why were people so skinny in the 70s?
Replies
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dgarwood8181 wrote: »Osnt high fructose corn syrup a chemical made from corn? Does HFCS 42 as they call it cause you to be fat?
No, HFCS will not cause obesity by itself. Like any food, it will only "cause" obesity in the context of a diet where one is regularly consuming more calories than one is using.4 -
Sorry to jump ahead, but I'm amused by all the "home cooking" that went on in the 70's.
We had frikken TV dinners 2-3 nights a week. Those damn tinfoil covered things where you had to pull it put halfway and peel the tinfoil off the desert or some fool thing.
3 tv channels and no xBox made a bigger difference to me than the level of MSG in my food vs kids today.12 -
No specific group of foods (ie sweets), individual food (chocolate), or ingredient (sugar or HFCS) makes a person fat. The consumption of too many calories, regardless of the source (HFCS, sugar, chocolate, sweets, processed foods or Whole Foods) puts a person in a calorie surplus above their daily calorie burn and causes weight gain over time.
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dgarwood8181 wrote: »SO our current western diet of everything containing a great amount of these items is causing people to become obese correct?
These diets also include things like chicken, rice, and apples. Are you arguing that chicken and apples cause obesity?
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dgarwood8181 wrote: »SO our current western diet of everything containing a great amount of these items is causing people to become obese correct?
Our current diet (on average) containing too many calories is causes people to become obese. (Well, people are causing themselves to become obese by consuming too many calories.)4 -
janejellyroll wrote: »dgarwood8181 wrote: »SO our current western diet of everything containing a great amount of these items is causing people to become obese correct?
These diets also include things like chicken, rice, and apples. Are you arguing that chicken and apples cause obesity?
Too much chicken and apples can.5 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Sorry to jump ahead, but I'm amused by all the "home cooking" that went on in the 70's.
We had frikken TV dinners 2-3 nights a week. Those damn tinfoil covered things where you had to pull it put halfway and peel the tinfoil off the desert or some fool thing.
3 tv channels and no xBox made a bigger difference to me than the level of MSG in my food vs kids today.
When my parents got married in 1978, my father had recently gotten divorced. One thing he asked her to promise was that she would make dinner each night. He asked for this promise because his first wife had apparently been very reluctant to cook for him each night and he was tired of takeout, frozen food, and Hamburger Helper (his description).
I can't really blame his first wife. She worked as much as my dad did, I wouldn't have automatically made him dinner each night either.6 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »dgarwood8181 wrote: »SO our current western diet of everything containing a great amount of these items is causing people to become obese correct?
These diets also include things like chicken, rice, and apples. Are you arguing that chicken and apples cause obesity?
Too much chicken and apples can.
Yes, but the people who will say things like chemicals or HFCS "cause" obesity never seem to level the same logic against chicken and apples.
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I want to point out (again, as it's been repeatedly pointed out in this thread) that it's easy to correlate the rise in obesity with any number of things that have risen or declined in the same time period. Consider this: there are more organized sports available for girls now than there were in the 70's, and the obesity rates for girls has risen in the same time period. Should we then conclude that the availability of organized sports contributes to rising obesity rates? Very few people would buy that, because very few people demonize sports for children. On the other hand, many people demonize chemicals, sugar, fat, meat - you name it, so are willing to trust an unfounded conclusion in a study of that nature that they would dismiss out of hand in a study involving sports availability.8
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I just think it's funny that people are commenting as if everyone were indeed "skinny" in the 70s. Statistically, they weren't...they didn't have the actual obesity of today, but close to half of the U.S. population was overweight or obese...just less people actually obese.
I'd say 1/2 the population being overweight would mean that not everyone was skinny.
Personally, I think the rise in obesity has more to do with people moving less in general due in large part to automation and whatnot...more people with desk jobs...and even a desk job in the 70s you had to get up and do a lot more than you have to today.
I don't really think it has as much to do with t.v. or tablets or video games or whatever and kids not playing outside. I have two young kids and know a lot of other kids because of that...they all spend plenty of time playing outdoors, riding bikes, etc.
As I recall, I did as well back in the day...I also spent a fair amount of time doing things like put puzzles together, color, sit on my floor and build things with legos, etc...sedentary activities...just different sedentary activities than what kids have today.
