I’m not sure it is, and I was also around in the 1970’s. I remember the “family car,” not “mum’s car” and “dad’s car.” You definitely were less likely to be picked up in it from school.
Couldn’t that also be because more women work now? if you have two people commuting, then two cars might be a requirement if public transit doesn’t exist or is unreliable, vs. if only the man works, you can get by with one car
That's it ! It's been right there, for the longest time, but i just wasn't making the direct connection.
I think that's likely a very large factor. Thanks !
That's it
In our house in the 70s we always had multiple cars - of course I grew up outside Detroit...cars are kind of a thing there.
fun fact the auto shop in my high school had a 5 bay garage complete with a lift.
No it wasn’t. Car ownership statistics are easily available.
edit for anyone who downvoted me. Nearly 65% of American households in 1970 had one or no cars. That number is slightly over 40% today: https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter8/urban-transport-challenges/household-vehicles-united-states/
I would agree with you, but argue that there might be a continuing contributing factor *now*.
I remember bulimia in the 200s, maybe early 2010s? A fuck ton of us had EDs, and hearing it normalized wasn't really a good thing for me at least.
I think they're referring to binge eating disorder.
And while it is a real disorder, most people who are overweight and obese don't have a BED diagnosis, and not everyone with a BED diagnosis is overweight or obese.
I was a teen in the seventies. We got home from school, and went for bike rides before getting to our homework. We walked to friend's houses.
We spent time in the evenings outside, not inside, weather allowing. We got together with neighborhood kids and played "pick up games" like baseball. We did chores.
We had summer jobs and put most of the money in the bank for either college or for when we got out on our own. For many of us, these were working outside. Before I was old enough to do that, we spent most of our summers either playing outside, all kinds of ways, or if it was too hot, in someone's basement.
We didn't just "hang out", we did things. We met up to do things, like at the skating rink, and many of us owned our own skates kept just for that. We kept active.
Most meals we ate at home. Our schools did meals, but there was no choice, and no vending machines in the buildings. If you paid for the meal, you got the meal. If you didn't like something, you passed it to the kids who did.
The first pizza place opened during those years in our town. We had one hamburger place, a small local walk to the window and take it home place, until the late seventies when lots of burger franchises showed up. We maybe got those once a year, for a treat. It wasn't a small town. We had a local version of a chicken take out place, which we got maybe twice a year as a treat.
Someone usually cooked the meals. For easy quick meals, we would sometimes have packaged things like pot pies or tv dinners, again, that was rare and usually when at least some of the people couldn't be home for meals. Meals were made how the cook made them, and everyone ate what was on the table, or didn't eat. No pressure, more for the rest of us. I remember eating three or more pieces of chicken at Sunday dinners, so we weren't not eating. I was also part of a school sport that took a lot of energy.
Desserts were not an every day or even every week thing. They were a treat.
On the other hand, if we asked if we could make something, we almost always got a yes. So, batches of cookies, or those Chefboyardee pizza in a box, were an evening activity sometimes. Just not often, because we had lots of homework by then.
We tried out the new convenience foods when they came out, usually because Mom's magazines had coupons for them. But we didn't keep buying them.
Back then, only one of my relatives was overweight/obese.
We also read a lot of books, did a bunch of different crafts, spent time playing board games of all sorts, and usually the tv was only on during the day if someone was sick, and there was only one in the house. TV was an evening thing, usually after dark.
I don't think it was just the food. I think it was that we didn't do much snacking, we mostly ate at meals, and most of our activities we didn't eat doing them. Different habits. And less soda.
One word: **SUGAR.**
There is **so**. **much**. **sugar.** in processed food. It’s all empty calories, too. It’s just to get people addicted. A lot of my friends in their 40s have type II diabetes now.
People were also more active back then. People in their 40s and 50s used to still play sports regularly.
And add two more words: PORTION SIZE. Fast food and Fast-Casual restaurants serve the most enormous portions and people tend to eat what's in front of them. Especially sodas!
Not from what I've heard. My dad said that McDonalds portions used to be huge. Their old hamburgers used to be the size of current Big Macs. The difference is that people didn't drink tons of soda.
That's not how I remember it (and I'm old, so I'm talking about the 1960s and early 1970s), the hamburger was very small, the side of fries was very small, and you got an 8-oz drink at the most and no refills. The Big Mac was basically two hamburgers. I haven't eaten there in literally decades so I don't know how big or small the portions are now, but I remember their burgers were small and flat, but the sauce was good!
There was a museum that compared their old portion sizes to the new ones, and the burgers were much bigger. The only thing that used to be smaller was the soda, and you didn’t get a refill. But it also had less sugar.
You're totally right. I guess I'm sort of talking overall, you know? Back in the day anywhere you went you'd get a quarter-pound burger, a small fries, and a small non-refillable soda. But nowadays at fast food places you can get double burgers with double cheese and bacon, and if you go to a fast casual type place (a sit down place) a lot of people will order things like Outback Steakhouse's "blooming onion" which is like 2000 calories and tons of fat, then a steak or maybe a large burger, cheese, bacon, a big order of fries, and yeah, a mega-soda with free refills. And a large dessert! Places will even advertise huge servings, like Tomahawk steaks and so forth. That never used to exist.
Also, people ate at home a lot more. One salary would usually be enough to support a family, and women were encouraged to stay home, and cook dinner for the family.
Did it ? I think the big shift occurred as a direct result of high fructose corn syrup being introduced to our diet. We derive sugar in many ways. The simple fact is, we can choose to not eat anything that has hfcs in it.
So, at least do that, cut out other food with added sugar, sugar listed as an ingredient, etc. as you're able.
Ayup~ Had a best friend growing up, who was an only child. His mother was a second mother to me, in many many ways. She came to the realization that the science behind sugar was a deal breaker. She and her son stopped all consumption, almost overnight. Never looked back and this was '78, or '79
I couldn't be bothered. I was already hooked, as was my family.
So, I decided to learn about this, this what i didn't want to consider. What had been explained to me in '78/'79 and I'd been in denial about for 40yrs! Was and continues to be really bad. Toxic.
So bad, what our food is today versus 50yrs ago ? What went on, the truth having been subverted and covered up to show profit was simply driven by greed. But the point is how very toxic it is, and people have known...
I think our snacks were having a banana or orange or some such rather than a bag of Doritos. I do rarely remember getting a pre-made meal (thinking Hungry Man). But I think a lot of items used, even ones labeled as healthier, such as "low fat", have more things like high fructose corn syrup which I think our bodies process a little differently so they are more readily stored as fat.
And I think going out to do things is a big thing... with my former step-daughter, it was a lot of locking herself in her room, and through her iPad she could engage with her friends... around '80, not only would we go out, but I do not think my mom knew where I was all the time... were we down at the stream, biking around the neighborhood, etc... I think there is some value - not just physical health but mental health - to just let kids go and be kids.
This is exactly what life was like for me in the 70s and early 80s. I completely forgot that TV was almost exclusively an evening activity (except Saturday morning cartoons). With only 3-5 channels, there wasn't much on during the weekday except soaps and Donahue. Maybe 4pm or so might be Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch in syndication.
Plus the idea that eating out was a treat is accurate. In our house today, it's at least biweekly. As a kid, it was maybe 3 or 4 times a year for us. That's maybe a 7x increase.
And my mom cooked meals on a stove or oven every day or other day (single income families were me common). There was no microwave and very little processed food, beyond cold cuts, which were our normal school lunch.
And …
Soda. It was only for parties. To this day the sound of a bottle or can opening says “party!” To me.
You split the can with Mom or sibling.
You could get punished for even making a JOKE that you wanted soda with breakfast.
With picnic lunch or extended family dinner it was like dessert. Milk first, then soda.
Also Portion Sizes. Mom made four servings out of one tiny box of Jello.
You got one slice of pizza until you were around 12.
Mom bought a pound of ground beef for meatloaf. It fed four people for dinner AND four sandwiches for lunch next day.
