why were people so skinny in the 70s?
Replies
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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 -
Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »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.
I sure do, they are grown now, but those things were out there when they were the appropriate age. We could have afforded them with no issue, but refused to buy them. They had various pedal cars, trikes, etc and excellent quality kids bikes.
Our neighbors had one. Our kids rode it a few times. To be honest though, the kids had more fun when the motor broke and the kids pushed each other around in the thing.5 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »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.
I sure do, they are grown now, but those things were out there when they were the appropriate age. We could have afforded them with no issue, but refused to buy them. They had various pedal cars, trikes, etc and excellent quality kids bikes.
Our neighbors had one. Our kids rode it a few times. To be honest though, the kids had more fun when the motor broke and the kids pushed each other around in the thing.
My kids didn’t get those kind of things either. They liked the box that the fridge came in though. I really wanted a Big Wheel when I was little but money was tight. Oh well.5 -
That is a great question! During WWll women held many formerly male held jobs (think Rosey the Riveter)
and were celebrated in mass media for supporting the war effort. Their everyday clothes were often tailored but sensible-as were their shoes. Magazines reflected these sensibilities. The movie stars had curves and plunging necklines but the fashion wasn’t ultra thin at all. (Think Marilyn Monroe). After the men came home most women lost these non-traditional jobs and were channeled back into nursing, teaching and clerical work. But more women stayed to work at least part time to support the robust post war economy and booming population. These women working in closer proximity with and for males now wore higher or stiletto high heels, nylons, girdles and bras that held things in and thrust things out. The fashion houses even catered to the masses with ready made clothes with standard sizes. Still one could hardly call most people skinny in the 50s. It depended on where you lived and worked in the city or country, ethnicity and social class. Even trussed, these were real women in the 50s and into the mid 60s. The British Invasion exploded on the scene mid 60s with mini dresses and Twiggy and Twiggy lookalikes -impossible models of super thinness that young girls and women aspired to look like. Barbie dolls reinforced this hyper thinness by extending to torso and cladding her in stilettos. If you look at popular magazines and movies of the day you might think that the general population looked like Mia Farrow but in fact it was getting harder and harder to maintain that look if you ever looked that skinny because the American diet was now loaded with sugar, processed foods, and heavy on the meat if you could afford it. Portion sizes got bigger and bigger, fast food restaurant growth was explosive in the 70s. The whole food/organic food movement was active among the college kids but it would take years before “health food” would be mainstreamed in major supermarkets.
Eating disorders among young women and men have continued to rise over the years because ultra thin mass media models still exert powerful influence on what weight and size “we” consider most beautiful.10 -
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'm not a good n=1 for this one. I was 5'10" in fifth grade (1972) and 6'7" by the time I was a sophomore in high school (1977). My brother (a few years younger) was the same height at those ages.6 -
diet pills that kept you going were easy to get as b12 cocktail injections from most any doctor. today's prozac and pain killers make folks too mellow4
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singingflutelady wrote: »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 5'8
I was also born in '76. I was about 5'4" and 130 lb at the end of grade 3...the tallest kid until halfway through 5th grade when half the boys and girls all started catching up with me. I stopped growing around the same time (7th grade) and at 5'8" too.
My dad was 6'5" when he was younger and my mom's about 5'6", so everyone thought I'd be much taller than I am (still somewhat tall).
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diet pills that kept you going were easy to get as b12 cocktail injections from most any doctor. today's prozac and pain killers make folks too mellow
Diet pills are still easy to get (there are plenty of "weight loss clinics" that are happy to prescribe phentermine to any and all patients), and as far as street drugs go, white crosses are no harder to get today than in the 70's.
Prozac - check out the lyrics to the Stones "Mother's Little Helpers" from 1966 - while Prozac hasn't been around that long, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds in general pre-date the 70's. My mother was taking Elavil (an antidepressant) in 1971.
Typically, pain meds tend to suppress appetite.2 -
Packerjohn wrote: »They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help.
I don't know any families whose kids have one of those.
On the other hand, I remember seeing them in the Sears Christmas catalogue every year, desperately wanting one, and never getting it.3 -
Packerjohn wrote: »They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help.
I don't know any families whose kids have one of those.
On the other hand, I remember seeing them in the Sears Christmas catalogue every year, desperately wanting one, and never getting it.
May be dependent on where you live. I've lived in single family suburban style neighborhoods since they came out and they are everywhere.1 -
More active and less constant eating out.1
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Packerjohn wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help.
I don't know any families whose kids have one of those.
On the other hand, I remember seeing them in the Sears Christmas catalogue every year, desperately wanting one, and never getting it.
May be dependent on where you live. I've lived in single family suburban style neighborhoods since they came out and they are everywhere.
