Obesity today vs 40-50 years ago.

paticksmama07

In my grandmother's day the men and women didn't have to workout as hard and as long as we do. I have noted that some members log-in 1,000 calories (deficit) with their workouts. Did our grandparents burn this many calories on a daily basis with housework, chores, walking etc?

It just seems that we have to mechanically move our bodies with the help of machines, videos and the like where our grandparents and my parents just naturally moved more. Didn't they also eat less? Portion sizes? Sugar added in our food? Preservatives.

It saddens me because our country (America) is getting fatter and fatter. The teenagers in my neighborhood are bigger than I am. Soda, burgers and fries? It is so much harder for the average person to lose weight today more so than let's say in the 50s-80s. I'll even say the 1990s. What's your take?

Rae6503

I do think it's easier for us to get fat, but no, I wouldn't say it's harder for use to lose weight. I think our biggest problem is portion size and lack of activity.

I don't think we need to log 1000 calorie workouts, that's over training in my opinion. You just need to eat 300-500 calories less than you burn (all day, not just during exercise), and do so for an extended period of time until your reach your goal. Weight loss doesn't HAVE to be hard or overly complicated.

addisondisease2

I remember once my brother and I were at this conference and there was a man who was 400+ pound man in front of us. We were just so amazed that anyone could ever take themselves to that point. An old man leaned forward from the row behind us and whispered "when i was your age we'd have to go to the circus to see someone that big!"

That is crazy!

runnercheryl

It is difficult. Much of our food is processed, portion sizes are increasing year on year for main courses (at least chocolate bars and crisps are getting smaller!) and our lifestyles are much less active. However, we have better medical care and online support to help balance things out. That's not the way it SHOULD be going but at least we're not losing out as much as we could be.

I can't imagine what I'd have done with my life if I grew up in pre-internet times. My work and leisure life revolves around sitting at a desk - I wasn't an active kid and I can't begin to imagine myself having grown into an active career.

1996gtstang

mcdonalds serving sizes were half the size 40 years ago

bizco

Just think how much time we spend in front of a screen (tv, computer, smart phone, video games, etc). How much time we spend sitting, waiting or driving (commuting to work, driving the kids around, just driving to the grocery store takes me 24 minutes round trip due to traffic, stop lights and slow drivers in their Buicks). Then there's the quality of our food. My parents & grandparents cooked everything from scratch, nothing was served out of a box, can, or package. Eating out? Forget about it. Only on VERY special occasions and absolutely no fast food, ever. There are many studies that show we are definitely eating larger portion sizes at every meal compared to our parents & grandparents. I'm disgusted (not sad) that our country has an obesity epidemic. Especially when the cure is so straightforward.

Less activity + larger portion sizes + low quality food + lack of adequate sleep = obesity.

jarrettd

My mother had nine siblings, and my father was the youngest of 10. They were born in the 40's.

Most of their vegetables came from the garden (that they were expected to work in).
There were pigs to slop, chickens to feed (and eggs to gather), cows to be milked, stalls to be mucked out.
Carry in water from the well. Carry in the firewood or coal; carry out the ash.

After all this was done, you could have breakfast!

Clothes and dishes were hand-washed. There was no such thing as a dryer, just a clothesline.
Food was cooked from scratch, on a stove.
Spring was spent plowing and planting. Summer was spent working in the gardens and hayfields.
Fall was spent spent harvesting, butchering, and preserving.
There was not an over-abundance of leisure time or food (or much else).
They played outside (or Grandma would whack them with a broom as she tried to tidy up!)
They walked to school.

We are spoiled, plain and simple. We get our heat, light, water, food, and entertainment at the touch of a button. Nobody really works hard, not like they used to. (Oh, we complain that we work hard, but let's just be honest, k?)

We haven't learned how to live with all the luxuries that we take for granted, and it's killing us.

Aperture_Science

I suspect it is modern lifestyles have an accumulation of lots of little things that one their own would be of little significance but when combined give us more cals in an less out.