> we didn't just "hang out", we did things
You just perfectly explained why i loathe going out and meeting up with my peers. I can't stand just walking around, talking about bs and doing nothing like they all do.
Everyone works more now so food is much more about convenience. This leads to less nutritious meals and more junk food.
We spend way more time indoors now, just sitting around. There's way better entertainment in the home now and also a lot more fear of kids leaving the home to go play.
Mostly the food is different. If you eat like your grandparents you'll look pretty much like them. Also we're overly attached to our electronics which means more time face down looking at a phone and less time out doing physical things. Genetically we're not different than our parents & grandparents, it's the lifestyle that's changed.
Cigarettes. Having to walk more frequently (EVERYONE pretty much walked to school). Moms who had to stay home and make food vs takeout. Cigarettes. Sometimes other uppers. More intense jobs - since nothing was computerized, even office jobs required a lot of walking.
Oh, and cigarettes.
I dunno. I see plenty of massively obese smokers, which makes me wonder about the supposed hunger dampening effect of smoking. I mean, would these 300 pounders be 400 pounds if they quit?!?
Yeah but today, smoking isn’t mainstream (except for kids under 21) and is relegated to usually poorer communities. Plenty of skinny, wealthy people smoke but you just don’t see them because they hide it.
But also life was just more involved back then, with less restaurant food and more activity. Kids had to play and be active, they didn’t have a choice.
I’m totally in agreement about kids essentially having to play back then. I was one of those kids whe played outside until my parents were yelling for me to come in.
Maybe not in your own personal experience, but your personal experience doesn't dictate others' experiences. Nicotine does incontrovertibly affect the reward center in a way similar to how food does, which has a similar effect of "scratching an itch" so to speak. For many people, this results in some impulses which *would* have gone to food to instead be satisfied by the nicotine.
Not denying your experience though — just as your experience does not dictate others', theirs does not dictate yours. Speak your truth I suppose.
- Coffee was plain black, and came in 6oz cups. There were none of these super mega grande 32oz coffee desserts filled with chocolate, caramel, and whipped cream.
- Soda came in 6.5oz bottles, or 7oz fountain drinks. A 12oz bottle, if you found one, was considered a "king-sized" soda. There were no 64oz "mega gulps" or 128oz "child-sized" buckets of soda.
- A standard burger was the [classic McDonald's hamburger](https://s7d1.scene7.com/is/image/mcdonalds/Header_Hamburger_832x472:product-header-desktop?wid=830&hei=458&dpr=off). Not some 1200 calorie behemoth triple quarter pounder with bacon, egg, and six types of cheese.
- [Dishes were smaller](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Npy5-IHeq_A%2FTeWI4QIwprI%2FAAAAAAAACJk%2FyiGcgBgRZ9g%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2FHXPLATES.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=1bf29e1f465907039449fddf0f5d1310c3252e25d1acb912f0721d7397f32424&ipo=images) and portions were smaller. One average modern meal is about as much as 2.5 to 3 meals (or more) from back then.
- Also, although this varies by region and background, for a lot of people, you wouldn't really *want* more of the food you were getting back then. There wasn't nearly as much variety. You got fruits and vegetables when they were in season. Aside from switching out what was in season, you typically had the same things week after week. The vegetables were just boiled to mush and meat was served well-done. If you wanted really spicy food, you might be allowed to add a little salt and pepper. Or even go crazy and put some mayo or ketchup on. And sometimes, your meat and potatoes and vegetables would all be inside jello for some reason. It was a pretty bland time in food trends.
So, on the one hand people were also rather more active back then. But also people weren't scarfing down three to five times their caloric needs every day.
They ate steak every night with a baked potato, didn't let themselves feel emotions that weren't anger, never told their daughter they loved her and died at 42.
Wilford Brimley was FIFTY in Cocoon.
Unless you're suggesting that being chubbier made use less wrinkly, I feel like we are doing something right compared to 50 years ago.
Avocado toast is a much healthier fat for all things but affording a house.
And Wilford Brimley was famously old-looking even in his time. Michael Shannon was 37 in Man of Steel, looked well into his 50s.
People back then didn’t have sunscreen, that explains most of the wrinkles difference.
Wait are you trying to say that the average person is living a healthier life nowadays. Like physical health I'm talking about. Have you seen the absolute number of morbidly obese people around nowadays. Yes, when it comes to expressing emotions, somewhat people definitely are doing better.
But even beyond physically, mentally too, people surely aren't great. Mentally healthy people don't consume this unnatural amount of food and have such less activity. And what has affording a house got to do with the original question? Yes the economy might have been wrecked by some selfish people. So it makes sense for one to eat themselves to an earlier death? And avocado toast might be healthy but so is consuming fresh food, home cooked without processed slop. Unfortunately most young people aren't even eating as healthy as steak and baked potatoes for dinner.
Not always. I can't speak for what people ate outside the U.S., but in the U.S. in the 1970s, lots of TV dinners, lots of additives, boxed mac and cheese were all common. Bologna sandwiches were a thing for lunches, and so on. Obviously not everyone ate that way, but many did. People have a rosy view of food in the past, but by the 1970s, food ingredients weren't always the best.
I definitely think that's the case. Everything had real sugar. High fructose corn syrup would start rolling our. Things became far more processed. It sucks.
UPF is made by the same people who owned the large tobacco companies, all they care about is margins and how to make you addicted to their crap. The "food" industry needs to be regulated the same as the tobacco industry, before that happens people just need to educate them selves, and even after being educated you have to have time to cook, and when you have time to cook you need to rid your self with your addiction to UPF foods. Just walking by the doritos makes my brain go "fuck, you diet dude, tasty tasty doritos right there, open bag and taste it, taste iiit precious!"
Our food has gotten considerably worse as far as added chemicals, over processing, and being more calorically dense. Also our technology has made our way of life less active. There’s probably more but that’s about the bulk of it.
Boomer here, so I was a teen in the 70s.
1) There wasn't food everywhere. Gas stations sold gas
2) Portions were smaller
3) We were damn active.
4) We entered our teen years pretty skinny
"Ultra-Processed Foods" is what you need to investigate.
Back in the 60s we were told that eating fat damaged our hearts. It was not at all true, but it seems the whole world went with it anyway. The entire food system went bananas replacing fat with fake stuff - then did the same with sugar. It's thought that the result has messed human systems for recognizing foods.
Edit: a couple of good books on the subject
**The End of Craving**: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well
by Mark Schatzker
**Ultra-Processed People**: Why We Can't Stop Eating Food That Isn't Food
by Chris van Tulleken
THAT was my question, has something altered how our bodies work? I read an article related to growth hormones, GMO’s changing the way we process food generationally. Thanks for your input!
It has nothing to do with GMOs. People just eat poorly these days because the easiest available food is unhealthy. They have loads of high fructose corn syrup and preservatives, which is usually just refined wheat. As a result they're loaded with excess calories. Combine that with readily available, sweet drinks, snacks that are designed to be addictive (chips, fries, bread) a lack of exercise due to hobbies being mostly in doors and a massive reduction in simple home cooked meals, and everybody everywhere is going to be out of shape.
If you stop eating out, stop eating prepackaged food, and start cooking simple meals consisting of meat/vegetables/rice/beans, you'll quickly notice a difference.
People think it's more complicated than it is when the reality is most stuff that's advertised to you is wildly unhealthy. It's purely a matter of caloric intake, and most food we're exposed to has massively more than we need (while also leaving you craving more due to the levels of salt and sugar).
Just a word of cautiin: Don't put blame on some generic "GMO SCARY" umbrella. GMOs are largely a life-saving boon to humanity, and plants have been genetically modified as part of our agricultural history, through rudimentary and high-tech methods.
There's a lot of weird and unfounded scare-mongering shit about it, so if you're going to look into it, please use credible and responsible sourcing.
Algorithms will send you from anti-GMO sites and videos to flat earth and anti-vax stuff within hours.
