why were people so skinny in the 70s?
Replies
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Wheelhouse15 wrote: »vikinglander wrote: »The soil is so depleted that the nutrient values of most produce has dropped anywhere from 10 to 80 percent in the last 70 years, for 'healthy' foods like broccoli, tomato, peppers, etc.Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Yeah, that's great hype and conspiracy theory.
There are certainly a lot of new chains that didn't exist before but that's not the problem, that's simply supplying a demand. People eat out more, but it's not just the fast food restaurants, more upscale resturants always fight hard against any nutrional information laws because they have very high calorie counts there too. Boston Pizza pad thai has over 2000 calories just in one meal alone as an example.
Certainly, people eat more and move less and most don't even realize how much they are really consuming.
Four words:
Claim Jumper
Cheesecake Factory6 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »vikinglander wrote: »The soil is so depleted that the nutrient values of most produce has dropped anywhere from 10 to 80 percent in the last 70 years, for 'healthy' foods like broccoli, tomato, peppers, etc.Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Yeah, that's great hype and conspiracy theory.
There are certainly a lot of new chains that didn't exist before but that's not the problem, that's simply supplying a demand. People eat out more, but it's not just the fast food restaurants, more upscale resturants always fight hard against any nutrional information laws because they have very high calorie counts there too. Boston Pizza pad thai has over 2000 calories just in one meal alone as an example.
Certainly, people eat more and move less and most don't even realize how much they are really consuming.
Four words:
Claim Jumper
Cheesecake Factory
2 words:
I'm hungry!
Wait, is a contraction one or two words because then it's really 3 words...damn you English!2 -
Well I grew up in the 70's and ate Mcdonald's once a week, ate school lunch every day (tater tots, pizza, sloppy joe's, lasagne etc.) drank soda, and ate lots of candy (went to the candy store everyday after school). So why was I so skinny? I never sat still and played till dinner time. So physical activity was the main reason.
Same diet here, my most frequent lunch in high school was a plate of greasy chicken nuggets, fries, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and a Coke. My dad is from the south and almost everything we ate was fried in Crisco oil. I didn't get fat because the portions were not excessive and I was always physically active.3 -
as kids we played outside all day, McDonalds was a treat once a week0
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Wheelhouse15 wrote: »vikinglander wrote: »The soil is so depleted that the nutrient values of most produce has dropped anywhere from 10 to 80 percent in the last 70 years, for 'healthy' foods like broccoli, tomato, peppers, etc.Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Yeah, that's great hype and conspiracy theory.
There are certainly a lot of new chains that didn't exist before but that's not the problem, that's simply supplying a demand. People eat out more, but it's not just the fast food restaurants, more upscale resturants always fight hard against any nutrional information laws because they have very high calorie counts there too. Boston Pizza pad thai has over 2000 calories just in one meal alone as an example.
Certainly, people eat more and move less and most don't even realize how much they are really consuming.
Four words:
Claim Jumper
Cheesecake Factory
Claim Jumper has amazing huge portions. I got a sandwich there once that I'm pretty sure had two full avocados on it.3 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »There are certainly a lot of new chains that didn't exist before but that's not the problem, that's simply supplying a demand. People eat out more, but it's not just the fast food restaurants, more upscale resturants always fight hard against any nutrional information laws because they have very high calorie counts there too. Boston Pizza pad thai has over 2000 calories just in one meal alone as an example.
Certainly, people eat more and move less and most don't even realize how much they are really consuming.
ditto on that. I don't get why fast food establishments get all the flack they do.. it's quite easy to walk in there and order a reasonably-portioned item with a reasonable number of calories (even for my small 4'10" frame) for $1-2 off the dollar menu that they almost all have. That's going to be a much harder feat at most restaurants.3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Wheelhouse15 wrote: »vikinglander wrote: »The soil is so depleted that the nutrient values of most produce has dropped anywhere from 10 to 80 percent in the last 70 years, for 'healthy' foods like broccoli, tomato, peppers, etc.Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Yeah, that's great hype and conspiracy theory.
There are certainly a lot of new chains that didn't exist before but that's not the problem, that's simply supplying a demand. People eat out more, but it's not just the fast food restaurants, more upscale resturants always fight hard against any nutrional information laws because they have very high calorie counts there too. Boston Pizza pad thai has over 2000 calories just in one meal alone as an example.
Certainly, people eat more and move less and most don't even realize how much they are really consuming.
Four words:
Claim Jumper
Cheesecake Factory
Claim Jumper has amazing huge portions. I got a sandwich there once that I'm pretty sure had two full avocados on it.