So today we are (on average) more sedentary; more office workers, more TV watching, more car travel, less walking, less manual labour, less gardening etc

at the same time we have an increase in cheap oils (palm oil) in our foods, an increase in sugar (in th eUK the typical apple has twice the sugar as it had in post war), increase in portions etc

thefuzz1290

Kids these days don't play outside as much as they did back then, and most meals were home made and fast food was considered a luxury. Luckily my parents made us go out, forbid us from getting the latest and greatest video game systems, cooked a nightly meal, and limited our TV time.

40+ years ago, being fat was a sign of success because only the wealthy could afford the pastries and being fat meant you didn't have to be a laborer (which a majority of jobs in America were labor intensive). Now unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy food and most labor intensive jobs are done by a machine.

FitSid

AND TECHNOLOGY.

Here's a small list:

dishwashers
dryers
washing machines
microwaves
vacuum cleaners

I can't think of many more right now, but I'm sure there is plenty

mixedfeelings

So many things have changed. I think the main thing is portion size. I would say most people overestimate what is a portion size. Also food is, in a way, cheaper.

Fast food does seem to be a desired thing, especially to children, it's marketed to make them want it and to feel left out if they don't have it. Once you get a taste for it it can become a habit. I went to McDonald's maybe three times when I was younger, to eat, I think I went in more times with my mum to use the bathroom!

As a teenager we would hang out at either McDonalds or Pizza Hut, I stopped going to those places a year before I changed my diet completely.

I also believe more people have cars, they don't walk as much.

Kids don't play out as much, which is down to 24 hour kids TV, video games but also I know where I live, all the fields I used to play in have been sold and houses have been built on to them.

So that's it, portion sizes are double what they used to be and everyone drives everywhere.

1Timothy4v8

well I disaggree with the portion thing, they prob ate more cause they worked SOOO MUCH MORE

going even further then the 50's.

woman had to wash every thing by hand and scrub it, get water form far, there were no vacumes, washers dryers, gracery stores,

A lot had gardens and chickens that is like every day tilling, the men didnt have mesins to help with their work, you know they were built, so yes its all our luxerys that have made us obese

I used to unloud trucks by hand I was able to eat what EVER I wanted and still lost tones of weight,

BerryH

It's a combination of lifestyle and eating style. Our grandparents had three meals a day and that was it, no snacking.

It was the job of food to fuel you, not to enjoy. You'd just get meat and two veg for a main meal and a sandwich for lunch at work - nowhere to get a takeaway or eat out. 90% of the time it was dull but sustained you.

We now have special occasion food every day where once it was only for parties. Even in my youth, a burger and ice cream was considered a treat. It was what you had only at a birthday party, and even then the burger and chips was home-cooked! I'd get pocket money once a week to buy sweets. Now I never have to walk more than 50 metres to buy whatever I'm craving at that particular time.

Not to mention my parents were brought up in the era of rationing - no chance to eat too much fat or sugar even if you wanted to!

bigdawg62

In my humble opinion the primary reason that people are for the most part fatter than 50 years ago is due to the widespread use of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

helenoftroy1

We are spoiled, plain and simple. We get our heat, light, water, food, and entertainment at the touch of a button. Nobody really works hard, not like they used to. (Oh, we complain that we work hard, but let's just be honest, k?)

We haven't learned how to live with all the luxuries that we take for granted, and it's killing us.

Whilst I do agree with how things have changed and the amount of manual work has changed, I do disagree with the above part. I for one think it's a case of working hard or working smart. I worked 80/90 hours and was very unfit and healthy, knackered all the time. I don't think in anyway my ancestors worked more "hard". I think they worked smarter.

I think in todays society, people eat lunch standing up, on the go or in half an hour. Downtime is so short that to go to the store and pick something up easy and quick (but laden with fat and preservatives) is a quick way of extending that time. Travel, internet and many other factors mean people can and are working further from home, limiting time spent. The working day has changed dramatically. Again not any more/less "harder" but different challenges.