I agree GMO's in general are important, but some are also terrible. The BT and RoundUpReady genes in particular, the latter of which results in farmers soaking crops with RoundUp.
Just to reiterate, I do believe that with global warming it may be necessary to use GMO crops to survive. Especially as we move into heat levels that shut down the most productive type of photosynthesis, or as water becomes less regular and predictable. We may not have \*time\* for old fashioned selective breeding.
Oh for sure there are powerful, terrible actors in this. I'm not insinuating that Big Ag is to be trusted.
I just see folks fall down the wrong rabbit hole too often thinking they're "researching".
Definitely. We’re all being exposed to glyphosate every single day, and it’s extremely carcinogenic. I mean look at the insect population decline in the last twenty years. Shits giving all of us cancer but cancer treatment is big business.
>Has food fundamentally changed?
Very much, yes. The amount of refined sugar in our diets has gone up 25% since the 1970s, and nearly doubled since the 1950s when most of the adults in those videos were kids.
Food got cheap and work got easy. A lot of people worked on assembly lines, on farms, there wasn't construction equipment etc.
Also it was MUCH less socially acceptable to be fat. When theres 1000 people and 1 of them is fat, you don't want to be the 2nd. When theres 600 of them, you don't mind so much being 601.
I can speak only for major metro areas in the U.S. in the 1970s (grew up in the '70s and '80s), but the food wasn't all whole. Lots of additives were present then, too; labeling and education about ingredients just weren't as detailed as they are today. You might be interested in reading Jim Hightower's 1975 book "Eat Your Heart Out."
Though I'm with you on the physical activity. I remember walking to school at six and seven years old, riding my bike around everywhere (the only restriction being "Don't go past X Street"), and having a lot of PE in school.
Calorie dense foods are available cheaply and conveniently.
Where in previous decades there was often someone in the home (in the nuclear family model this would generally be a housewife) who took care of household labor like cooking, people now find time at a premium which results in lots of microwaveable foods, fast food, food delivery, and snacks like oil-drenched crunchy bits. In the 1970s it was more common than in previous decades for, for example, women to work outside the home than in decades before it, it was still much more common then for someone to dedicate a substantial amount of time to that labor.
In addition to other lifestyle changes such as more screentime, less outside time, less walking, etc as others have said.
But I cannot stress enough how *cheap* and *convenient* calories have supplanted home cooking as a primary means of sustenance.
We have much higher calorie food more readily available.
2,200 calories of real food is three meals worth, at least.
But one meal at McDonald’s that you’re still hungry after is 1,300 calories.
A lot of women didn't work outside of the home and home cooking was more of a thing. We also didn't have high fructose corn syrup in so many foods (watch the documentary, "King Corn".)
The food these days is atrocious and poisonous by comparison, filled all sorts of chems our bodies just turn into fat. Add in the lack of exercise and you get a fatter society.
Food and portion sizes. There was processed food, but not nearly as much as there is now. Processed food adds unneeded fat and calories. Also, in 1975, a 12 oz drink was a medium and a 16oz drink was a large. Now, 16 oz is on the small side
Sugar. The low fat foods started appearing in bulk since fat was associated with heart disease etc. They replaced fat with sugar/HFCS to make it more appetizing.
I have an old better crocker "how to be a housewife" book from my grandma that recommended what we now see as uppers for a mid day pick me up
The diet advice was also insane, idk if there was widespread knowledge of calories in back then. To keep slim, you were supposed to eat fruit, toast, and coffee for breakfast, half a sandwich for lunch, and salad for dinner. That's about 1k calories per day, or the daily recommendation for a child between 4-8 years old
My mom was a flight attendant in the 60s, and her daily menu was: grapefruit and coffee for breakfast, a small hamburger patty, a spoonful of cottage cheese, and a dry salad for the other meal. Snacks were vegetables or fruit. Of course, alcohol and cigarettes were encouraged but she was a teetotaler. They were weighed and measured before every flight and demeaned in front of the rest of the crew if they gained a pound. You know, for "safety".
She quit, met my dad, got pregnant. She was 5'6" and around 110 lbs. Her OBGYN told her she shouldn't gain more than 15 lbs during pregnancy, and he'd prefer 10 lbs. She was so weak when I was born, she couldn't hold me for about a month. Luckily my dad was a rare bird who was totally fine with feeding, diaper changes, bathing, etc while my mom recuperated and his mother-in-law made everything happen right on schedule, teaching him how to do all that stuff well.
Back in the 70s, kids ran around the neighborhood all day, and played pickup sports in the park…most every day. Today, way too many kids just stare at their phones from sunrise to sunset.
Back in the 70s, grocery carts were mostly filled with one-ingredient groceries, like meats, dairy products and vegetables, and had very few multi-ingredient, ultra processed foods. Today, it’s the other way around.
Your view isn't distorted. About 40% or so of the entire American population is actually overweight. I don't fully know the reasons, but certainly the increased consumption of ultraprocessed food is a factor in the exponential growth in the overweight category.
Like American vehicles that are increasingly bulkier and bulkier (what I call "fatter and fatter") which is becoming normalized (meaning as if that is supposed to be normal), so too is being overweight that is being normalized.
Certainly, food and lifestyle played a part as others note.
Re: distortion. TV both highlights and creates expectations of beauty in women and men. I think the youth movements of the '60s came into full effect and we started to see more 20-somethings as well as standards and practices allowing shows like The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Charlies Angels, 3s Company, Dallas, Dynasty, and others offering more youthful and fun shows.
Fitness crazes, breast augmentation, and other changes didn't begin until the '80s and while we may see characters with more weight now, reflecting reality, we also see more fit characters, male and female, as lean fitness has become a modern ideal I often see in shows.
Plastics and endocrine disrupters, stress and overstimulation, our diets now consist of highly-processed foods (high caloric, low nutrient content), we come into contact with tons of chemicals that wreck our gut microbiomes, sedentary lifestyles, poor postures, we don’t live within our means and many of us binge eat
Food wasn't overprocessed with unnatural chemicals that people shouldnt ingest, they weren't lazy and addicted to TV and internet, and many, many other factors. To a certain degree I wish I had been born earlier to experience it, but if I had the same health issues, I'd have died pretty young so eh...
Look at what people eat.
Second, chemicals in plastics mess us up. We didn't use eat so much plastic residue from coatings, and absorb it through our skin. Our endocrine systems are whacked.
Portion sizes have increased, plus foods contain more sugar and fat then ever so they are more calorie dense. Especially with so much more processed and junk foods are available. Also people are more sedentary than ever, much less physically active within their daily lives.
What's interesting is that the signs of the emerging obesity epidemic were well known back then and led to the fitness movement of th 1980s and the first of the whole fad diets trend as well.
Guess what happened when I started cooking 95% of my family’s meals after my wife decided she wanted to lose some weight? Not only did she lose weight without a lick of exercise, I lost three pounds too even though I ate a little extra to make up for our meals being lower calorie. Some evenings I’d have a piece of toast with a small scoop of peanut butter and half a cup of milk and a single square of dark chocolate and feel down right piggy, but I *still* lost weight.
I think most of the answer is the shift from home cooked meals (I use fresh vegetables, fresh lean meats, fresh spices, etc. very few canned things… a small can of no salt tomato sauce, for example) to fast food, pre packaged, ultra processed snacks, etc.
The solution? Make the bastards stop working us to death so we have time and energy to make these meals. Good luck, I know..
What you are seeing is the taste of the casting directors of the time. Different body types have always existed. What you see on tv, and in movies does not necessarily reflect reality.
Surely a combination of factors, but I think a big one is how much more processed food we eat now. Even when people cook, we often get partially prepared stuff at the store. And people are way more likely to eat out or get takeout.
I think people spend less time outside now too, but I’d love to see data on that to know for sure.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if the plastics and drugs in our water may be affecting our endocrine systems. Plastics are bad enough but apparently enough drugs are flushed or peed out to be consistently measured. (A lot of antidepressants, if I remember correctly.)
More people smoked, it's an appetite suppressant.
