why were people so skinny in the 70s?

Options
1…1920222425…49

Replies

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    Options
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    sklaw31 wrote: »
    Less stress overall, and certainly not the pressure to "keep up with the Jones'". Bought what you could afford in all areas of life, including food preparation. Eat to live, not live to eat mind-set. Values were different, children worked for their allowance, played outside, no entitlements. At least for this farm girl!

    The phrase dates from the early 1900s so it's hard for me to believe that nobody in the 1970s was trying to "keep up with the Jonses."

    They were, but I believe there was a very different mindset in that area back then. As with everything it would certainly vary by region/culture, and my memories are those of a child, but I don't believe that in general there was the same sense of entitlement then as now.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    Options
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    sklaw31 wrote: »
    Less stress overall, and certainly not the pressure to "keep up with the Jones'". Bought what you could afford in all areas of life, including food preparation. Eat to live, not live to eat mind-set. Values were different, children worked for their allowance, played outside, no entitlements. At least for this farm girl!

    The phrase dates from the early 1900s so it's hard for me to believe that nobody in the 1970s was trying to "keep up with the Jonses."

    They were, but I believe there was a very different mindset in that area back then. As with everything it would certainly vary by region/culture, and my memories are those of a child, but I don't believe that in general there was the same sense of entitlement then as now.

    I'm not denying there are differences between then and now, but I don't think things like spending money you don't necessarily have in order to keep up appearances, coveting the possessions/success of those around you, or wanting a better position in life are things that have developed since the 1970s. It doesn't make sense that "Keeping up with the Joneses" developed since the 1970s when we've had a term to describe the behavior for over 100 years now.

    I agree.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    edited February 2018
    Options
    It was socially acceptable for women to eat small salads and take amphetamines (probably prescribed by their doctor like in my mom's case) Whereas now its more socially acceptable for women to buck those prior female stereotypical diets/regimes by eating steak and smashing beers. In my grandma's case (same time but generation before my mom) they had 1 family car and she walked to work 4k each way. It doesn't take a genius to see it's an increase in calories and decrease in activity.
  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,365 Member
    Options
    btcowboy wrote: »
    Watch the documentary on Netflix called Fed Up explains it all

    'Sugar is de debil'.... not!
  • Alex
    Alex Posts: 10,145 MFP Staff
    Options
    (moving this to the debate section)
  • MonaLisaLianne
    MonaLisaLianne Posts: 377 Member
    Options
    No PCs; no tablets; no smartphones; no Facebook, no Twitter. People had to actually get up off their butts if they wanted to interact with people. Fewer fast-food options, too. There was McD's, BK, A&W, and DQ - that was about it. You had to actually cook food if you wanted to eat.
  • MonaLisaLianne
    MonaLisaLianne Posts: 377 Member
    Options
    Sharon_C wrote: »
    I have to laugh at the no processed food. Every single day my mom packed me a bologna sandwich, white processed bread and that cheese crap that you have to peel out from the protective wrapping. In school the favorite lunch was on Thursdays: Hamburgers, potato chips, cake and milk. Except for the milk there wasn't one thing healthy about that lunch. Even the hamburgers were processed. But, damn, the chocolate cake was amazing!

    If you wanted to go to your friends house, you walked, rode your bike or roller skated. My mom was constantly shoo-ing us out of the house. "Go get the stink blown off you", she'd say.

    I was a nerdy person who loved to read but to fulfill my addiction I had to bike to the closest book-mobile, which was miles away. And then try to ride back with a HUGE bag of books.

    Bored? It was nothing to hop on my bike and just tool around the neighborhood.

    My parents took us out for ice cream at least once a week. In the summers we all rode our bikes to the Dairy Queen.

    Air conditioning was a luxury for most people so you went outside. You didn't lounge around inside the house. You ran through sprinklers, you swam at the local pool.

    Man, you all are making me nostalgic.......