Childhood obesity is rising, but statistically, it's not a huge number but I think that just has as much to do with parenting or lack thereof than anything...6 -
dgarwood8181 wrote: »SO our current western diet of everything containing a great amount of these items is causing people to become obese correct?
I’m genuinely curious, in posts like these, do you think that all of us eat the same diet? You think there is a standard western diet? Standard American diet?
I bet even if the 8-10 of us currently actively participating in this thread listed a days worth of meals, a weeks worth of meals - you wouldn’t find a lot of similarity. I know we have at least one vegan in the discussion, one self proclaimed food snob, myself who eats a great deal of convenience/processed foods...
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I feel like a lot of junk is easily available now too. I remember my mom saying when she grew up that it would be a treat if you went to the story for your mother and had a cent left over for a few candy. That didn't happen every day. Now days if I want candy or chips I can DRIVE to any store and buy not only an individual bag I can buy a family sized bag. The same goes with fast food or restaurants, if I don't feel like cooking when I get home this evening I can choose from about 30 places on my way home to pick up something to eat, and none of it is healthy or in an appropriate portion size. That's my 2cents worth!1
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I said our increase in sugar consumption. My point was not that a single chemical caused the nations obesity problem, That was the single thing you two looked for to try to make the debate about. I was saying the American lifestyle changed. That is all I was saying in my original post. We became more sedimentary with our jobs, they found cheaper ways to make different forms of sugar that sometimes you have to be a chemist to find on a label. I am saying we need to go back to how society lived in the 60 and 70's in regards to eating. Compare a big Mac today with a big mac from when we were kids? The calorie contents are massively higher than when we were children. That is what I was trying to say in the beginning. All the list of chemicals that someone mentioned was a quote I put in my post answering someone else about all the chemicals.8
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lemurcat12 wrote: »dgarwood8181 wrote: »SO our current western diet of everything containing a great amount of these items is causing people to become obese correct?
Our current diet (on average) containing too many calories is causes people to become obese. (Well, people are causing themselves to become obese by consuming too many calories.)
Yes it is the actions of the people in society that has changed to overindulge in all types of foods that is causing the obesity problem2 -
WinoGelato wrote: »dgarwood8181 wrote: »SO our current western diet of everything containing a great amount of these items is causing people to become obese correct?
I’m genuinely curious, in posts like these, do you think that all of us eat the same diet? You think there is a standard western diet? Standard American diet?
I bet even if the 8-10 of us currently actively participating in this thread listed a days worth of meals, a weeks worth of meals - you wouldn’t find a lot of similarity. I know we have at least one vegan in the discussion, one self proclaimed food snob, myself who eats a great deal of convenience/processed foods...
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dgarwood8181 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »dgarwood8181 wrote: »SO our current western diet of everything containing a great amount of these items is causing people to become obese correct?
Our current diet (on average) containing too many calories is causes people to become obese. (Well, people are causing themselves to become obese by consuming too many calories.)
Yes it is the actions of the people in society that has changed to overindulge in all types of foods that is causing the obesity problem
So it's personal choice then, to overconsume too many calories, and not the "chemicals" causing the obesity?7 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »(I loved Long John Silvers, and if they still exist beats me where to find one, not near my current place at all.)
There are 3 of these near me, each at least 40 minutes away in opposite directions. Every once in a blue moon I get a hankering for some.
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Which is what our generation learned that I was referring to in my original post. Now we are slowly trying to change these eating habits slowly as a society.3
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cwolfman13 wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »dgarwood8181 wrote: »SO our current western diet of everything containing a great amount of these items is causing people to become obese correct?
I’m genuinely curious, in posts like these, do you think that all of us eat the same diet? You think there is a standard western diet? Standard American diet?
I bet even if the 8-10 of us currently actively participating in this thread listed a days worth of meals, a weeks worth of meals - you wouldn’t find a lot of similarity. I know we have at least one vegan in the discussion, one self proclaimed food snob, myself who eats a great deal of convenience/processed foods...
Bahahahaha I wasn't even talking about you! But if the shoe fits....6 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Sorry to jump ahead, but I'm amused by all the "home cooking" that went on in the 70's.