Women are now working and looking after children. Is this because money is needed, cos the price of fish has gone up or is it about wanting a career. The whole working world has changed but I certainly don't think we are spoilt per se. I think we are looking for quick fixes to spend more time with our loved ones and if that comes in the shape of a store bought prepared chicken curry then for some the work life balance becomes unbalanced.

:flowerforyou:

helenoftroy1

AND TECHNOLOGY.

Here's a small list:

dishwashers
dryers
washing machines
microwaves
vacuum cleaners

I can't think of many more right now, but I'm sure there is plenty

cars
aeroplane
etc, meaning travel easier, people working 30 miles from home. Traffic, stress.
Soon technology will bite us on our fat *kitten*!!!!

mandylooo

Make of this what you will, but in developed societies, where basic living requirements are met and people aren't scrabbling for food, obesity is highly correlated to levels of equality in society. In other words, countries where the difference between the richest and poorest in society is greatest (eg the UK and US) have greater levels of obesity than countries where the gap is smaller (eg Sweden, Japan).

The level of obesity is greater in all comparable strata of society (ie earnings bands).

myukniewicz

It's true- obesity rates have skyrocketed out of controle in the past decade and a large reason is due to the food that is available to us now. Food companies make their money selling us "fast, affordable, convenient" food, which ends up being loaded with empty calories and preservatives. They market foods as "snacks" and things you can eat "on the go" that end up equaling calories of a regular normal sized meal. McDonalds "Snack" Wraps... Taco Bells "Crunch Wraps"... they are designed for us to mindlessly eat while we are on the go.
Kids food is marketed for parents convenience... which equals to microwavable, preservative laden garbage that have zero nutritional value. Why worry about having to cook dinner after a busy day at work when you can just throw in a box of bagle bites into the microwave for your kid.
And that mindset is just brainwashed into our heads via marketing strategies!

mixedfeelings

well I disaggree with the portion thing, they prob ate more cause they worked SOOO MUCH MORE

Different kind of food though, I'm talking about portions in fast food, back then there was only one size which is the equivalent to what you get today in a small portion. They offer an extra large portion for just a few pennies more and it's hard to resist. same with chocolate bars coming in king size, crisps are in larger bags.

Back then they would have had a solid meal but it would mean more boiled potatoes, more vegetables, meat wasn't cheap but they would have had a normal size portion. Nobody follows that these days, most portions if meat are double the size they should be. My Dad is terrible for doing that, he's only started cooking since retirement. They were eating less and working harder.

kehowe83

If you guys are interested, a very good book o the matter is "Elsewhere, U.S.A" by Dalton Conley. It is more focused on how frazzled our lives has been, but it really hits home on all of these topics.

I also did a Masters paper on how modern society/technologies have affected obesity rates in the US and developing countries. I am not going to bore everyone on here about the outcomes of that paper, but if you are interested, message me and I will be happy to talk about it.

TigersFanHoosierMama

I personally believe over-scheduling has so much to do with this! I have to fight my kids to keep them down to just a few activities a week. Their friends are in every club and sport. It's so competitive out there. So when my kids start doing more sports we end up in the drive thru. Notice the irony there? But even when I only allow 1-2 activities each - you times that by 2 kids, 2 parents who are working 60+ hours a week, the school day. Time to sit down and eat goes out the window really quickly. When my daughter was a preschooler/toddler we ate 3 meals and 2 snacks at the table everyday. I spent the majority of my day cooking and cleaning up meals. Now we are lucky if as a family we eat all together 1-2 times a week. It's sad and I'm working so hard on it but between school, church, work. I even cook ahead usually and prepare my meals for the week but when you spend most of your day in your mini van - you aren't sitting at home eating meals.

And my friends say that I'm "strict" because my kids can only do a few extra activities - for many moms and dads it is a lot worse.