    I think we grew up in the same family!
  • kristingjertsen
    kristingjertsen Posts: 239 Member
    Options
    We ate most of our meals at home. We ate out only on Friday night and shared 1 pizza between 6 people. We walked or biked to school from elementary school through high school. We walked to the local Boy's club and our friends' homes. If we wanted a sweet treat like RC Cola and Peanuts (it is a Southern thing), we had to get on our bikes and ride a mile to the local 7-11. We spent more time outside playing since we did not have an Atari until high school and only 1 TV for most of our childhood.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    Options
    TorontoDiane wrote: »
    pretty easy answer as I was 17 at the height of the disco era.. we danced all the time, all night long.. kept active.. and when we werent dancing we were shopping for something to wear dancing.. so again lots of exercise.. and not wasting time on the computer, phone etc.. we just went out.. eat properly ... things are in overabundance in every way now.. simple fun is the way to go

    I don't know that this is a 70s thing though. People in their late teens and into their 20s are generally far more active than they are when they "grow up" and get jobs sitting behind desks and whatnot.

    I was in my late teens to early 20s in the 90s...I was always downtown clubbing...or hanging out with the fellas playing Frisbee golf or Ultimate Frisbee...or hiking in the mountains...or getting drunk and deciding to go walk the dog at 1 in the morning.

    That all pretty much changed when I got a "real job" and didn't have the luxury of so much free time.
  • fuzzylop72
    fuzzylop72 Posts: 651 Member
    edited February 2018
    Options
    More daily calories now vs then. Comparison between 1970 and 2008, for example:

    nutrition_circles_1970.png

    nutrition_circles_2008.png

    Infographics from https://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/2011/04/11/nutrition-circles/
    Original data from U.S. Trends in Food Availability and a Dietary Assessment of Loss-Adjusted Food Availability (although the link is a newer version of the report).

    I don't have data to support it, but I feel like dining out was less common in the 70s than it is now.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited February 2018
    Options
    MonaLisaLianne wrote: »
    No PCs; no tablets; no smartphones; no Facebook, no Twitter. People had to actually get up off their butts if they wanted to interact with people. Fewer fast-food options, too. There was McD's, BK, A&W, and DQ - that was about it. You had to actually cook food if you wanted to eat.

    And KFC, Taco Bell, Wendy's, Carl's Junior, Jack in the Box, Hardee's, Long John Silver's, Wienerschnitzel...really, pretty much most fast foot available today was available in the 70s...

    I was a child in the 70s and grew up through the 80s...all of that was widely available...we had KFC at Grandma's most Sundays after church or my dad would take us to Long John Silver's...my dad liked taking me to McDonald's on Saturday mornings for breakfast.

    ETA: and I'll mention it again...statistically, about 1/2 of the U.S. population was classed as overweight or more in the 70s...so not everyone was "skinny". The biggest change in that regard was that there were less people classed as obese in the 70s and more people just in the overweight category vs today where we've seen a sharp rise in actual obesity, not just being overweight.

    I think a lot of that comes down to general activity more than anything...even if you had a desk job in the 70s, you had to get up and move and do stuff like file and whatnot and you couldn't just email your colleagues something.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
    Options
    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.

    This !
    I grew up in Sweden as a kid in the 80s and very early 90's.
    When I grew up we ate fast food maybe 1 -2 times a year. We were out running and playing all day long until dark. We had 2 tv channels and nothing was on until after 6pm. We had a car but only used it to drive on vacation or more than 5 miles away where public transit couldn't take us.
    It was rare to see a fat person. We had 1 in our whole school that I remember.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
    Options
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    TorontoDiane wrote: »
    pretty easy answer as I was 17 at the height of the disco era.. we danced all the time, all night long.. kept active.. and when we werent dancing we were shopping for something to wear dancing.. so again lots of exercise.. and not wasting time on the computer, phone etc.. we just went out.. eat properly ... things are in overabundance in every way now.. simple fun is the way to go

    I don't know that this is a 70s thing though. People in their late teens and into their 20s are generally far more active than they are when they "grow up" and get jobs sitting behind desks and whatnot.

    I was in my late teens to early 20s in the 90s...I was always downtown clubbing...or hanging out with the fellas playing Frisbee golf or Ultimate Frisbee...or hiking in the mountains...or getting drunk and deciding to go walk the dog at 1 in the morning.

    That all pretty much changed when I got a "real job" and didn't have the luxury of so much free time.

    Hmm..IDK..
    Honestly, but I see a lot of overweight teens and early 20 something people. I went back to school 2 years ago and almost everybody in my class was in their 20s. Only 1 girl was by my judgement at a healthy weight. I am really not exaggerating. At least that's how it is in Chicago. I can see it is different in places like LA though were being fit is almost a must for the younger crowd.

Categories