They've been available for a very long time: http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1969_Sears_Wish_Book/#563/z1 -
Packerjohn wrote: »They became mainstream after the '70's but these *kitten* battery powered kids cars sure don't help.
I don't know any families whose kids have one of those.
On the other hand, I remember seeing them in the Sears Christmas catalogue every year, desperately wanting one, and never getting it.
I know very few children who don't have one of these (or similar). But then again where I most kids get their first motorcycle or ATV before they are out of 2nd grade.1 -
Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.6
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I read and skimmed as much of this thread as I could, but I haven't seen any mention of the fact that our agricultural supply has gone down the tubes here in these Benighted States of America, at the same time that Europe has been demanding better quality produce.
Yes, I realize that the thread is about 'the 70s, and that is (roughly) 50ish years ago...and believe me, I knew PLENTY of overweight people in the 70s! I say we have all gotten fat from cheap, empty calories
In the US we are growing tons of GMO mono-crops on large-scale industrial farms that require more and more NPK (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) fertilizer in order to sustain the crop. The fertilizer washes into our watersheds and thence into the sea where in creates dead zones for miles outside our river deltas. The soil is so depleted that the nutrient values of most produce has dropped anywhere from 10 to 80 percent in the last 70 years, for 'healthy' foods like broccoli, tomato, peppers, etc. Wheat, corn and soy produce the most calories per acre, but they are nutritionally far below what they used to be. A sad state of affairs, if you ask me.
The answer to this dilemma? Vote with your grocery budget! Decide whether you're willing to pay a little more for truly decent nutrition, and shop at farmers' market and find local organic producers.
Maybe we can all live better and longer lives.
Just my opinion...14 -
Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Were you alive in the '70s? There were plenty of fast food options.
Just off the top of my head:
Jack in the Box
McDonalds
Carl's Jr.
Wendy's
Arby's
Alfie's Fish & Chips
Alberto's/Roberto's
Long John Silver
Taco Bell
Naugles
Burger King
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Der Weinerschnitzel
Round Table Pizza
Pizza Hut
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream
Dairy Queen
etc. etc.8 -
Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Were you alive in the '70s? There were plenty of fast food options.
Just off the top of my head:
Jack in the Box
McDonalds
Carl's Jr.
Wendy's
Arby's
Alfie's Fish & Chips
Alberto's/Roberto's
Long John Silver
Taco Bell
Naugles
Burger King
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Der Weinerschnitzel
Round Table Pizza
Pizza Hut
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream
Dairy Queen
etc. etc.
etc! etc! H. Salt Fish & Chips. I lurved that place!5 -
This is nonsense. Studies that seem to show this have been pretty thoroughly debunked. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889157516302113vikinglander wrote: »The soil is so depleted that the nutrient values of most produce has dropped anywhere from 10 to 80 percent in the last 70 years, for 'healthy' foods like broccoli, tomato, peppers, etc.
Such as?Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.6 -
Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »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.
I sure do, they are grown now, but those things were out there when they were the appropriate age. We could have afforded them with no issue, but refused to buy them. They had various pedal cars, trikes, etc and excellent quality kids bikes.
Our neighbors had one. Our kids rode it a few times. To be honest though, the kids had more fun when the motor broke and the kids pushed each other around in the thing.
My kids didn’t get those kind of things either. They liked the box that the fridge came in though. I really wanted a Big Wheel when I was little but money was tight. Oh well.
My husband would have broken the motor on purpose when he was a little bugger!
I remember making a playhouse out of the fridge box.2 -
This is nonsense. Studies that seem to show this have been pretty thoroughly debunked. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889157516302113vikinglander wrote: »The soil is so depleted that the nutrient values of most produce has dropped anywhere from 10 to 80 percent in the last 70 years, for 'healthy' foods like broccoli, tomato, peppers, etc.
Such as?Think of how many fast food places that didn't exist back then that exist now.
Yeah, that's great hype and conspiracy theory.
There are certainly a lot of new chains that didn't exist before but that's not the problem, that's simply supplying a demand. People eat out more, but it's not just the fast food restaurants, more upscale resturants always fight hard against any nutrional information laws because they have very high calorie counts there too. Boston Pizza pad thai has over 2000 calories just in one meal alone as an example.
Certainly, people eat more and move less and most don't even realize how much they are really consuming.
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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.
We didn't even have Mcdonalds here (Australia) when i was growing up in the 70's. We had Hungry jacks (Burger King) which was a 30 minute drive away.
Take away was a once a month treat, as were school bought lunches. I brought a homemade lunch to school everyday. Dinner was cooked from scratch every night, and I don't remember ever having boxed/ready meals as a kid/teenager.
ETA; Sitting at home on weekends watching tv was unheard of, and we had some sort of sport practice most nights of the week. We were allowed to ride our bikes all over the country side from sun up to sun down.2
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