk your body doesn't need.16
-
BrianSharpe wrote: »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.
You hit it right on Brian, Especially 2 and 4. When we were kids in the 70's, we were always outside playing sports, hide and go seek, or kick the can and just always found something to do. Also like you said we rode our bikes everywhere and never sat at home and said "we're bored and there's nothing to do". Now it's all about iphone's and video games and kids don't know what to do with themselves without some electronic device in front of them and are lazy. A few years ago my daughter's teacher did an experiment and asked all of her students to go home and have no electronic devices for one week. She did it and said it was great. She played board games, read more, rode her bike more, and did a lot of drawing. More teachers or parents should do that with their kids to see what it was like when we were kids.3 -
It's really funny to read everyone's different perspectives of the 70s - even the differences of the people who grew up during them! I was a child of the 70s - we had 3 tv stations - and watched cartoons on Saturday mornings. If the sun was out, we were outside. I don't remember my mom driving me anywhere - I walked or rode my bike. As far as the poster who said that EVERYONE was smoking...must be a difference in parts of the country, because I didn't know ANY kids who smoked. We ate a lot of homemade stuff, but we also ate frozen pizza and tv dinners and stuff - so I think it really boils down to activity level. No cable. No internet. No video games. No computers. No cell phones. Get outside and DO something.
This is funny! We were watching Mad Men this weekend and my husband commented about everyone smoking like freight trains. He said, "Yeah I remember that is what it was like back then." I said, "I don't remember that. No one smoked where I grew up. If they did, they were considered "wild"." He grew up in GA and I grew up in KS.2 -
Less chemicals in the food itself and less processed food overall. Less cheap 'fast' food that is nothing but junk your body doesn't need.
I really don't think there were fewer "chemicals" in the food, and I don't see how that would make a difference -- it's how much you eat that is the issue.
Also, the '70s had a ton of processed foods (they often weren't as good or as varied as what's available today, and many of those available today are healthier, but variety and taste means they are probably even more commonly eaten). I recall fast food places being every bit as available, but CULTURALLY my family considered it an occasional treat so we didn't get it much. I think families today could take the same approach and of course some do.0 -
It's really funny to read everyone's different perspectives of the 70s - even the differences of the people who grew up during them! I was a child of the 70s - we had 3 tv stations - and watched cartoons on Saturday mornings. If the sun was out, we were outside. I don't remember my mom driving me anywhere - I walked or rode my bike. As far as the poster who said that EVERYONE was smoking...must be a difference in parts of the country, because I didn't know ANY kids who smoked. We ate a lot of homemade stuff, but we also ate frozen pizza and tv dinners and stuff - so I think it really boils down to activity level. No cable. No internet. No video games. No computers. No cell phones. Get outside and DO something.
This is funny! We were watching Mad Men this weekend and my husband commented about everyone smoking like freight trains. He said, "Yeah I remember that is what it was like back then." I said, "I don't remember that. No one smoked where I grew up. If they did, they were considered "wild"." He grew up in GA and I grew up in KS.
I didn’t know any kids who smoked, I was a kid then. But almost every adult I knew smoked and as I recall it wasn’t until the late70’s that restaurants even had a no smoking section!
I lived in an urban environment- no body I knew had a garden, most everyone had a tv but there were only a handful of channels ( no cable) and only one rich kid I knew even owned a vcr. Most of my friends had abut 1/2 prepackaged meals (Mac and cheese, hamburger helper) and 1/2 scratch meals at home. Veggies (except iceberg lettuce and tomatoes and onions/celery/carrots) were usually the canned variety. Big Mac was introduced in the 70’s if I recall correctly - the regular hamburger was considered a normal size. French fries (regular size) were about 1/2 a current small and came in a paper not cardboard sleeve.
So, my experience was much less processed foods, and eating out portions were much smaller. People smoked. There wasn’t much on TV so one probably watched a few hours a week of stuff they loved (+ live sports if they were sports people). I’m guessing the sum was that people I knew ate more healthy foods (but less variety), smaller portions, sat in front of a screen less, and probably smoked. Sounds like a recipe for thinner.0 -
It's really funny to read everyone's different perspectives of the 70s - even the differences of the people who grew up during them! I was a child of the 70s - we had 3 tv stations - and watched cartoons on Saturday mornings. If the sun was out, we were outside. I don't remember my mom driving me anywhere - I walked or rode my bike. As far as the poster who said that EVERYONE was smoking...must be a difference in parts of the country, because I didn't know ANY kids who smoked. We ate a lot of homemade stuff, but we also ate frozen pizza and tv dinners and stuff - so I think it really boils down to activity level. No cable. No internet. No video games. No computers. No cell phones. Get outside and DO something.
This is funny! We were watching Mad Men this weekend and my husband commented about everyone smoking like freight trains. He said, "Yeah I remember that is what it was like back then." I said, "I don't remember that. No one smoked where I grew up. If they did, they were considered "wild"." He grew up in GA and I grew up in KS.
I didn’t know any kids who smoked, I was a kid then. But almost every adult I knew smoked and as I recall it wasn’t until the late70’s that restaurants even had a no smoking section!
I lived in an urban environment- no body I knew had a garden, most everyone had a tv but there were only a handful of channels ( no cable) and only one rich kid I knew even owned a vcr. Most of my friends had abut 1/2 prepackaged meals (Mac and cheese, hamburger helper) and 1/2 scratch meals at home. Veggies (except iceberg lettuce and tomatoes and onions/celery/carrots) were usually the canned variety. Big Mac was introduced in the 70’s if I recall correctly - the regular hamburger was considered a normal size. French fries (regular size) were about 1/2 a current small and came in a paper not cardboard sleeve.
So, my experience was much less processed foods, and eating out portions were much smaller.
Interesting. I recall meals being pretty similar to what you describe, although we ate mostly meat, potato, veg, with the veg often canned, at all dinners. Portions at fast food restaurants -- not all restaurants -- were definitely smaller (although more for adults, as kid's meals are still the smaller sizes, no?). I also recall fast food being a kid's thing in the circles I was in -- we'd go after some event as a treat, my family would not eat there, unless on a road trip -- but then that's kind of how I think of it now, I don't know many people who eat fast food much, and when people pick up food for lunch it isn't huge portions or McD or whatever.
What you describe doesn't sound like "less processed foods" than what I experience/see today (half and half seems about right, although for some that means much more and for some that means less). I suppose what you think of as the norm for today is going to influence what you think has changed.
Vegetables, especially fresh, are available in much more variety today, IME, although given the stats people don't consume them more (again, I expect this differs by family).
Activity level seems different to me, for sure.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 388 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 916 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions