why were people so skinny in the 70s?
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kellyjellybellyjelly wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I think they meant that there could be recipes that bloggers/foodies post that might need a million ingredients & some that might need an ingredient that's more on the expensive side.
He seemed pretty clearly to be saying that people use recipes now (and cook more elaborate meals) and did not then. He seems to be comparing apples (every day food back in the day made by experienced cooks) to oranges (food you have at a dinner party or nice restaurant or made by a cooking newbie).1 -
It's also now a time for LONG commutes for many because living in cities cost way more. And even just s 20 mile commute can take an hour or longer. So for 2 hours a day, people are caught up in high stress traffic (without accidents) and it's not uncommon to snack and graze 2 hours a day on calorie dense foods.
My parents lived 5 miles from the Air Base that they were stationed at and were usually home by 5:30-6pm in time for my mom and pop (both cooked) to make dinner and help with homework. You don't see that a lot today.
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It's also now a time for LONG commutes for many because living in cities cost way more. And even just s 20 mile commute can take an hour or longer. So for 2 hours a day, people are caught up in high stress traffic (without accidents) and it's not uncommon to snack and graze 2 hours a day on calorie dense foods.
My parents lived 5 miles from the Air Base that they were stationed at and were usually home by 5:30-6pm in time for my mom and pop (both cooked) to make dinner and help with homework. You don't see that a lot today.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This chart in this link just goes to 1980 but the average commute in 1980 was just under 22 minutes, in 2015 it's about 26.5 minutes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/22/the-american-commute-is-worse-today-than-its-ever-been/?utm_term=.1655383b8a2a
It goes go on to say, the number of people with "extreme commutes" is growing fastest as a group, even though the average hasn't changed enough to make a significant difference in anyone's life.2 -
Possibly even if commute time hasn't changed the number of people with all sedentary commutes is higher. For example, one thing driving down the average commute time (masking a larger difference between the '70s and now) is people working at home, but they could end up being even more sedentary than someone who commutes by, say, train.
I have a longer than average commute time -- I live about 5.5 miles from the office and yet have a 45-50 min commute on average (I sometimes run home or to work (my gym is right near my office) or bike there and back, which is nice multitasking) -- but even when I take the L it's not a negative for my fitness since I walk about 10 min to the L and back, plus a much shorter distance from the L to my office. And if the L takes forever to come I can pace on the platform or get off a stop or two early and walk from there (for example I usually walk the extra blocks to Merchandise Mart from my office on the way home, as it takes less time than going around the Loop and is more active).2 -
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I attended 2 large public universities in the late 70's. At that time most of the students walked to class as there were significant parking restrictions around the campuses. I was recently at both schools (basically same physical layout and number of students vs 70's) now there are shuttle buses running all around the campus. When I attended there were shuttles for students with disabilities, but not for the general student body. The students walked to class.
Guess what, the students are fatter.
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people were not "so skinny" they were a normal body type, people are heavier today at all ages
I was in HS in the 70's and I think I knew one overweight person, at the time she seemed really fat, looking back she was not compared to now.
fat kids never,
many many reasons for this, not going to type them out as I think it's been covered in the 40 pages here but it's a sorry state we are in now1 -
In the 70's I was a lean machine with abs...LOL It helps when I was born in 69 & was an active little brat... 2
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kellyjellybellyjelly wrote: »I know my mom told me to go see Aerosmith it cost her around $5.00-$20.00.
The first concert I went to, in either '74 or '75 was Mott the Hoople, Queen, and the 'new' band Aerosmith. Tickets were $5.00.
I don't remember a lot of food prices, cause I was in high school, but a gallon of milk, picked up at the dairy in a glass bottle, was $1.25. White bread was 2/$1. Individual bags of potato chips and Tastycakes were a quarter.
My high school job was at McDonalds, and a small cheeseburger, small fry and small drink cost less than $2. I was paid $2.10 an hour.
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Does it seem like kids are taller now? I walked into my child’s middle school and it seemed like kids were a lot taller than when I was in school.0
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Does it seem like kids are taller now? I walked into my child’s middle school and it seemed like kids were a lot taller than when I was in school.
I don't know about 70s versus today but I was in middle school around '89-91 and 5'7" at the time and I was not even close to being one of the "tall girls", even though I'd been the tallest in elementary school since I hit my growth spurt very young. I think kids were pretty tall in grades 6-8 even then. Lots of boys over 6 ft.
I do see a lot more high schoolers who truly look like adults, compared to say, 2004-2005 when I did a substitute teaching stint.
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I have two middle schoolers now. At that age there is such a wide range of heights and levels of physical maturity. There are boys who are shaving and girls far more "endowed" than I am...and then there are students who look like little kids. My eighth grader is tallish, and broad shouldered...his feet are the same size as my husband's, and his voice has gotten deep seemingly overnight. My sixth grader is small for his age...but considering that he's been eating me out of house and home the past few months, I am anticipating a growth spurt coming soon.
I reached my maximum height (a hair short of 5'3") in the seventh grade (back in the early 80s). My best friend Staci was 5'7"...taller than my dad.1 -
Disco?2
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I have two middle schoolers now. At that age there is such a wide range of heights and levels of physical maturity. There are boys who are shaving and girls far more "endowed" than I am...and then there are students who look like little kids. My eighth grader is tallish, and broad shouldered...his feet are the same size as my husband's, and his voice has gotten deep seemingly overnight. My sixth grader is small for his age...but considering that he's been eating me out of house and home the past few months, I am anticipating a growth spurt coming soon.
I reached my maximum height (a hair short of 5'3") in the seventh grade (back in the early 80s). My best friend Staci was 5'7"...taller than my dad.
I guess that’s true. That is an age where a lot of changes happen. Maybe there were just a lot of tall kids in the hall that day. Lol1 -
I have two middle schoolers now. At that age there is such a wide range of heights and levels of physical maturity. There are boys who are shaving and girls far more "endowed" than I am...and then there are students who look like little kids. My eighth grader is tallish, and broad shouldered...his feet are the same size as my husband's, and his voice has gotten deep seemingly overnight. My sixth grader is small for his age...but considering that he's been eating me out of house and home the past few months, I am anticipating a growth spurt coming soon.
I reached my maximum height (a hair short of 5'3") in the seventh grade (back in the early 80s). My best friend Staci was 5'7"...taller than my dad.
I guess that’s true. That is an age where a lot of changes happen. Maybe there were just a lot of tall kids in the hall that day. Lol
I was born in 76 and was always the tallest girl and sometimes the tallest out of everyone until high school. I stopped growing in gr 7 at 5'83 -
kellyjellybellyjelly wrote: »I know my mom told me to go see Aerosmith it cost her around $5.00-$20.00.
The first concert I went to, in either '74 or '75 was Mott the Hoople, Queen, and the 'new' band Aerosmith. Tickets were $5.00.
First concert I went to was 1985, Born in the USA tour.2 -
foreversnafu wrote: »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?
Know I'm late to the party, but the simple answer to your question: Less marketing.
It was a lot harder back than for big-corn and big-soy to target youth. The average household had one TV with a few channels you caught on a bunny ear antenna. There were no smart phones, no PCs, definitely no internet, and kids had better things to do than buy magazines or newspapers which could have ads. All this has changed though, and now big-corn can shower you with Coca Cola while big-soy tells you it's inhumane to eat meat through PETA.
That's literally it. I remember when I was a kid back in '93 and how big of a deal it was to have a fruit roll up (basically corn syrup and chemicals for flavor) for lunch because that's what they used to show you during morning cartoons. That and Kellog's Corn Pops. Damn I miss that cereal...
You obviously weren't around during the '70s, so we couldn't possibly expect you to remember the TV commercials with the Lucky Charms leprechaun ("always after me Lucky Charms!"), Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes - "They're GRRRREEEEAAAT!!!), the Flintstones advertising Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles, Cap'n Crunch, Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo-Berry, the "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" bird, Toucan Sam for Fruit Loops, etc.
There was a short-lived cereal brand in the 70s called Pink Panther Flakes, branded with (of course) the Pink Panther. It was basically just pink-colored Frosted Flakes, and the big selling point is that the pink coloring would leach into the milk, turning that pink too.
I can't believe I ever thought that sounded like a good thing. But I was around 10 years old at the time.2 -
Bry_Fitness70 wrote: »foreversnafu wrote: »You obviously weren't around during the '70s, so we couldn't possibly expect you to remember the TV commercials with the Lucky Charms leprechaun ("always after me Lucky Charms!"), Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes - "They're GRRRREEEEAAAT!!!), the Flintstones advertising Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles, Cap'n Crunch, Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo-Berry, the "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" bird, Toucan Sam for Fruit Loops, etc.
Yeah, but my point is you had one TV, maybe two, with 5 channels tops, targeting children between the hours of 7-9am, and 3-6pm. There wasn't much room left to compete between adults and teenagers.
The only time slot that was needed to reach a young boy in the 1970s was between 8am -noon on Saturday morning when all of us were watching cartoons. All of the cool toys and all of the sugary cereals and snacks
PS. I was curious about the lineup, and found this, the schedule in 1976 (for all of you reminiscing Gen X'ers)!
ABC
8AM - The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show
9AM - Jabberjaw
9:30AM - Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour
10:30AM - The Krofft Supershow
CBS
8AM - Sylvester and Tweety
8:30AM - Bugs Bunny/Road Runner
9:30AM - Tarzan
10AM - The Shazam!/Isis Hour
11AM - Ark II
11:30AM - Clue Club
NBC
8AM - Woody Woodpecker
8:30AM - Pink Panther
10AM - McDuff, The Talking Dog
10:30AM - Monster Squad
11AM - Land of the Lost
You were probably as irritated as I was that when they did a cinematic treatment of Land of the Lost they turned it into a ridiculous Will Ferrell vehicle instead of doing it straight. For Saturday morning kiddie fare, it was actually very good science fiction.3 -
They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help.
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Packerjohn wrote: »They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help.
Do you have kids? Just curious.0
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