Why were people so skinny in the 70s and 80s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of ideas out there but we actually don’t really know.

“ A given person, in 2006, eating the same amount of calories, taking in the same quantities of macronutrients like protein and fat, and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher. In other words, people today are about 10 percent heavier than people were in the 1980s, even if they follow the exact same diet and exercise plans.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/why-it-was-easier-to-be-skinny-in-the-1980s/407974/

This. It could be the rise of obesogens - things like BPA and phthalates that are pervasive in the environment and in our bodies. You can thank the chemical lobby and money in politics for not protecting us from these poisons. U.S. women's breast milk contains more chemicals compared to European mothers. In Europe chemicals have to be proven safe instead of proven harmful like here. Some of these chemicals may cause epigenetic changes in metabolism across generations.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/13/pfas-forever-chemicals-breast-milk-us-study

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/magazine/toxic-breast-milk.html

When European scientists first saw the test results of American women, they thought there must be a mistake. Our levels were 10 to 100 times higher than those of women in Europe and Japan.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no shame in being fat now.

Back then, the fat kid got teased, picked last in PE and general games, and didn't usually make any little league teams.

Plus, no one dated the fat kid.

I'm not saying back then was better at all, but body positivity was not a thing. Mothers back then did not hesitate to tell their daughters not to eat certain things or they'd get fat.

I can remember my mom telling me to limit myself to one or two pieces of chocolate a month so I didn't get acne. Also, I was always served a smaller portion of food at dinner to maintain my figure. Boys needed food to grow and become strong. Women needed will power to be as strong as possible.

My cousin was chubby from birth and as soon as she hit 12 or 13, I remember my aunt having the doctor put her on some type of weight loss drug. That stuff had her looking like a skeleton in no time at all!

As someone married to an obese man, I think you should really check yourself when you say there's no stigma against being big. You may think there should be MORE social opprobrium against those who aren't skinny but I can tell you that from his perspective, there's plenty of nasty judgment still, don't you worry.

THERE IS A WHOLE LOTTA SHAME IN BEING FAT! Why don’t you try being fat and see how what happens! Maybe social media has you thinking there’s no shame, but IRL, the shame is real!

[Anonymous]

size 8-12 (for women)

My grandmother was 5'6" and 135 lbs. when she was older and wore a size 12. There was not vanity sizing back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 54 and remember when everybody started marketing low fat foods in the 80s, and nobody realized they added a bunch of sugar to make it taste better. And I really think we got addicted to that, more than anything. And that was about the same time diet sodas became sweetened with Nutrasweet which tasted a lot better than the older saccharine sweeteners that had a bitter aftertaste. There is some data out there that just tasting the sweetness without getting the calories makes you crave more.

To me, those two trends really shifted how we ate as a country. That plus fast food marketing super-sized everything.

ding ding ding.

[Anonymous]

Grew up in the 70s and we just walked more. My parents worked downtown and would walk to the bus stop and then a few blocks to work. A family usually only had a single car. We walked to school or rode the bus. I didn't have a car in college and walked everywhere.

As stated many times, we cut the grass, raked the leaves, vacuumed and scrubbed floors. Grocery shopping meant walking the aisles. Rode bikes, rollerskated and spent hours and hours at the pool and trying to do walkovers in the yard.

Junk food was kind of a thing in the 70s, but my mom didn't let us have much of it. We did have koolaid in the summer, the kind where you had to mix your own sugar in. Sometimes she would buy the Quik powder. McDonalds was a real treat, maybe once every few months. Portions were smaller. We were all skinny kids and would come to the table hungry - no snacking before dinner.

The 80s was diet coke and low-fat/no-fat, so that's probably where the wheels started coming off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of ideas out there but we actually don’t really know.

“ A given person, in 2006, eating the same amount of calories, taking in the same quantities of macronutrients like protein and fat, and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher. In other words, people today are about 10 percent heavier than people were in the 1980s, even if they follow the exact same diet and exercise plans.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/why-it-was-easier-to-be-skinny-in-the-1980s/407974/

This. It could be the rise of obesogens - things like BPA and phthalates that are pervasive in the environment and in our bodies. You can thank the chemical lobby and money in politics for not protecting us from these poisons. U.S. women's breast milk contains more chemicals compared to European mothers. In Europe chemicals have to be proven safe instead of proven harmful like here. Some of these chemicals may cause epigenetic changes in metabolism across generations.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/13/pfas-forever-chemicals-breast-milk-us-study

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/magazine/toxic-breast-milk.html

When European scientists first saw the test results of American women, they thought there must be a mistake. Our levels were 10 to 100 times higher than those of women in Europe and Japan.