We had frikken TV dinners 2-3 nights a week. Those damn tinfoil covered things where you had to pull it put halfway and peel the tinfoil off the desert or some fool thing.
3 tv channels and no xBox made a bigger difference to me than the level of MSG in my food vs kids today.
I used to want them ONLY for the dessert, and not the brownie, which was really gross, but the cranberry apple dessert ...oh, and the corn. The meat / potatoes part was meh at best. lol1 -
dgarwood8181 wrote: »I said our increase in sugar consumption. My point was not that a single chemical caused the nations obesity problem, That was the single thing you two looked for to try to make the debate about. I was saying the American lifestyle changed. That is all I was saying in my original post. We became more sedimentary with our jobs, they found cheaper ways to make different forms of sugar that sometimes you have to be a chemist to find on a label. I am saying we need to go back to how society lived in the 60 and 70's in regards to eating. Compare a big Mac today with a big mac from when we were kids? The calorie contents are massively higher than when we were children. That is what I was trying to say in the beginning. All the list of chemicals that someone mentioned was a quote I put in my post answering someone else about all the chemicals.
You wrote: "The increase in chemicals and the massive amounts of sugar being consumed by the American public was on a steep climb up." If you want to remove the first part of the sentence and focus on the sugar, that's fine. But people can only respond to what you wrote, not what you *meant* (at least until you clarify).
Do you have a source for the Big Mac today being bigger than it was when we were children? I ask because McDonald's themselves says it is the same size (with the exception of the new, specially labeled limited offer of the "Grand Mac") and if they're not being truthful, I'd like to know the source for that claim.7 -
I only wanted the mash potatoes and the meat sauce.2
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lemurcat12 wrote: »(I loved Long John Silvers, and if they still exist beats me where to find one, not near my current place at all.)
There are 3 of these near me, each at least 40 minutes away in opposite directions. Every once in a blue moon I get a hankering for some.
The cracklins are the best... we have one within 5 minutes of our house.6 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Sorry to jump ahead, but I'm amused by all the "home cooking" that went on in the 70's.
We had frikken TV dinners 2-3 nights a week. Those damn tinfoil covered things where you had to pull it put halfway and peel the tinfoil off the desert or some fool thing.
3 tv channels and no xBox made a bigger difference to me than the level of MSG in my food vs kids today.
I don't think it's food either. I mean if course it isn't good to eat all processes food nutrition-wise but activity really makes a difference to what you can eat and calories burned. I like whole foods and eat them most of the time but I am still very obese. I tend to gain weight When I am making things like cake, even from scratch. People made deserts in the past too. The problem is when you are not very active even a small desert with three meals a day can make you gain weight. When I exercise and move a lot even I as a big eater find it pretty hard to meet my calorie goals for weight loss. The only time I have issues is when there are a lot of high calorie sweets around.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »dgarwood8181 wrote: »I said our increase in sugar consumption. My point was not that a single chemical caused the nations obesity problem, That was the single thing you two looked for to try to make the debate about. I was saying the American lifestyle changed. That is all I was saying in my original post. We became more sedimentary with our jobs, they found cheaper ways to make different forms of sugar that sometimes you have to be a chemist to find on a label. I am saying we need to go back to how society lived in the 60 and 70's in regards to eating. Compare a big Mac today with a big mac from when we were kids? The calorie contents are massively higher than when we were children. That is what I was trying to say in the beginning. All the list of chemicals that someone mentioned was a quote I put in my post answering someone else about all the chemicals.
You wrote: "The increase in chemicals and the massive amounts of sugar being consumed by the American public was on a steep climb up." If you want to remove the first part of the sentence and focus on the sugar, that's fine. But people can only respond to what you wrote, not what you *meant* (at least until you clarify).
Do you have a source for the Big Mac today being bigger than it was when we were children? I ask because McDonald's themselves says it is the same size (with the exception of the new, specially labeled limited offer of the "Grand Mac") and if they're not being truthful, I'd like to know the source for that claim.