Yes, that place is ridiculous.3 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »There are certainly a lot of new chains that didn't exist before but that's not the problem, that's simply supplying a demand. People eat out more, but it's not just the fast food restaurants, more upscale resturants always fight hard against any nutrional information laws because they have very high calorie counts there too. Boston Pizza pad thai has over 2000 calories just in one meal alone as an example.
Certainly, people eat more and move less and most don't even realize how much they are really consuming.
ditto on that. I don't get why fast food establishments get all the flack they do.. it's quite easy to walk in there and order a reasonably-portioned item with a reasonable number of calories (even for my small 4'10" frame) for $1-2 off the dollar menu that they almost all have. That's going to be a much harder feat at most restaurants.
A typical meal at McDonald's for me would be a hamburger and small fries with water or diet coke for about 500 calories. Certainly not the worst meal in the world and this would be normal in the 50's, except for the drink would be a small coke and the burger was slightly larger so maybe 700 calories total for a dinner. Most people wouldn't even recognize this as normal portions today even though this is what a normal portion of those items should look like.2 -
Does anyone think the burgers are a lot smaller at Burger King than they were years ago. Maybe it was because i was young, but Whoppers used to be huge! They seem to have shrunk in size over the years...0
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One contributor is the introduction of chemical "obesogens" into our food chain. These chemicals alter how we store fat. It has so poisoned our food system that even wildlife are fatter than they were 30 years ago!
Add that chemical alteration to a mostly sedentary lifestyle, bigger portion sizes and higher sugar consumption and you have an epidemic of obesity. Just look at the children. There is no reason a child should ever be over weight. They should have little fat burning engines just from the energy needed to grow.12 -
tensquaredlives wrote: »One contributor is the introduction of chemical "obesogens" into our food chain. These chemicals alter how we store fat. It has so poisoned our food system that even wildlife are fatter than they were 30 years ago!
Add that chemical alteration to a mostly sedentary lifestyle, bigger portion sizes and higher sugar consumption and you have an epidemic of obesity. Just look at the children. There is no reason a child should ever be over weight. They should have little fat burning engines just from the energy needed to grow.
Wait, what? Can you post your sources? I mean, "obesogens"? That really sounds made up.3 -
tensquaredlives wrote: »One contributor is the introduction of chemical "obesogens" into our food chain. These chemicals alter how we store fat. It has so poisoned our food system that even wildlife are fatter than they were 30 years ago!
Add that chemical alteration to a mostly sedentary lifestyle, bigger portion sizes and higher sugar consumption and you have an epidemic of obesity. Just look at the children. There is no reason a child should ever be over weight. They should have little fat burning engines just from the energy needed to grow.
Wait, what? Can you post your sources? I mean, "obesogens"? That really sounds made up.
Unsurprisingly, a search for "obesogens" turns up links to Dr. Oz and numerous other crackpot woo sites among the top results.15 -
tensquaredlives wrote: »One contributor is the introduction of chemical "obesogens" into our food chain. These chemicals alter how we store fat. It has so poisoned our food system that even wildlife are fatter than they were 30 years ago!
Add that chemical alteration to a mostly sedentary lifestyle, bigger portion sizes and higher sugar consumption and you have an epidemic of obesity. Just look at the children. There is no reason a child should ever be over weight. They should have little fat burning engines just from the energy needed to grow.
Wait, what? Can you post your sources? I mean, "obesogens"? That really sounds made up.
Ah Dr. Oz
http://www.doctoroz.com/article/understanding-obesogens6 -
Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Were you alive in the '70s? There were plenty of fast food options.
Just off the top of my head:
Jack in the Box
McDonalds
Carl's Jr.
Wendy's
Arby's
Alfie's Fish & Chips
Alberto's/Roberto's
Long John Silver
Taco Bell
Naugles
Burger King
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Der Weinerschnitzel
Round Table Pizza
Pizza Hut
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream
Dairy Queen
etc. etc.
Again, it depends on where you lived. I only recognize three of those names from back then. (And I was alive since the '60s).2 -
Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Were you alive in the '70s? There were plenty of fast food options.
Just off the top of my head:
Jack in the Box
McDonalds
Carl's Jr.
Wendy's
Arby's
Alfie's Fish & Chips
Alberto's/Roberto's
Long John Silver
Taco Bell
Naugles
Burger King
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Der Weinerschnitzel
Round Table Pizza
Pizza Hut
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream
Dairy Queen
etc. etc.
Again, it depends on where you lived. I only recognize three of those names from back then. (And I was alive since the '60s).