This

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
THERE IS A WHOLE LOTTA SHAME IN BEING FAT! Why don’t you try being fat and see how what happens! Maybe social media has you thinking there’s no shame, but IRL, the shame is real!

. I went on some supplements that blew me up like a marshmallow. Never got picked on or treated badly. However, my whole life vicious, sexually frustrated fat people have spread lies about me, bullied me, and abused me. Fat people just lie and even though they ARE VIVIDLY AWARE that after people get to know them they get dumped for their behavior. People just believe the lies if it comes from an obese person. Worst, most racist, most dishonest people ON THE INSIDE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of ideas out there but we actually don’t really know.

“ A given person, in 2006, eating the same amount of calories, taking in the same quantities of macronutrients like protein and fat, and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher. In other words, people today are about 10 percent heavier than people were in the 1980s, even if they follow the exact same diet and exercise plans.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/why-it-was-easier-to-be-skinny-in-the-1980s/407974/

This. It could be the rise of obesogens - things like BPA and phthalates that are pervasive in the environment and in our bodies. You can thank the chemical lobby and money in politics for not protecting us from these poisons. U.S. women's breast milk contains more chemicals compared to European mothers. In Europe chemicals have to be proven safe instead of proven harmful like here. Some of these chemicals may cause epigenetic changes in metabolism across generations.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/13/pfas-forever-chemicals-breast-milk-us-study

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/magazine/toxic-breast-milk.html

When European scientists first saw the test results of American women, they thought there must be a mistake. Our levels were 10 to 100 times higher than those of women in Europe and Japan.

This

I went home to Europe this summer and lost 7 lbs. effortlessly without even trying. I checked the supermarket bread and it had only 4 ingredients. Bread in America: Ingredients: Enriched Wheat Flour [Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Reduced Iron, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid], Water, Whole Grain Wheat Flour, Sugar, Yeast, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Sulfate, Modified Wheat Starch, Cellulose Fiber, Salt, Soybean Oil, Calcium Propionate (Preservative), Grain Vinegar, Datem, Monoglycerides, Monocalcium Phosphate, Soy Lecithin, Ferrous Sulfate, Citric Acid, Vitamin D3, Potassium Iodate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 54 and remember when everybody started marketing low fat foods in the 80s, and nobody realized they added a bunch of sugar to make it taste better. And I really think we got addicted to that, more than anything. And that was about the same time diet sodas became sweetened with Nutrasweet which tasted a lot better than the older saccharine sweeteners that had a bitter aftertaste. There is some data out there that just tasting the sweetness without getting the calories makes you crave more.

To me, those two trends really shifted how we ate as a country. That plus fast food marketing super-sized everything.

ding ding ding.

All of this plus hyper palatable processed foods dense with calories and light on nutrition.

[Anonymous]

No fast food and much better coke. And also people really cared and ate better. Today it feels trendy to be fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No fast food and much better coke. And also people really cared and ate better. Today it feels trendy to be fat.

It's not trendy to be fat. We are all just medicating with food and electronics.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know because I barely remember drinking water as a kid. Just out of a Jose outside in the summer or at fountains at school. No one had water bottles. Koolaid from a pitcher in the fridge, milk at meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Portion sizes were smaller -- particularly in restaurants. Even plates are larger now -- my parents still have the dinner plates we used in the 70s and they are smaller than the Pottery Barn ones I bought in the 2000s.
And smoking was definitely more prevalent -- my family didn't smoke but we had ashtrays my parents would put out for parties.

Yep. I have my grandmother's set that was her everyday dinnerware. I remembered them as the big ones. They are the size of Pottery Barn salad plates. And they have that indent for a cup, so food actually took at most 2/3 of the plate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No fast food and much better coke. And also people really cared and ate better. Today it feels trendy to be fat.

We had tons of fast food in the 70s and 80s

People ate like sh*t in that time, too

You guys really need to stop making assumptions about ye olde days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 54 and remember when everybody started marketing low fat foods in the 80s, and nobody realized they added a bunch of sugar to make it taste better. And I really think we got addicted to that, more than anything. And that was about the same time diet sodas became sweetened with Nutrasweet which tasted a lot better than the older saccharine sweeteners that had a bitter aftertaste. There is some data out there that just tasting the sweetness without getting the calories makes you crave more.

To me, those two trends really shifted how we ate as a country. That plus fast food marketing super-sized everything.

I really do think it's more than a few things. Probably a shift in the sugar content of all our food.

It's been a huge shift, the sugar is now everywhere - sausages, salad dressing, not just the obvious places like snacks and cereals.