why were people so skinny in the 70s?
Replies
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I think a higher daily activity level was the main reason.
Also, they did have microwaves and processed food by the 1970s. And while high-fructose corn syrup is unhealthy, you can't exactly blame the obesity crisis on one ingredient.10 -
I was a child of the 70s, and the only things I watched on TV were Gilligan's Island and the Monkees. Oh, and Saturday morning cartoons. Besides that, I was either outside or in bed. My mom never knew who's house I was at. Our toys back then took imagination and good old muscle power to make them work.
My nickname in the 70s was toothpick, if that tells you anything. What I wouldn't give to have that nickname again. Now, my nickname is Lucy. I wonder if my husband is saying I am too crabby. Hmmm.....4 -
I was born in 1961 and I can tell you there certainly was junk food and sugary treats. We ate them all the time.
We also worked hard outside and were always walking and running everywhere.
Activity level is the key.9 -
MFP hadn't been invented yet.4
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Drugs... lots of drugs... and sex.3
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Two words:portion size8
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People moved a lot more and EVERYONE over 16 smoked like chimneys!
ETA...this is the same reason women in France are still relatively slim; lots of caffeine and nicotine...12 -
Don't know about anyone else, but we ate a great deal of fat compared to the 80's and beyond, did a lot of recreational drugs & lots and lots of physical activity (again, compared to today).
For the record, I was a child in the 70's but it wasn't unusual for kids to be 10 or 11 yrs old and smoking cigarettes and drinking. Movies like Foxes and Bad News Bears (with Tatum O' Neil) weren't too far off from the truth, at least in Astoria, NY it wasn't.
ETA: our parents saw us in the morning for breakfast & again late in the evening before a bath and bed....we grabbed whatever we could at whomever's house we were at in between...with only like 4 channels, after Saturday morning cartoons, there was nothing else to do but get on out there. Yes, we also walked miles and took our bikes, roller skates or skate boards EVERYWHERE.7 -
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Black beauties by the handful.2
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portion sizes at restaurants were smaller. the size of an average hamburger has nearly doubled.2
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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! Plus chores...like hauling/stacking wood.0 -
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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.
6. Don't forget the evil Sugar!!!
Sorry, not sugar. My nickname was beanpole, and we would occasionally eat brown sugar on bread and butter. NONE of us were fat then.1 -
People cooked meals at home instead of going out to eat or popping a pizza in the oven.
ETA: less convenient foods.0 -
It's really funny to read everyone's different perspectives of the 70s - even the differences of the people who grew up during them! I was a child of the 70s - we had 3 tv stations - and watched cartoons on Saturday mornings. If the sun was out, we were outside. I don't remember my mom driving me anywhere - I walked or rode my bike. As far as the poster who said that EVERYONE was smoking...must be a difference in parts of the country, because I didn't know ANY kids who smoked. We ate a lot of homemade stuff, but we also ate frozen pizza and tv dinners and stuff - so I think it really boils down to activity level. No cable. No internet. No video games. No computers. No cell phones. Get outside and DO something.6
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Damn straight. One of my favorite after school pick me ups was toasted white bread with butter ans corn syrup spread on.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.
6. Don't forget the evil Sugar!!!
Sorry, not sugar. My nickname was beanpole, and we would occasionally eat brown sugar on bread and butter. NONE of us were fat then.
Then back outside until dinner....1 -
Coke.2
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Don't know about anyone else, but we ate a great deal of fat compared to the 80's and beyond, did a lot of recreational drugs & lots and lots of physical activity (again, compared to today).
For the record, I was a child in the 70's but it wasn't unusual for kids to be 10 or 11 yrs old and smoking cigarettes and drinking. Movies like Foxes and Bad News Bears (with Tatum O' Neil) weren't too far off from the truth, at least in Astoria, NY it wasn't.
Off topic, was Astoria still primarily Italians and Greeks back then also?
Hell yes.
All those ladies dressed in black hanging out their windows yelling at us kids from time to time, mostly Greek, Italian and Yugoslavians. Imagine being the only brown person for miles with THE MOST Italian first and last name ever :sick: They HATED me :laugh: Back then, you could yell racial slurs at children and no one gave a crap. There were very few kids allowed to play with me on the block, so we used to run the neighborhood (up to Steinway St.) and roam around getting into all sorts of trouble :blushing:
ETA: they would throw water out the window on you if you did something they didn't like such as hang out on their stoop or sitting on the car etc...
I remember thinking I'd never find someone to be my boyfriend because there was no one else who looked like me. I thought I'd be alone forever. It never occurred to me (because it was just not done) to go with an American boy. Facepalm.6 -
I think it really boils down to activity level. No cable. No internet. No video games. No computers. No cell phones. Get outside and DO something.
Huh...and that's my theme to get back in shape. Not that there will be NONE of those things, but certainly get outside and DO something.
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Dang... Now I want a pizza....People cooked meals at home instead of going out to eat or popping a pizza in the oven.
ETA something on topic: Parents weren't all scared that their kiddos could be abducted if left outside without supervision for more than five minutes... so kiddos were left outside without supervision for more than five minutes. I was outside constantly, and even as a Brownie in third grade I walked the mile or so from school to the troop meeting. And I was one of the sickly ones!
And yes, restaurant food was a once-a-week thing at most. I mean, I live on the stuff now. Mom's home cooking is the once-a-week treat now.0 -
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.
even in the 80's growing i had to walk to school or later in age take the city bus. i wasn't into sports but i almost always was out side playing with friends or cousins it was good back then. i still rember getting the first nintendo system before that we played card games0 -
This show is great. (this is part 1, but all 6 parts are there)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIwJYRX4BjU
Its been a couple of years since I watched it, but the gist was that they burned SO many more calories just day-to-day
Here's a link to the full thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TLfKKppElU
You're right, going by this the food in the seventies was actually pretty bad. Lots of processed food and alcohol ... But heaps and heaps more exercise.
Love this show.0 -
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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.
6. Don't forget the evil Sugar!!!
Sorry, not sugar. My nickname was beanpole, and we would occasionally eat brown sugar on bread and butter. NONE of us were fat then.
Molasses on bread was one of my favourite after school snacks.
Chores........yup, shoveling snow in the winter & cutting grass with a push mower in the summer (and that was also my first "job" along with having a paper route)0 -
the 'power' of aggressive marketing, easier access to people for marketing messages and corporations whose thirst for profit at any cost is unquenchable...
fast food nation gets governments elected.0 -
They ate real food, mostly fresh and there were a lot less genetically modified foods (if any) around. Portion size was also smaller.
Growing up, my mother made home cooked meals every night from fresh ingredients. We had a different dessert every night but none of us were fat. We had takeaway fish and chips every Friday night, but that was the only take away in our lives. Very occasionally went out for Chinese dinner special occasions.
We also played sport and walked to and from school every day. Only had one car in the family so walking was the way to get around. If I wanted to go to a girlfriends house (as a teen), I walked there and back.
Life was much simpler.
It's funny, because these days I think most people would consider the home cooked meal the special occasion!0 -
Less junk food then. People cooked at home more. Not as much advertising for food. Generally less exposure to food product.
No masterchef programs. Less cars, people too the bus and walked more...1 -
Ate less, moved more.4
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Agree, with the Disco dancing! :drinker:1
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