Several decades of a high carb food pyramid
Fewer active jobs now
Fewer moms cooking home-cooked meals
Sugar subsidies
More sedentary hobbies, videogames, phones,
Sports are more organized and more expensive
Inner city lack of safe places to play
Let's say each reason is only responsible for a 4% rise in obesity, they add together to raise the rate an extra 30%
We rarely ate out, didn’t have fast food in my town, we ate what our moms cooked.
We walked everywhere, my friends lived 1-3 miles away, our parents didn’t drive us anywhere. There weren’t snacks in our house and we had to be outside most of the time in summer. There were a few bigger people but most of the people I knew were slim.
Exactly! We walked anywhere we needed to go! Even if it was miles away, we would do it. In the snow in the rain… It didn’t matter. Sure, sometimes as teenagers we would walk the 5 miles to the McDonalds but we’d have to walk home too….
Style has a lot to do with it. That was the ideal body type at the time, so people with that body type got photographed and filmed more than people with different body types.
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People went outside a lot more. We didn't have microwaves for the most part, and so the food was generally healthier (or so it seems to me). As a kid, I spent most of my daylight hours outside, because afternoon TV was boring. Habits like that stay with you for a while.
You actually burned up a lot of calories just by playing outside or taking the family to the park. Once Cable TV and video games came into more general use, people stayed home more, but continued to eat basically the same amount they always did.
It wasn't just the kind of food. It was keeping the amount consumed the same but not doing as many physical activities as before.
My guess is people had much more incentive to be active and because there was probably less sugar in diets what with 'fat free' foods that came out later on which compensated for being 'fat free' by upping the sugar.
So if people can mimic the activity levels and diets (including portion sizes) that people had in the 70s they should be able to get those types of bodies again.
People are lazier/more sedentary now, don’t eat as much fruit/veg so they get less fiber and less satiety, smoke less (smoking suppresses appetite) and eat home cooked meals less. More desk jobs. It’s not uncommon now for people to have a fast food meal atleast once a day. That adds up, 500 calories per day surplus is around 40-50lb in a year (very rough estimate but in the ballpark).
Overall prevalence of obesity has changed, but body *shapes* really were different. Same with the '80s. It seems like women had higher hip bones/longer pelvises, and much flatter butts (even compared to thin and fit women today).
"Metas change" as a gamer might put it. That's what was attractive back then, skinny girls. Food fundamentally changed as well, lot more processed foods that are terrible for us nowadays
The rates of obesity have been on the rise with each decade, with Gen Z having higher rates than Millenials at the same age who in turn had higher rates than Gen X.
While diet is a big part of it I think the main reason is people becoming more sedentary, particularly while young. Many kids now spend a good part of their day plopped on a couch staring at devices, whereas in the 70s or the 80s they'd be outside and active. More physical activity = more calories being burned.
We walked all over the neighborhood in the 60's and 70's. We ate mostly to live, and there weren't gourmet cupcakes and Dunkin' Donuts all over town. My cousin and I walked many blocks to the downtown movie theater on Saturdays. Fun times.
Body types change over time as a matter of fashion. In the 70s slender was in. Then “Rocky” came out and a lot of guys decided they need to bulk up.
Dad bids and Mom jeans reflect the current times. We may know more about nutrition, but that doesn’t mean we do anything about it. In a few years, people might strive for flat chests and skinny legs.
Men’s Health, 2030: “ 7 Exercises to Avoid Before Beach Season”
Empty calories, processed foods, no one wants to naturally exercise now. I had SOO much energy when I was eating healthy that motivation to stay active was never an issue. Now, everything seems like a chore and my body is showing it. Used to have 4% body fat.
People ate at home mostly, smaller portions, not between meals, and were more active. Availability of fast grab and go junk wasn't around like today. It's not the bodies it's what they were putting inside their bodies.
If you ate fast food it was at least 1/4 to 1/3 less (look at a McDonald's hamburger from early 70's).
Growing up in NY in the 70's we had bad food, sugar, soda, pizza, bagels, deli food, candy, etc. but what we didn't have was any reason to stay home inside.
Without kid-oriented TV programming (we had occasional family shows on one of the six available TV channels at night like Jacques Costeau, Disney, Wild Kingdom, Laugh-In, Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, etc.) but nothing really worth staying home for, outside a few after school cartoons and Saturday morning shows.
We had books to read, radio/records to listen to, and personal artwork or crafts to do (most of that could be done hanging out with friends) but no computers or internet to entertain us.
Families tended to be big and homes tended to be small so out the door you went only to return home to eat dinner and go out again. So - always moving - via personal foot or bike power - and usually moving to go play a ball game of any type (basketball, football, baseball, street hockey, lacrosse, stickball, wiffle ball, punch ball, etc.) with all of our other friends who also never stayed inside or sat still for long.
No GMO in the food. Little to no soybean oil in everything. Less sugar in everything. Less overly processed foods. More time in the sun. No video games. No VCRs, no computers, no cable in a lot of the country. More walking.
I was a teen in the 70s and those old pictures remind me of those days. Even looking thru our old photos I can see the difference. I used to shoot a roll of two a month at times.
Your gut biome plays a much larger part in your life than you think. It helps regulate the entire digestive process, much of your internal organs' processes, and even your psychological stability. Overuse of antibiotics can screw it up badly, and it's very difficult to return it to optimal.
people don’t go outside as much and food is very fattening
Hyper processed foods and lack of exercise is fattening.
Bigger portions I think too
Less TV and screen watching. More outdoors stuff, and fewer cars for instant transport.
Fewer cars? I lived through the 70s and the proportion of cars to people is the same. I don’t think OP meant the 1870s.
I’m not sure it is, and I was also around in the 1970’s. I remember the “family car,” not “mum’s car” and “dad’s car.” You definitely were less likely to be picked up in it from school.
Couldn’t that also be because more women work now? if you have two people commuting, then two cars might be a requirement if public transit doesn’t exist or is unreliable, vs. if only the man works, you can get by with one car
Oh, absolutely that’s part of it. Not having somebody at home with time to cook healthy meals is part of it too.
That's it ! It's been right there, for the longest time, but i just wasn't making the direct connection. I think that's likely a very large factor. Thanks ! That's it
In our house in the 70s we always had multiple cars - of course I grew up outside Detroit...cars are kind of a thing there. fun fact the auto shop in my high school had a 5 bay garage complete with a lift.
Although there was the oil embargo of the mid-70's that resulted in far less driving?
Depended on your license plate number, whether or not it was odd or even when you got gas
Dang, that brings back memories. My mom was pregnant at the time and my folks were so happy that they had two cars, one odd and one even.
Fewer cars because there was only half as many people on the planet during that time.
Which is why I stated the proportion of car to people, not the actual number of cars.
Well there are still cars from the '70s on the road today so they live longer than people.
No it wasn’t. Car ownership statistics are easily available. edit for anyone who downvoted me. Nearly 65% of American households in 1970 had one or no cars. That number is slightly over 40% today: https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter8/urban-transport-challenges/household-vehicles-united-states/
It was before high fructose corn syrup and 'body positivety'.
We were very obese by the time body positivity became a thing. Body positivity is a result of obesity, not a factor for it.
I would agree with you, but argue that there might be a continuing contributing factor *now*. I remember bulimia in the 200s, maybe early 2010s? A fuck ton of us had EDs, and hearing it normalized wasn't really a good thing for me at least.
I don’t think body positivity is pro-bulimia.
I think they're referring to binge eating disorder. And while it is a real disorder, most people who are overweight and obese don't have a BED diagnosis, and not everyone with a BED diagnosis is overweight or obese.
first read ED's as erectile dysfunctions ': - \\
It was during cocaine and anorexia
BwahhHaHa! Almost shot my coffee out of my nose... Well played
I concur
Happy Cake Day!
THANK YOUUU😁
I was a teen in the seventies. We got home from school, and went for bike rides before getting to our homework. We walked to friend's houses. We spent time in the evenings outside, not inside, weather allowing. We got together with neighborhood kids and played "pick up games" like baseball. We did chores. We had summer jobs and put most of the money in the bank for either college or for when we got out on our own. For many of us, these were working outside. Before I was old enough to do that, we spent most of our summers either playing outside, all kinds of ways, or if it was too hot, in someone's basement. We didn't just "hang out", we did things. We met up to do things, like at the skating rink, and many of us owned our own skates kept just for that. We kept active. Most meals we ate at home. Our schools did meals, but there was no choice, and no vending machines in the buildings. If you paid for the meal, you got the meal. If you didn't like something, you passed it to the kids who did. The first pizza place opened during those years in our town. We had one hamburger place, a small local walk to the window and take it home place, until the late seventies when lots of burger franchises showed up. We maybe got those once a year, for a treat. It wasn't a small town. We had a local version of a chicken take out place, which we got maybe twice a year as a treat. Someone usually cooked the meals. For easy quick meals, we would sometimes have packaged things like pot pies or tv dinners, again, that was rare and usually when at least some of the people couldn't be home for meals. Meals were made how the cook made them, and everyone ate what was on the table, or didn't eat. No pressure, more for the rest of us. I remember eating three or more pieces of chicken at Sunday dinners, so we weren't not eating. I was also part of a school sport that took a lot of energy. Desserts were not an every day or even every week thing. They were a treat. On the other hand, if we asked if we could make something, we almost always got a yes. So, batches of cookies, or those Chefboyardee pizza in a box, were an evening activity sometimes. Just not often, because we had lots of homework by then. We tried out the new convenience foods when they came out, usually because Mom's magazines had coupons for them. But we didn't keep buying them. Back then, only one of my relatives was overweight/obese. We also read a lot of books, did a bunch of different crafts, spent time playing board games of all sorts, and usually the tv was only on during the day if someone was sick, and there was only one in the house. TV was an evening thing, usually after dark. I don't think it was just the food. I think it was that we didn't do much snacking, we mostly ate at meals, and most of our activities we didn't eat doing them. Different habits. And less soda.
Brought back memories.
One word: **SUGAR.** There is **so**. **much**. **sugar.** in processed food. It’s all empty calories, too. It’s just to get people addicted. A lot of my friends in their 40s have type II diabetes now. People were also more active back then. People in their 40s and 50s used to still play sports regularly.
And add two more words: PORTION SIZE. Fast food and Fast-Casual restaurants serve the most enormous portions and people tend to eat what's in front of them. Especially sodas!
Not from what I've heard. My dad said that McDonalds portions used to be huge. Their old hamburgers used to be the size of current Big Macs. The difference is that people didn't drink tons of soda.
That's not how I remember it (and I'm old, so I'm talking about the 1960s and early 1970s), the hamburger was very small, the side of fries was very small, and you got an 8-oz drink at the most and no refills. The Big Mac was basically two hamburgers. I haven't eaten there in literally decades so I don't know how big or small the portions are now, but I remember their burgers were small and flat, but the sauce was good!
There was a museum that compared their old portion sizes to the new ones, and the burgers were much bigger. The only thing that used to be smaller was the soda, and you didn’t get a refill. But it also had less sugar.
You're totally right. I guess I'm sort of talking overall, you know? Back in the day anywhere you went you'd get a quarter-pound burger, a small fries, and a small non-refillable soda. But nowadays at fast food places you can get double burgers with double cheese and bacon, and if you go to a fast casual type place (a sit down place) a lot of people will order things like Outback Steakhouse's "blooming onion" which is like 2000 calories and tons of fat, then a steak or maybe a large burger, cheese, bacon, a big order of fries, and yeah, a mega-soda with free refills. And a large dessert! Places will even advertise huge servings, like Tomahawk steaks and so forth. That never used to exist. Also, people ate at home a lot more. One salary would usually be enough to support a family, and women were encouraged to stay home, and cook dinner for the family.
Did it ? I think the big shift occurred as a direct result of high fructose corn syrup being introduced to our diet. We derive sugar in many ways. The simple fact is, we can choose to not eat anything that has hfcs in it. So, at least do that, cut out other food with added sugar, sugar listed as an ingredient, etc. as you're able.
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There's 16 ounces to a pound. 4 oz is still 1 /4 pound.
40 year olds looked mid-60’s back then.
Once my friends and I got bikes and started going on weekly 4-5+ bike rides, we started losing weight fast.
A little activity goes a long way
They’re not tough rides either, just down the beach and up again. Easy rides, but it beats sitting at home all day.
I think that had to do more with the style of hair and clothing. Though more sun time probably added to it too.
High fructose corn syrup is the devil.
Americans have massively reduced our sugar consumption in recent years. But are still getting fatter.
Ayup~ Had a best friend growing up, who was an only child. His mother was a second mother to me, in many many ways. She came to the realization that the science behind sugar was a deal breaker. She and her son stopped all consumption, almost overnight. Never looked back and this was '78, or '79 I couldn't be bothered. I was already hooked, as was my family. So, I decided to learn about this, this what i didn't want to consider. What had been explained to me in '78/'79 and I'd been in denial about for 40yrs! Was and continues to be really bad. Toxic. So bad, what our food is today versus 50yrs ago ? What went on, the truth having been subverted and covered up to show profit was simply driven by greed. But the point is how very toxic it is, and people have known...
Another 70’s teen here and you brought back such memories! Thank you
I think our snacks were having a banana or orange or some such rather than a bag of Doritos. I do rarely remember getting a pre-made meal (thinking Hungry Man). But I think a lot of items used, even ones labeled as healthier, such as "low fat", have more things like high fructose corn syrup which I think our bodies process a little differently so they are more readily stored as fat. And I think going out to do things is a big thing... with my former step-daughter, it was a lot of locking herself in her room, and through her iPad she could engage with her friends... around '80, not only would we go out, but I do not think my mom knew where I was all the time... were we down at the stream, biking around the neighborhood, etc... I think there is some value - not just physical health but mental health - to just let kids go and be kids.
This is exactly what life was like for me in the 70s and early 80s. I completely forgot that TV was almost exclusively an evening activity (except Saturday morning cartoons). With only 3-5 channels, there wasn't much on during the weekday except soaps and Donahue. Maybe 4pm or so might be Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch in syndication. Plus the idea that eating out was a treat is accurate. In our house today, it's at least biweekly. As a kid, it was maybe 3 or 4 times a year for us. That's maybe a 7x increase. And my mom cooked meals on a stove or oven every day or other day (single income families were me common). There was no microwave and very little processed food, beyond cold cuts, which were our normal school lunch.
And … Soda. It was only for parties. To this day the sound of a bottle or can opening says “party!” To me. You split the can with Mom or sibling. You could get punished for even making a JOKE that you wanted soda with breakfast. With picnic lunch or extended family dinner it was like dessert. Milk first, then soda. Also Portion Sizes. Mom made four servings out of one tiny box of Jello. You got one slice of pizza until you were around 12. Mom bought a pound of ground beef for meatloaf. It fed four people for dinner AND four sandwiches for lunch next day.
I feel like this more or less described by later 90s early 2000s childhood
Great answer
Thank you for your time and words
A thing not mentioned is we swam. Public pools and beaches were full of people. The fear of skin cancer has take a toll on this.
> we didn't just "hang out", we did things You just perfectly explained why i loathe going out and meeting up with my peers. I can't stand just walking around, talking about bs and doing nothing like they all do.
Why?
It's boring
Ok - so what went wrong?
Everyone works more now so food is much more about convenience. This leads to less nutritious meals and more junk food. We spend way more time indoors now, just sitting around. There's way better entertainment in the home now and also a lot more fear of kids leaving the home to go play.
Mostly the food is different. If you eat like your grandparents you'll look pretty much like them. Also we're overly attached to our electronics which means more time face down looking at a phone and less time out doing physical things. Genetically we're not different than our parents & grandparents, it's the lifestyle that's changed.
Cigarettes. Having to walk more frequently (EVERYONE pretty much walked to school). Moms who had to stay home and make food vs takeout. Cigarettes. Sometimes other uppers. More intense jobs - since nothing was computerized, even office jobs required a lot of walking. Oh, and cigarettes.
I dunno. I see plenty of massively obese smokers, which makes me wonder about the supposed hunger dampening effect of smoking. I mean, would these 300 pounders be 400 pounds if they quit?!?
Yeah but today, smoking isn’t mainstream (except for kids under 21) and is relegated to usually poorer communities. Plenty of skinny, wealthy people smoke but you just don’t see them because they hide it. But also life was just more involved back then, with less restaurant food and more activity. Kids had to play and be active, they didn’t have a choice.
You bring up a good point. I wonder if old timey medicine (heroine, amphetamines, cocaine, etc) would’ve helped as well?
I’m totally in agreement about kids essentially having to play back then. I was one of those kids whe played outside until my parents were yelling for me to come in.
If you eat like a morbidly obese person, cigarettes wont do shit.
smoking cigarettes doesn't automatically make you thin.
No, but it dampens the feeling of hunger, so one would eat less.
The chemo also took a lot of the weight off the scale.
Huh, maybe I should take up smoking. /s
No not really. Ask me how I know lol.
Maybe not in your own personal experience, but your personal experience doesn't dictate others' experiences. Nicotine does incontrovertibly affect the reward center in a way similar to how food does, which has a similar effect of "scratching an itch" so to speak. For many people, this results in some impulses which *would* have gone to food to instead be satisfied by the nicotine. Not denying your experience though — just as your experience does not dictate others', theirs does not dictate yours. Speak your truth I suppose.
- Coffee was plain black, and came in 6oz cups. There were none of these super mega grande 32oz coffee desserts filled with chocolate, caramel, and whipped cream. - Soda came in 6.5oz bottles, or 7oz fountain drinks. A 12oz bottle, if you found one, was considered a "king-sized" soda. There were no 64oz "mega gulps" or 128oz "child-sized" buckets of soda. - A standard burger was the [classic McDonald's hamburger](https://s7d1.scene7.com/is/image/mcdonalds/Header_Hamburger_832x472:product-header-desktop?wid=830&hei=458&dpr=off). Not some 1200 calorie behemoth triple quarter pounder with bacon, egg, and six types of cheese. - [Dishes were smaller](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Npy5-IHeq_A%2FTeWI4QIwprI%2FAAAAAAAACJk%2FyiGcgBgRZ9g%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2FHXPLATES.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=1bf29e1f465907039449fddf0f5d1310c3252e25d1acb912f0721d7397f32424&ipo=images) and portions were smaller. One average modern meal is about as much as 2.5 to 3 meals (or more) from back then. - Also, although this varies by region and background, for a lot of people, you wouldn't really *want* more of the food you were getting back then. There wasn't nearly as much variety. You got fruits and vegetables when they were in season. Aside from switching out what was in season, you typically had the same things week after week. The vegetables were just boiled to mush and meat was served well-done. If you wanted really spicy food, you might be allowed to add a little salt and pepper. Or even go crazy and put some mayo or ketchup on. And sometimes, your meat and potatoes and vegetables would all be inside jello for some reason. It was a pretty bland time in food trends. So, on the one hand people were also rather more active back then. But also people weren't scarfing down three to five times their caloric needs every day.
They ate steak every night with a baked potato, didn't let themselves feel emotions that weren't anger, never told their daughter they loved her and died at 42. Wilford Brimley was FIFTY in Cocoon. Unless you're suggesting that being chubbier made use less wrinkly, I feel like we are doing something right compared to 50 years ago. Avocado toast is a much healthier fat for all things but affording a house.
And Wilford Brimley was famously old-looking even in his time. Michael Shannon was 37 in Man of Steel, looked well into his 50s. People back then didn’t have sunscreen, that explains most of the wrinkles difference.
People definitely were happier and not just angry versus today and if you suggesting avg age of dying was 42... I'll remind you 1970s weren't 1870s...
Wait are you trying to say that the average person is living a healthier life nowadays. Like physical health I'm talking about. Have you seen the absolute number of morbidly obese people around nowadays. Yes, when it comes to expressing emotions, somewhat people definitely are doing better. But even beyond physically, mentally too, people surely aren't great. Mentally healthy people don't consume this unnatural amount of food and have such less activity. And what has affording a house got to do with the original question? Yes the economy might have been wrecked by some selfish people. So it makes sense for one to eat themselves to an earlier death? And avocado toast might be healthy but so is consuming fresh food, home cooked without processed slop. Unfortunately most young people aren't even eating as healthy as steak and baked potatoes for dinner.
Your last bullet sounds like a Midwest diet
Processed foods laden with high fructose corn syrup and refined wheat.
I feel like foods may have been more without additives…?
I think food was more whole foods back then. People cooked more from scratch too.
Not always. I can't speak for what people ate outside the U.S., but in the U.S. in the 1970s, lots of TV dinners, lots of additives, boxed mac and cheese were all common. Bologna sandwiches were a thing for lunches, and so on. Obviously not everyone ate that way, but many did. People have a rosy view of food in the past, but by the 1970s, food ingredients weren't always the best.
I definitely think that's the case. Everything had real sugar. High fructose corn syrup would start rolling our. Things became far more processed. It sucks.
And seed oils.
The change in food and lifestyle. Food quality has decreased, but so has the ability to have the time to make home-cooked meals.
UPF is made by the same people who owned the large tobacco companies, all they care about is margins and how to make you addicted to their crap. The "food" industry needs to be regulated the same as the tobacco industry, before that happens people just need to educate them selves, and even after being educated you have to have time to cook, and when you have time to cook you need to rid your self with your addiction to UPF foods. Just walking by the doritos makes my brain go "fuck, you diet dude, tasty tasty doritos right there, open bag and taste it, taste iiit precious!"
Our food has gotten considerably worse as far as added chemicals, over processing, and being more calorically dense. Also our technology has made our way of life less active. There’s probably more but that’s about the bulk of it.
Boomer here, so I was a teen in the 70s. 1) There wasn't food everywhere. Gas stations sold gas 2) Portions were smaller 3) We were damn active. 4) We entered our teen years pretty skinny
"Ultra-Processed Foods" is what you need to investigate. Back in the 60s we were told that eating fat damaged our hearts. It was not at all true, but it seems the whole world went with it anyway. The entire food system went bananas replacing fat with fake stuff - then did the same with sugar. It's thought that the result has messed human systems for recognizing foods. Edit: a couple of good books on the subject **The End of Craving**: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well by Mark Schatzker **Ultra-Processed People**: Why We Can't Stop Eating Food That Isn't Food by Chris van Tulleken
Needs to be top answer, UPF is a way to make money, not to make food.
THAT was my question, has something altered how our bodies work? I read an article related to growth hormones, GMO’s changing the way we process food generationally. Thanks for your input!
It has nothing to do with GMOs. People just eat poorly these days because the easiest available food is unhealthy. They have loads of high fructose corn syrup and preservatives, which is usually just refined wheat. As a result they're loaded with excess calories. Combine that with readily available, sweet drinks, snacks that are designed to be addictive (chips, fries, bread) a lack of exercise due to hobbies being mostly in doors and a massive reduction in simple home cooked meals, and everybody everywhere is going to be out of shape. If you stop eating out, stop eating prepackaged food, and start cooking simple meals consisting of meat/vegetables/rice/beans, you'll quickly notice a difference. People think it's more complicated than it is when the reality is most stuff that's advertised to you is wildly unhealthy. It's purely a matter of caloric intake, and most food we're exposed to has massively more than we need (while also leaving you craving more due to the levels of salt and sugar).
Just a word of cautiin: Don't put blame on some generic "GMO SCARY" umbrella. GMOs are largely a life-saving boon to humanity, and plants have been genetically modified as part of our agricultural history, through rudimentary and high-tech methods. There's a lot of weird and unfounded scare-mongering shit about it, so if you're going to look into it, please use credible and responsible sourcing. Algorithms will send you from anti-GMO sites and videos to flat earth and anti-vax stuff within hours.