I grew up in San Diego, CA (population around 700,000 in the '70s (not counting all the adjoining cities, which probably put the community as a whole at, or close to, 1,000,000 people). Huge variety of restaurants, foods from many different countries/ethnicities. And since we were not much more than a stone's throw from the international border, Mexican fast food restaurants were as omnipresent as Starbucks are nowadays - rolled tacos with guacamole, quesadillas and carne asada burritos everywhere you turned!
Smorgasbord restaurants (nowadays called buffets or all-you-can-eat) were pretty popular too, we had several that we would hit on a fairly regular basis. It was an economical way for my parents to feed two teenage boys with insatiable appetites and the propensity to eat anything and everything that wasn't nailed down.6 -
Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Were you alive in the '70s? There were plenty of fast food options.
Just off the top of my head:
Jack in the Box
McDonalds
Carl's Jr.
Wendy's
Arby's
Alfie's Fish & Chips
Alberto's/Roberto's
Long John Silver
Taco Bell
Naugles
Burger King
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Der Weinerschnitzel
Round Table Pizza
Pizza Hut
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream
Dairy Queen
etc. etc.
Again, it depends on where you lived. I only recognize three of those names from back then. (And I was alive since the '60s).
Me, Mc Donalds.
That's it.0 -
Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Were you alive in the '70s? There were plenty of fast food options.
Just off the top of my head:
Jack in the Box
McDonalds
Carl's Jr.
Wendy's
Arby's
Alfie's Fish & Chips
Alberto's/Roberto's
Long John Silver
Taco Bell
Naugles
Burger King
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Der Weinerschnitzel
Round Table Pizza
Pizza Hut
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream
Dairy Queen
etc. etc.
Again, it depends on where you lived. I only recognize three of those names from back then. (And I was alive since the '60s).
I grew up in San Diego, CA (population around 700,000 in the '70s (not counting all the adjoining cities, which probably put the community as a whole at, or close to, 1,000,000 people). Huge variety of restaurants, foods from many different countries/ethnicities. And since we were not much more than a stone's throw from the international border, Mexican fast food restaurants were as omnipresent as Starbucks are nowadays - rolled tacos with guacamole, quesadillas and carne asada burritos everywhere you turned!
Smorgasbord restaurants (nowadays called buffets or all-you-can-eat) were pretty popular too, we had several that we would hit on a fairly regular basis. It was an economical way for my parents to feed two teenage boys with insatiable appetites and the propensity to eat anything and everything that wasn't nailed down.
I was in a small midwest community and college in a city of around 100k. Between those and 2-3 other communities in the 100k range I would be in on a regular basis and an occasional trip to the Chicago area I remember about half the list from the 70's in those areas.0 -
Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »tensquaredlives wrote: »One contributor is the introduction of chemical "obesogens" into our food chain. These chemicals alter how we store fat. It has so poisoned our food system that even wildlife are fatter than they were 30 years ago!
Add that chemical alteration to a mostly sedentary lifestyle, bigger portion sizes and higher sugar consumption and you have an epidemic of obesity. Just look at the children. There is no reason a child should ever be over weight. They should have little fat burning engines just from the energy needed to grow.
Wait, what? Can you post your sources? I mean, "obesogens"? That really sounds made up.
Ah Dr. Oz
http://www.doctoroz.com/article/understanding-obesogens
And here I just thought the poster above was being glib and making a joke. (a little sad for humanity that I might be wrong about that).1 -
Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »tensquaredlives wrote: »One contributor is the introduction of chemical "obesogens" into our food chain. These chemicals alter how we store fat. It has so poisoned our food system that even wildlife are fatter than they were 30 years ago!
Add that chemical alteration to a mostly sedentary lifestyle, bigger portion sizes and higher sugar consumption and you have an epidemic of obesity. Just look at the children. There is no reason a child should ever be over weight. They should have little fat burning engines just from the energy needed to grow.
Wait, what? Can you post your sources? I mean, "obesogens"? That really sounds made up.
Ah Dr. Oz
http://www.doctoroz.com/article/understanding-obesogens
And here I just thought the poster above was being glib and making a joke. (a little sad for humanity that I might be wrong about that).
Don't forget the fat virus. Between the virus and the obesogens (TM) you don't stand a chance.5 -
Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »tensquaredlives wrote: »One contributor is the introduction of chemical "obesogens" into our food chain. These chemicals alter how we store fat. It has so poisoned our food system that even wildlife are fatter than they were 30 years ago!
Add that chemical alteration to a mostly sedentary lifestyle, bigger portion sizes and higher sugar consumption and you have an epidemic of obesity. Just look at the children. There is no reason a child should ever be over weight. They should have little fat burning engines just from the energy needed to grow.
Wait, what? Can you post your sources? I mean, "obesogens"? That really sounds made up.
