why were people so skinny in the 70s?

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  • RonnieLodge
    RonnieLodge Posts: 665 Member
    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?


    I agree 100% with you.

    Also less advertised and readily available junk food.
  • septembergrrl
    septembergrrl Posts: 168 Member
    The unhealthy parts: Everybody freaking smoked, so there wasn't as much mindless snacking. More people were prescribed diet pills.

    Also, what everyone else said about less processed food in general.
  • jallforme3
    jallforme3 Posts: 38 Member
    I always tell my mom that they didn't have junk food back in her day, that's the only reason she was so skinny. LOL she does not approve of my humor there! But they didn't have all the options we have today in the world of food she does say..
  • BrotherBill913
    BrotherBill913 Posts: 662 Member
    Fast food was a rare treat, not an everyday occurrence.

    This^^^^^ My Mom bought KFC about once a month maybeeeee every 3 weeks, was a special " treat "
  • littlelaura
    littlelaura Posts: 1,028 Member
    people were thin because they ate a lot of good food, even baked goodies too, no redesigned franken foods. They were active, tons of things I recall my folks doing, biking, swimming, tennis, hiking, canoeing, yoga, going to discos, as kids we did most of all those things and we also ran all over, walked all over, played chase or tag, my folks didn't drive anyone anyplace unless it was lightening out or a blizzard. We rode bikes a lot and my friends lived over 5 miles away yet we went back and forth every day in the country, it was great and I could eat anything I wanted without thinking about it at all. I think adults didn't have the work stress as they do today, they worked normal hours, had longer work lunches, and were all always home for dinner together around the table as a family.
  • StacyReneO
    StacyReneO Posts: 317 Member
    Blow.
  • karylee46
    karylee46 Posts: 55 Member
    well, my sister and i were barely 100 pounds soaking wet.... and i thought i was FAT! I was just helping out at my kids school during their school photos.. and was surprised and a bit sadden by how many large kids there were.. the skinny ones seem to be the minority. i blame, fast food, low activity and more processed foods.

    i try to keep the process foods to a minum at my house (also because i have graves disease and not really on my "diet"), we dont eat much fast food (well.. heck i have no money and it costs too much) and as far as activities go.. my two youngest are on the cross country track team.. and my oldest is very thin as well. Monday is the annual mountain climb.. me and the kids will be climbing up and down the mountain for the day.. (should take around 4-6 hours)..
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    I grew up in the 60's and 70's. The differences I see are:

    We played outside, there were no video games, our TV got about 4 stations and most of it was stuff kids didn't want to watch anyway.

    My mom cooked all our food, we rarely ate out and I don't remember there being any fast food places near where I lived. The Dairy Queen was the "in" place if you could afford a treat. We had a garden and grew our own veggies that my mom froze and canned.

    We walked to school, we rode our bikes, we did chores like lawn mowing with a push mower or shoveling snow with a shovel.

    Someone fat was considered lazy and slovenly. It wasn't the norm or accepted so you did not want to be the fat person.
  • Zumaria1
    Zumaria1 Posts: 225 Member
    As a child of the 70's, I can remember playing outside constantly . My mother's rule was to be home before the streetlights came on, and you best believe I stayed out until they turned on. We rode bikes, skated, and walked literally everywhere. In the winter we sledded and had snowball fights and made snow angels. Not stuck in front of 500 channel cable, no XBox or computer games to sit in front of for hours. I remember getting my treats at the local 7-11, my favorites were Now-or-Laters, Slurpees, and a Dill pickle. All of which could be gotten for about $1. Also these treats were maybe a once a week thing, not everyday.

    Like others said, most ate home cooking every night, our dinner was at 6 pm on the clock every evening, my job was to set the table. Also portion sizes were smaller, even when we went to McDonald's small fries and a cheeseburger is like the Kid's Meal of today. No one in my family smoked so it was just lots of physical activity and smaller portion sizes. High calorie or sugary treats were just that, occasional treats. Life was good :)
  • Blondiegrl11
    Blondiegrl11 Posts: 458 Member
    Everyone smoked and nothing was super sized
  • denfrank
    denfrank Posts: 18 Member
    Hear dat!
  • cdahl383
    cdahl383 Posts: 726 Member
    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.

    ^ Yep, agreed!
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    People ate less, moved more.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    People cooked meals at home instead of going out to eat or popping a pizza in the oven.
    Dang... Now I want a pizza....



    Hey, I popped a frozen pizza in the oven tonight :ohwell:
    It fit my calories. Macros, not quite so well, but calories, yes. Steamed some frozen veggies and had some very satisfied kids.

    (Yes, I need to go shopping tomorrow! :laugh:)
  • Strawberrypig
    Strawberrypig Posts: 5 Member
    I think it probably had a lot to do with being raised by parents who lived through the war years. I would assume theimpact would produce parents who were less willing to indulge in what would be considered excess-driving everywhere, eating out, large portions , etc.
  • NotAnotherLogin
    NotAnotherLogin Posts: 8 Member
    Something I've not seen mentioned yet is that meat was far more expensive in the 1970s than it was today. The idea of having meat with every meal, particularly beef, was completely unheard of. Usually it was at a single meal of the day.

    And as others have noted, all of the processed crap. To make matters worse, they're feeding our plants processed crap so even vegetables and fruits often don't have the same nutrient levels they once did.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    In the 70s they did drugs & smoked. What other answer do you need? Now people still do that but they also eat more cause serving sizes got bigger.
  • laele75
    laele75 Posts: 283 Member
    I agree with the played outside everyday. My single mother worked two jobs, but my brother was 13, so he watched us after school and on vacations, with a neighbor around to be a responsible grown up if we needed one. We rode bikes for miles, played on school equipment, yes, there were trips to the convenience store for candy, but when you had to bike several miles to get there and back, yeah. We never played inside, our parents would have fits about breaking things.

    Unfortunately, the world isn't the same place, safe enough for children to run around outside from dawn until dusk. But maybe if we all got off our butts and walked our kids to the park, we could at least get back some of the activity level.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Something I've not seen mentioned yet is that meat was far more expensive in the 1970s than it was today.

    A McD cheeseburger in 1955 was $0.19. In today's dollars, that's nearly double the cost of a McDouble off of the value menu.
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    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.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    Yep, I remember being far more active than kids are now. In school, gym class and participation in sports was usually compulsory. We rode bikes or walked everywhere and very few kids were sitting around inside all evening. Our parents kicked our butts outside to play or do chores, before dinner and after.
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