No, I do not have a source for the calories of a big mac when we were kids. You know why, cause they did not keep track of that information or it is a proprietary secret, which they will not share. Do you think that a big mac and a coke was 1150 calories 30 years ago? If it was that means we are consuming way more then we did 30 years ago, but I find it hard to believe that cokes product has changed, I do not know the exact number of times, would it not reason that McDonald's has changed their recipes and hamburgers and ingredients as well and lied to the American public about it? I'm just saying.8 -
WinoGelato wrote: »No specific group of foods (ie sweets), individual food (chocolate), or ingredient (sugar or HFCS) makes a person fat. The consumption of too many calories, regardless of the source (HFCS, sugar, chocolate, sweets, processed foods or Whole Foods) puts a person in a calorie surplus above their daily calorie burn and causes weight gain over time.
But there are high calorie foods that make it super easy to eat too many calories and gain weight.0 -
dgarwood8181 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »dgarwood8181 wrote: »I said our increase in sugar consumption. My point was not that a single chemical caused the nations obesity problem, That was the single thing you two looked for to try to make the debate about. I was saying the American lifestyle changed. That is all I was saying in my original post. We became more sedimentary with our jobs, they found cheaper ways to make different forms of sugar that sometimes you have to be a chemist to find on a label. I am saying we need to go back to how society lived in the 60 and 70's in regards to eating. Compare a big Mac today with a big mac from when we were kids? The calorie contents are massively higher than when we were children. That is what I was trying to say in the beginning. All the list of chemicals that someone mentioned was a quote I put in my post answering someone else about all the chemicals.
You wrote: "The increase in chemicals and the massive amounts of sugar being consumed by the American public was on a steep climb up." If you want to remove the first part of the sentence and focus on the sugar, that's fine. But people can only respond to what you wrote, not what you *meant* (at least until you clarify).
Do you have a source for the Big Mac today being bigger than it was when we were children? I ask because McDonald's themselves says it is the same size (with the exception of the new, specially labeled limited offer of the "Grand Mac") and if they're not being truthful, I'd like to know the source for that claim.
No, I do not have a source for the calories of a big mac when we were kids. You know why, cause they did not keep track of that information or it is a proprietary secret, which they will not share. Do you think that a big mac and a coke was 1150 calories 30 years ago? If it was that means we are consuming way more then we did 30 years ago, but I find it hard to believe that cokes product has changed, I do not know the exact number of times, would it not reason that McDonald's has changed their recipes and hamburgers and ingredients as well and lied to the American public about it? I'm just saying.
A Big Mac and coke aren't even 1150 calories today.7 -
dgarwood8181 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »dgarwood8181 wrote: »I said our increase in sugar consumption. My point was not that a single chemical caused the nations obesity problem, That was the single thing you two looked for to try to make the debate about. I was saying the American lifestyle changed. That is all I was saying in my original post. We became more sedimentary with our jobs, they found cheaper ways to make different forms of sugar that sometimes you have to be a chemist to find on a label. I am saying we need to go back to how society lived in the 60 and 70's in regards to eating. Compare a big Mac today with a big mac from when we were kids? The calorie contents are massively higher than when we were children. That is what I was trying to say in the beginning. All the list of chemicals that someone mentioned was a quote I put in my post answering someone else about all the chemicals.
You wrote: "The increase in chemicals and the massive amounts of sugar being consumed by the American public was on a steep climb up." If you want to remove the first part of the sentence and focus on the sugar, that's fine. But people can only respond to what you wrote, not what you *meant* (at least until you clarify).
Do you have a source for the Big Mac today being bigger than it was when we were children? I ask because McDonald's themselves says it is the same size (with the exception of the new, specially labeled limited offer of the "Grand Mac") and if they're not being truthful, I'd like to know the source for that claim.
No, I do not have a source for the calories of a big mac when we were kids. You know why, cause they did not keep track of that information or it is a proprietary secret, which they will not share. Do you think that a big mac and a coke was 1150 calories 30 years ago? If it was that means we are consuming way more then we did 30 years ago, but I find it hard to believe that cokes product has changed, I do not know the exact number of times, would it not reason that McDonald's has changed their recipes and hamburgers and ingredients as well and lied to the American public about it? I'm just saying.
How many calories were the Big Mac then? And how do you know?4 -
Good point above about less manual and more desk jobs now.
And yeah, everyone was already eating fast food, but I'm quite sure you couldn't have 'supersize everything' back then (I could be wrong though).3
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