Ah Dr. Oz
http://www.doctoroz.com/article/understanding-obesogens
And here I just thought the poster above was being glib and making a joke. (a little sad for humanity that I might be wrong about that).
Yeah, I kept reading the comment over to make sure I wasn't falling into the trap of making a serious response to sarcasm. Nope. I didn't think to look up "obesogens" on the web, it sounded too made-up.1 -
Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »tensquaredlives wrote: »One contributor is the introduction of chemical "obesogens" into our food chain. These chemicals alter how we store fat. It has so poisoned our food system that even wildlife are fatter than they were 30 years ago!
Add that chemical alteration to a mostly sedentary lifestyle, bigger portion sizes and higher sugar consumption and you have an epidemic of obesity. Just look at the children. There is no reason a child should ever be over weight. They should have little fat burning engines just from the energy needed to grow.
Wait, what? Can you post your sources? I mean, "obesogens"? That really sounds made up.
Ah Dr. Oz
http://www.doctoroz.com/article/understanding-obesogens
And here I just thought the poster above was being glib and making a joke. (a little sad for humanity that I might be wrong about that).
Yeah, I kept reading the comment over to make sure I wasn't falling into the trap of making a serious response to sarcasm. Nope. I didn't think to look up "obesogens" on the web, it sounded too made-up.
My understanding is that there are a few researchers etc who coined this term and are researching chemicals they may disrupt hormones related to weight, which is a very worthy topic of study, but it seems that either some of these researchers or perhaps media and other usual suspects are hyping up their significance. It's very likely that some chemicala can cause changes in metabolism but not likely beyond what we have had to deal with throughout history.
We had far more dangerous chemicals in our environment before the 70s and the creation of stict pollution regulations and we are fatter now. I find it highly dubious that these chemicals are potent enough to account for the obesity epidemic.6 -
Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Were you alive in the '70s? There were plenty of fast food options.
Just off the top of my head:
Jack in the Box
McDonalds
Carl's Jr.
Wendy's
Arby's
Alfie's Fish & Chips
Alberto's/Roberto's
Long John Silver
Taco Bell
Naugles
Burger King
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Der Weinerschnitzel
Round Table Pizza
Pizza Hut
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream
Dairy Queen
etc. etc.
Again, it depends on where you lived. I only recognize three of those names from back then. (And I was alive since the '60s).
Some of them are regional. Der Wienerschnitzel, Round Table Pizza, and Carl's Jr. are in the western part of the country. You may know Hardee's, and since a merger in 1997, Carl's Jr. and Hardee's are essentially the same. I've lived on both coasts and I've never heard of Alfie's, Naugle's, or Alberto's; they may be Southern California only. On the East Coast we had Arthur Treacher's, Blimpie's, Roy Rogers, and a few others I've never encountered in California.1 -
Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Were you alive in the '70s? There were plenty of fast food options.
Just off the top of my head:
Jack in the Box
McDonalds
Carl's Jr.
Wendy's
Arby's
Alfie's Fish & Chips
Alberto's/Roberto's
Long John Silver
Taco Bell
Naugles
Burger King
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Der Weinerschnitzel
Round Table Pizza
Pizza Hut
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream
Dairy Queen
etc. etc.
Again, it depends on where you lived. I only recognize three of those names from back then. (And I was alive since the '60s).
Some of them are regional. Der Wienerschnitzel, Round Table Pizza, and Carl's Jr. are in the western part of the country. You may know Hardee's, and since a merger in 1997, Carl's Jr. and Hardee's are essentially the same. I've lived on both coasts and I've never heard of Alfie's, Naugle's, or Alberto's; they may be Southern California only. On the East Coast we had Arthur Treacher's, Blimpie's, Roy Rogers, and a few others I've never encountered in California.
I remember eating at Roy Rogers in the 80's.0 -
No helicopter parents, no TV/games if we wanted to see if friends could play we walked to their house first. My girlfriend and I use to walk 4 miles one way to hang out with friends and 8 miles the other to watch movies or go to the mall. If we wanted a soda we had to walk to the local gas station a mile up the road.6
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katphi1618 wrote: »No helicopter parents, no TV/games if we wanted to see if friends could play we walked to their house first. My girlfriend and I use to walk 4 miles one way to hang out with friends and 8 miles the other to watch movies or go to the mall. If we wanted a soda we had to walk to the local gas station a mile up the road.
My mother used to kick us out of the house if it was a nice day.