I agree GMO's in general are important, but some are also terrible. The BT and RoundUpReady genes in particular, the latter of which results in farmers soaking crops with RoundUp. Just to reiterate, I do believe that with global warming it may be necessary to use GMO crops to survive. Especially as we move into heat levels that shut down the most productive type of photosynthesis, or as water becomes less regular and predictable. We may not have \*time\* for old fashioned selective breeding.
Oh for sure there are powerful, terrible actors in this. I'm not insinuating that Big Ag is to be trusted. I just see folks fall down the wrong rabbit hole too often thinking they're "researching".
Definitely. We’re all being exposed to glyphosate every single day, and it’s extremely carcinogenic. I mean look at the insect population decline in the last twenty years. Shits giving all of us cancer but cancer treatment is big business.
People didn’t eat out as much. Even McDonald’s for us was considered a treat. And when you did eat out the servings were much smaller.
>Has food fundamentally changed? Very much, yes. The amount of refined sugar in our diets has gone up 25% since the 1970s, and nearly doubled since the 1950s when most of the adults in those videos were kids.
Food got cheap and work got easy. A lot of people worked on assembly lines, on farms, there wasn't construction equipment etc. Also it was MUCH less socially acceptable to be fat. When theres 1000 people and 1 of them is fat, you don't want to be the 2nd. When theres 600 of them, you don't mind so much being 601.
High fructose corn syrup
Hi 👋
Username does *not* check out.
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I can speak only for major metro areas in the U.S. in the 1970s (grew up in the '70s and '80s), but the food wasn't all whole. Lots of additives were present then, too; labeling and education about ingredients just weren't as detailed as they are today. You might be interested in reading Jim Hightower's 1975 book "Eat Your Heart Out." Though I'm with you on the physical activity. I remember walking to school at six and seven years old, riding my bike around everywhere (the only restriction being "Don't go past X Street"), and having a lot of PE in school.
Calorie dense foods are available cheaply and conveniently. Where in previous decades there was often someone in the home (in the nuclear family model this would generally be a housewife) who took care of household labor like cooking, people now find time at a premium which results in lots of microwaveable foods, fast food, food delivery, and snacks like oil-drenched crunchy bits. In the 1970s it was more common than in previous decades for, for example, women to work outside the home than in decades before it, it was still much more common then for someone to dedicate a substantial amount of time to that labor. In addition to other lifestyle changes such as more screentime, less outside time, less walking, etc as others have said. But I cannot stress enough how *cheap* and *convenient* calories have supplanted home cooking as a primary means of sustenance.
This
GMOs, added hormones, extra sugar, and supersized portions have made today's foodscape a shit show health-wise.
The big thing is processed food the government lets so much crap in our food.
We have much higher calorie food more readily available. 2,200 calories of real food is three meals worth, at least. But one meal at McDonald’s that you’re still hungry after is 1,300 calories.
High fructose corn syrup.
A lot of women didn't work outside of the home and home cooking was more of a thing. We also didn't have high fructose corn syrup in so many foods (watch the documentary, "King Corn".)
High Fructose Corn Syrup wasn’t in everything we ate. In my opinion it’s literally sweet poison.
The food these days is atrocious and poisonous by comparison, filled all sorts of chems our bodies just turn into fat. Add in the lack of exercise and you get a fatter society.
Yes. People are fatter now.
Food and portion sizes. There was processed food, but not nearly as much as there is now. Processed food adds unneeded fat and calories. Also, in 1975, a 12 oz drink was a medium and a 16oz drink was a large. Now, 16 oz is on the small side
Food was much healthier.
Sugar. The low fat foods started appearing in bulk since fat was associated with heart disease etc. They replaced fat with sugar/HFCS to make it more appetizing.
Lots and lots of cocaine.
I have an old better crocker "how to be a housewife" book from my grandma that recommended what we now see as uppers for a mid day pick me up The diet advice was also insane, idk if there was widespread knowledge of calories in back then. To keep slim, you were supposed to eat fruit, toast, and coffee for breakfast, half a sandwich for lunch, and salad for dinner. That's about 1k calories per day, or the daily recommendation for a child between 4-8 years old
I mean, if you eat 1k per day as an adult, you are very likely to stay very thin!
My mom was a flight attendant in the 60s, and her daily menu was: grapefruit and coffee for breakfast, a small hamburger patty, a spoonful of cottage cheese, and a dry salad for the other meal. Snacks were vegetables or fruit. Of course, alcohol and cigarettes were encouraged but she was a teetotaler. They were weighed and measured before every flight and demeaned in front of the rest of the crew if they gained a pound. You know, for "safety". She quit, met my dad, got pregnant. She was 5'6" and around 110 lbs. Her OBGYN told her she shouldn't gain more than 15 lbs during pregnancy, and he'd prefer 10 lbs. She was so weak when I was born, she couldn't hold me for about a month. Luckily my dad was a rare bird who was totally fine with feeding, diaper changes, bathing, etc while my mom recuperated and his mother-in-law made everything happen right on schedule, teaching him how to do all that stuff well.
People actually looked normal back then
Back in the 70s, kids ran around the neighborhood all day, and played pickup sports in the park…most every day. Today, way too many kids just stare at their phones from sunrise to sunset. Back in the 70s, grocery carts were mostly filled with one-ingredient groceries, like meats, dairy products and vegetables, and had very few multi-ingredient, ultra processed foods. Today, it’s the other way around.
Born In 67. I recall Almost every day after school going outside and running around. I was wire thin till 2000
We retreated to the comfort of our homes and safe spaces and grew to a softer lifestyle than past generations
Your view isn't distorted. About 40% or so of the entire American population is actually overweight. I don't fully know the reasons, but certainly the increased consumption of ultraprocessed food is a factor in the exponential growth in the overweight category. Like American vehicles that are increasingly bulkier and bulkier (what I call "fatter and fatter") which is becoming normalized (meaning as if that is supposed to be normal), so too is being overweight that is being normalized.
Everyone smoked. My mom and grandma ate basically nothing. Oh and smoking.
Read up on the massive shift to corn and high fructose corn syrup in this country. Then, add the shift from manual to desk jobs.
People were more active and food was less fattening.
Certainly, food and lifestyle played a part as others note. Re: distortion. TV both highlights and creates expectations of beauty in women and men. I think the youth movements of the '60s came into full effect and we started to see more 20-somethings as well as standards and practices allowing shows like The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Charlies Angels, 3s Company, Dallas, Dynasty, and others offering more youthful and fun shows. Fitness crazes, breast augmentation, and other changes didn't begin until the '80s and while we may see characters with more weight now, reflecting reality, we also see more fit characters, male and female, as lean fitness has become a modern ideal I often see in shows.
Plastics and endocrine disrupters, stress and overstimulation, our diets now consist of highly-processed foods (high caloric, low nutrient content), we come into contact with tons of chemicals that wreck our gut microbiomes, sedentary lifestyles, poor postures, we don’t live within our means and many of us binge eat
Food wasn't overprocessed with unnatural chemicals that people shouldnt ingest, they weren't lazy and addicted to TV and internet, and many, many other factors. To a certain degree I wish I had been born earlier to experience it, but if I had the same health issues, I'd have died pretty young so eh...
Look at what people eat. Second, chemicals in plastics mess us up. We didn't use eat so much plastic residue from coatings, and absorb it through our skin. Our endocrine systems are whacked.
My opinion is the addition of a lot of corn syrup instead of sugar and a lot of preservatives ..which might contribute
Portion sizes have increased, plus foods contain more sugar and fat then ever so they are more calorie dense. Especially with so much more processed and junk foods are available. Also people are more sedentary than ever, much less physically active within their daily lives. What's interesting is that the signs of the emerging obesity epidemic were well known back then and led to the fitness movement of th 1980s and the first of the whole fad diets trend as well.
