The 1890s diet, life

They might have had 20 inch waists but they were probably 5 inches shorter than contemporary women. I highly doubt they drank alcohol. Just jusging by my grandmoms, they are scandalized when I drink wine to diner. My bros can have a bear but drinking alcohol is not "lady like" ... apart from that, I think it is a good idea to look at how our grandparents generation was eating. Sweets were a once a week thing and people did not eat meat more than 2 times a week. They did not eat fancy foreign stuff. They ate locally and didn't overindulge.

They also wore corsets (hence the 20inch waists... maybe even smaller). But I agree that eating no processed food or microwave meals, using one's hand as a measuring guide, and going on long walks while never using elevators/escalators would allow someone a much thinner look. Problem is that when people live in small places with no stair cases and are demanded at work very quickly and have to pop a meal in a microwave once in awhile being thinner involves more planning and work. I gained weight when I didn't have to go up stairs to get to my bed room, small things like that make a small difference. Enough small details add up.

I think this website is fascinating:

http://www.foodtimeline.org/index.html

i think unprocessed foods were a lot easier to find back then, now everything is packed with artificial flavors and such

Don't forget, no refrigeration or modern ways to get fresh fruits and vegetables in the winter. I'm just saying, if you want to be authentic, its local and canned foods vegetables and cured smoked/salted meats for everyone!

I do get your point, and I suppose it is realistic, but I think there are more things like what I mentioned to consider when we question whether people were "healthier".

I am just approaching 65 and cannot really remember but sweet rationing was still in place after the war. I can remember days when we didn't eat meat, and portions were smaller than now, we never ate snack foods and processed foods were now and again rather than weekly/daily. My mother worked but always cooked fresh and nutritious meals and shopped every couple of days to get the freshest food she could. My weight problem came later in life, ill health and giving up smoking along with other issues - but I have to admit that its sooo easy to slip into bad habits with food... thats not an excuse, I'm just saying

i think unprocessed foods were a lot easier to find back then, now everything is packed with artificial flavors and such

I think unprocessed foods were a lot harder to find. It is so easy now to find imported vegetables, fruits and grains that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to find at that time. If you stick to the produce and bulk sections of the grocery store, it is incredibly easy to stay away from artificial flavors, preservatives, etc. Unfortunately, most people are just too lazy to cook.

"But to enter the world of the Victorian working man's diet is to enter the world of the savage — it was uncertain in supply, primitive in content, and unhealthy in effect. Few of the poor had ovens and had to rely either on open-fire pan cooking, buy their hot food out, or make do with cold meals ... If the rural poor ate birds then the urban poor ate pairings of tripe, slink (prematurely born calves), or broxy (diseased sheep). Edgar Wallace recollects working-class families along the Old Kent Road shopping for 'tainted' pieces of meat and 'those odds and ends of meat, the by-products of the butchering business." From the webpage What the Poor Ate http://www.victorianweb.org/science/health/health8.html

The other end of the economic spectrum of the Victorian age didn't have a healthier lifestyle: "Dinner was the largest meal of the day for the rich. If they dined alone, it could average five courses but if entertaining could be a dozen or up to as many as twenty courses! This was a chance to boast of one’s wealth with displays of china, cutlery and servants. Cheeses, savory soups, vegetable side dishes, fish, meats like roast beef, turkey or pork were followed by citrus ice, fresh rolls with sweet cream, butter or jams, sweet pickles, cake and fruit preserves, coffee and punch. Consequently, obesity was more prevalent in the rich!" from http://beekman1802.com/general/eat-this-not-that.html

You do raise an interesting point. Have you ever noticed that people in the photographs right after WWII were very lean looking? Not necessarily thin to the point of being unhealthy but lean in a good way!

People looked so hot during the Great Depression

They hadn't invented air conditioning yet.