1 -
These posts have been great reading. This is a question I have thought about myself and is the reason I came up with my screen name when I first opened MFP account! I have seen pictures of my parents from the 1970s and couldn't believe how fit they were at the time. In fact, it wasn't until the 1990s that they started to beef up -- during my preteen-hood, that I recall junk food in the house and a transition from hot weekend breakfasts of eggs and bacon on the weekends to bowl after bowl of sugary boxed cerials. At the age of 13 I started dieting, something I'm sure my mother didn't need to do at 13! That was the beganing of my struggle determining what food is best for my body. I never was overweight, but I felt unhealthy in a lot of ways for a long time. I think our nation as a whole has become a whole lot more nutritionally versed because of the changes in our diets and I wonder if we will be healthy again.4
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I think what's been most fascinating reading through this thread is how many people assume that everyone in the 70s lived the exact same life, and everyone now lives the exact same life
I ate way more packaged and convenience foods growing up in the 70s than I do now. Hot dogs, canned pork & beans, Elios pizza, fish sticks, tater tots, Frosted Flakes, Kraft Mac & cheese, Hostess cupcakes, pizza at McCrory's (it was peach colored and greasy and sat under a heat lamp for days), Ruffles chips, frozen waffles and pancakes, canned pudding...
The only veggies I ate at home until I was double digits were canned. We didn't eat out as much, but that was a budget thing. There were plenty of fast food places and restaurants.
But that was just me, in my home town. I'm sure other places were very different.
I assume the culprit is a combo of less disposable income, less screens at home, more movement required for almost everything, different cultural norms, and a few other things I'm not thinking of. And honestly, there were still overweight people. Maybe not quite as many, but it's not like everyone really was skinny.18 -
I think it's a combination of factors:
1) More sugar and HFCS, not only in the obvious culprits like super-sized sodas, but also used as an additive in lots of foods you wouldn't expect. For example I can't even find ANY whole-grain bread in the supermarket that doesn't have sugar added to it (except for Ezekiel 4:9 bread which is one of the most expensive breads in the store). Sometimes the breads even have HFCS and sometimes there is up to 5g of sugar per slice. It is ridiculous that you have to pay a premium just to have bread that doesn't have unnecessary sugar added to it.
2) Car culture. Maybe someone already mentioned this but I didn't see it. There are many suburban neighborhoods in America that were deliberately designed to be unwalkable and unbikable. Cul-de-sacs, streets with no sidewalks, neighborhoods where you can't even get to the supermarket without having to drive miles away using a highway-esque main road without any place for pedestrians or bikers. Even in my neighborhood, which has grid streets and sidewalks, there are many intersections that are dangerous for pedestrians (over 1/2 mile between crosswalks on main roads, blind corners, etc.) Car culture started long before the 80s when the obesity epidemic really began, but the factors that lead to car culture have been increasing over time.
Another aspect of car culture is the entitlement of drivers. I don't know if they were this way in the 70s or not, but many drivers are completely entitled and make it very hard to be a pedestrian. Almost every time I walk outside I almost get run over by someone. They are supposed to yield to crossing pedestrians and over 95% of them don't (even to little old ladies walking with canes!) I believe that the reason that so many drivers act this way toward pedestrians is because they know that society is designed around their convenience.
3) Stranger danger. In the 70s kids played outside. Now not only is everyone is afraid of their kid becoming an unsolved mystery if left unattended for even a few minutes, but there have been many cases where people actually lost custody of their kids and were investigated by social services for allowing their kids to play outside unattended (not toddlers, kids age 6-10). If kids get regular physical activity it is now often scheduled in the form of sports teams, etc. and their parents are working more hours on average so less time to take them to the playground, park, etc. Also many kids live in unsafe neighborhoods where they literally can't play outside because they could be hit by a stray bullet while playing on the playground -- these neighborhoods often have high rates of obesity.
4) I'm sure nobody mentioned this one yet and this one will probably be controversial: psychiatric medication. About 20% of the US population is on psychiatric medication. This was not the case in the 70s (I could talk about the reasons why these prescriptions and mental illness diagnoses have skyrocketed, but I'm sure that would be even more controversial). Many psychiatric medications cause metabolic changes which lead to weight gain. Two people in my family gained over 50 pounds in less than 6 months after beginning to take psychiatric medication. One of them is still on it and now has high blood pressure and many other related health problems that they never had before going on these drugs. In my experience doctors do not take these side effects seriously at all.12 -
Portion size. Sugar was a problem but not as much added then. I was there.6
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paulandrachelk wrote: »Portion size. Sugar was a problem but not as much added then. I was there.
Interesting thing about this point is that my mother added way more sugar to every thing while I was growing up in the 70s and early 80s than my wife has ever done in the 30 years from 1988 until now.
BUT another point to note, my wife grew up in a completely different cultural space than I did.6
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