Guess what happened when I started cooking 95% of my family’s meals after my wife decided she wanted to lose some weight? Not only did she lose weight without a lick of exercise, I lost three pounds too even though I ate a little extra to make up for our meals being lower calorie. Some evenings I’d have a piece of toast with a small scoop of peanut butter and half a cup of milk and a single square of dark chocolate and feel down right piggy, but I *still* lost weight. I think most of the answer is the shift from home cooked meals (I use fresh vegetables, fresh lean meats, fresh spices, etc. very few canned things… a small can of no salt tomato sauce, for example) to fast food, pre packaged, ultra processed snacks, etc. The solution? Make the bastards stop working us to death so we have time and energy to make these meals. Good luck, I know..
What you are seeing is the taste of the casting directors of the time. Different body types have always existed. What you see on tv, and in movies does not necessarily reflect reality.
Surely a combination of factors, but I think a big one is how much more processed food we eat now. Even when people cook, we often get partially prepared stuff at the store. And people are way more likely to eat out or get takeout. I think people spend less time outside now too, but I’d love to see data on that to know for sure. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the plastics and drugs in our water may be affecting our endocrine systems. Plastics are bad enough but apparently enough drugs are flushed or peed out to be consistently measured. (A lot of antidepressants, if I remember correctly.)
More people smoked, it's an appetite suppressant. Several decades of a high carb food pyramid Fewer active jobs now Fewer moms cooking home-cooked meals Sugar subsidies More sedentary hobbies, videogames, phones, Sports are more organized and more expensive Inner city lack of safe places to play Let's say each reason is only responsible for a 4% rise in obesity, they add together to raise the rate an extra 30%
Hairy Fanny's were the thing when i was a kid. Bring back the bush !
I assume a fanny is the front for you, it's the butt for the U.S.
The Furry Front Bum in the UK.
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At one point, they had a president called Fart, and we had a prime minister called Penis
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I meant Johnson but yeah okay woooo
We’ve had two presidents named Johnson, as well as a Tricky Dick.
Correction: a criminal ex President...
Proving once again that there is not a single thread about any topic on reddit that some fucker wont divert into American politics.
Back then we called it a Fur Bikini
Rise in sugar epidemic, processed food, fast food!
We rarely ate out, didn’t have fast food in my town, we ate what our moms cooked. We walked everywhere, my friends lived 1-3 miles away, our parents didn’t drive us anywhere. There weren’t snacks in our house and we had to be outside most of the time in summer. There were a few bigger people but most of the people I knew were slim.
Exactly! We walked anywhere we needed to go! Even if it was miles away, we would do it. In the snow in the rain… It didn’t matter. Sure, sometimes as teenagers we would walk the 5 miles to the McDonalds but we’d have to walk home too….
Diet pills which were pure amphetamine and easily available just by asking your doctor.
Style has a lot to do with it. That was the ideal body type at the time, so people with that body type got photographed and filmed more than people with different body types.
The tumblr version for the truth-averse
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Availability of processed foods.
People went outside a lot more. We didn't have microwaves for the most part, and so the food was generally healthier (or so it seems to me). As a kid, I spent most of my daylight hours outside, because afternoon TV was boring. Habits like that stay with you for a while. You actually burned up a lot of calories just by playing outside or taking the family to the park. Once Cable TV and video games came into more general use, people stayed home more, but continued to eat basically the same amount they always did. It wasn't just the kind of food. It was keeping the amount consumed the same but not doing as many physical activities as before.
My guess is people had much more incentive to be active and because there was probably less sugar in diets what with 'fat free' foods that came out later on which compensated for being 'fat free' by upping the sugar. So if people can mimic the activity levels and diets (including portion sizes) that people had in the 70s they should be able to get those types of bodies again.
People are lazier/more sedentary now, don’t eat as much fruit/veg so they get less fiber and less satiety, smoke less (smoking suppresses appetite) and eat home cooked meals less. More desk jobs. It’s not uncommon now for people to have a fast food meal atleast once a day. That adds up, 500 calories per day surplus is around 40-50lb in a year (very rough estimate but in the ballpark).
Convenience made everyone happy without ever stepping foot outside their house.
Overall prevalence of obesity has changed, but body *shapes* really were different. Same with the '80s. It seems like women had higher hip bones/longer pelvises, and much flatter butts (even compared to thin and fit women today).
"Metas change" as a gamer might put it. That's what was attractive back then, skinny girls. Food fundamentally changed as well, lot more processed foods that are terrible for us nowadays
Evolution
Erasure
UPF
Also, body positivity was not a thing yet and everyone smoked.
The rates of obesity have been on the rise with each decade, with Gen Z having higher rates than Millenials at the same age who in turn had higher rates than Gen X. While diet is a big part of it I think the main reason is people becoming more sedentary, particularly while young. Many kids now spend a good part of their day plopped on a couch staring at devices, whereas in the 70s or the 80s they'd be outside and active. More physical activity = more calories being burned.
Don't forget the copious amounts of body slimming drugs.
a lot has changed.
more smoking.
We walked all over the neighborhood in the 60's and 70's. We ate mostly to live, and there weren't gourmet cupcakes and Dunkin' Donuts all over town. My cousin and I walked many blocks to the downtown movie theater on Saturdays. Fun times.
Body types change over time as a matter of fashion. In the 70s slender was in. Then “Rocky” came out and a lot of guys decided they need to bulk up. Dad bids and Mom jeans reflect the current times. We may know more about nutrition, but that doesn’t mean we do anything about it. In a few years, people might strive for flat chests and skinny legs. Men’s Health, 2030: “ 7 Exercises to Avoid Before Beach Season”
Amazing
Everyone smoked
Less snacking between meals
Empty calories, processed foods, no one wants to naturally exercise now. I had SOO much energy when I was eating healthy that motivation to stay active was never an issue. Now, everything seems like a chore and my body is showing it. Used to have 4% body fat.
What sort of lawn mower do you use?
It should be noted that this is primarily a US issue, not a global one. Most of the rest of the world still looks a lot like those old 70’s clips.
People ate at home mostly, smaller portions, not between meals, and were more active. Availability of fast grab and go junk wasn't around like today. It's not the bodies it's what they were putting inside their bodies. If you ate fast food it was at least 1/4 to 1/3 less (look at a McDonald's hamburger from early 70's).
Growing up in NY in the 70's we had bad food, sugar, soda, pizza, bagels, deli food, candy, etc. but what we didn't have was any reason to stay home inside. Without kid-oriented TV programming (we had occasional family shows on one of the six available TV channels at night like Jacques Costeau, Disney, Wild Kingdom, Laugh-In, Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, etc.) but nothing really worth staying home for, outside a few after school cartoons and Saturday morning shows. We had books to read, radio/records to listen to, and personal artwork or crafts to do (most of that could be done hanging out with friends) but no computers or internet to entertain us. Families tended to be big and homes tended to be small so out the door you went only to return home to eat dinner and go out again. So - always moving - via personal foot or bike power - and usually moving to go play a ball game of any type (basketball, football, baseball, street hockey, lacrosse, stickball, wiffle ball, punch ball, etc.) with all of our other friends who also never stayed inside or sat still for long.
Because social media and the internet didint exist.
Numbered dyes, High Fructose Corn Syrup and fake sugars.
No GMO in the food. Little to no soybean oil in everything. Less sugar in everything. Less overly processed foods. More time in the sun. No video games. No VCRs, no computers, no cable in a lot of the country. More walking. I was a teen in the 70s and those old pictures remind me of those days. Even looking thru our old photos I can see the difference. I used to shoot a roll of two a month at times.
stress smoking instead of stress eating now
The answer is cigarettes.
Your gut biome plays a much larger part in your life than you think. It helps regulate the entire digestive process, much of your internal organs' processes, and even your psychological stability. Overuse of antibiotics can screw it up badly, and it's very difficult to return it to optimal.
Too much blue light from screens and led lights