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

[Anonymous]

Chunky is more socially acceptable now. The view of a normal size keeps getting bigger and bigger. Also, portions.

[Anonymous]

I think part of it is that there are so many more options now, so many convenience foods, ethnic foods, takeout places, fun drink places etc etc etc

Granted I was just a kid, but most of our food was really not that exciting, or anything I wanted to pig out on. (Not as a kid, and not if it was out in front of me now). Casseroles, meat and potatoes type meals, mediocre spaghetti or tacos occasionally. for frozen stuff it was frozen pizza (meh) and I don’t remember it being very tasty either. Probably only a few choices then, now there are probably 50 different frozen pizza types at my supermarket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chunky is more socially acceptable now. The view of a normal size keeps getting bigger and bigger. Also, portions.

You have cause and effect mixed up here. Chunky is more acceptable because people got fatter. People didn’t get fatter because chunky was more acceptable.

[Anonymous]

People eat all the time. Snacks and more snacks. Larger portions.

Go to a restaurant in middle America like a chili’s and watch what people are ordering on a Monday night. They are eating like this frequently and it’s why they are huge.

[Anonymous]

There were more opportunities to be active back then. As a society, we’ve just become lazier and therefore fatter. You can spend the entire day not moving by having all your basic needs delivered to your house. You can sit vapidly in front of your phone, computer or tv all day long. Back in the 70s and 80s even if you had cable (in the late 80s) there were limits on programming. At some point you had to get up and find something else to do. You had to walk to get places. Kids spent more time outside being active. As someone else said, you didn’t hire out for your basic housework like mowing the lawn, washing your car, etc. Simpler times. I agree with the other poster who said stress is contributing to overeating. The amount of stress we’re under nowadays nowhere near compares to the 70s/80s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chunky is more socially acceptable now. The view of a normal size keeps getting bigger and bigger. Also, portions.

You have cause and effect mixed up here. Chunky is more acceptable because people got fatter. People didn’t get fatter because chunky was more acceptable.

Not true if you look at the study of many cultures.

In times of famine fat is beautiful, at times of excess (the 80’s) heroine chic is beautiful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Availability of liquid calories and snacks is so much different now than it was in the 70s and 80s. The marketing is subversive, too. "Healthy" juices and smoothies that add extra calories and more grams of sugar than is recommended in a whole day. Entire aisles in the supermarket devoted to whole grain snacks, superfoods, etc. that from a macros perspective are no different than a bag of chips. Daily starbucks runs (my parents drank black coffee, maybe some cream and a couple cubes of sugar. Think of how many people now habitually consume take-out coffee drinks instead.) Add to that better accessibility to more food in general OR less accessibility to quality foods.

You must not have been around in the 70s and 80s. There was tons of soda, fruit juice, "fruit" juice (like Sunny D), Hawaiian Punch, Capri Sun, you name it. Starbucks didn't exist but we had plenty of junk to fill us up, even in the ye olde times. And plenty of weird diets, too.

I think you're all looking back with skinny-colored glasses.

Yes there were all those things. But people are also remembering correctly. All you have to do is look at old year book class photos. Or pictures from Woodstock, or the day Kennedy was assassinated. People overall were thinner then.

This is part of how this history is mis-remembered. Look at pictures of Coachella from today. You will see skinny people there, too. That's because the media and the public share (and remember) the most glamorous and sexy version of any event. It's not representative of the world - it's representative of what angle on events filters into the public memory.

I just did a Google search for Coachella 2020:







You're not getting the full view of humanity by looking at the pictures still being shared of Woodstock, just like youre not getting the full view of humanity by looking at the pictures the media is sharing of recent Coachellas. I hope you understand that!

PP doesn't think those girls are skinny, that is the problem.

Well, 4-5 of them are definitely not skinny. They would be size M-L in the 70s-80s. That doesn't mean that they are fat, or obese, or of unhealthy weight. But they are not skinny.

Exhibit A: The problem ^^^

[Anonymous]

Three meals a day. No snacks (at all.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Availability of liquid calories and snacks is so much different now than it was in the 70s and 80s. The marketing is subversive, too. "Healthy" juices and smoothies that add extra calories and more grams of sugar than is recommended in a whole day. Entire aisles in the supermarket devoted to whole grain snacks, superfoods, etc. that from a macros perspective are no different than a bag of chips. Daily starbucks runs (my parents drank black coffee, maybe some cream and a couple cubes of sugar. Think of how many people now habitually consume take-out coffee drinks instead.) Add to that better accessibility to more food in general OR less accessibility to quality foods.

You must not have been around in the 70s and 80s. There was tons of soda, fruit juice, "fruit" juice (like Sunny D), Hawaiian Punch, Capri Sun, you name it. Starbucks didn't exist but we had plenty of junk to fill us up, even in the ye olde times. And plenty of weird diets, too.

I think you're all looking back with skinny-colored glasses.

Yes there were all those things. But people are also remembering correctly. All you have to do is look at old year book class photos. Or pictures from Woodstock, or the day Kennedy was assassinated. People overall were thinner then.

This is part of how this history is mis-remembered. Look at pictures of Coachella from today. You will see skinny people there, too. That's because the media and the public share (and remember) the most glamorous and sexy version of any event. It's not representative of the world - it's representative of what angle on events filters into the public memory.

I just did a Google search for Coachella 2020:







You're not getting the full view of humanity by looking at the pictures still being shared of Woodstock, just like youre not getting the full view of humanity by looking at the pictures the media is sharing of recent Coachellas. I hope you understand that!

PP doesn't think those girls are skinny, that is the problem.

Well, 4-5 of them are definitely not skinny. They would be size M-L in the 70s-80s. That doesn't mean that they are fat, or obese, or of unhealthy weight. But they are not skinny.

Exhibit A: The problem ^^^

What are you talking about "the problem"? Those girls are a nice healthy size but they aren't skinny in the way people used to like in the 70s and 80s. Bodies have changed. That's what this whole thread is about.

[Anonymous]

Also, no supersize Cokes, juice boxes, or huge Frappachinos. I remember getting the occasional slurped from 7-11 as a kid. A small one like once a year for a special treat. Otherwise, it was water or milk.

[Anonymous]

Fruit did not come in tubes. No lunchables.

[Anonymous]

Drive thru restaurants were non existent or rare. You had to walk into a fast food to order.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People eat all the time now. Nonstop. My kid is forced to take a snack for a 2.5 hr preschool event.

Snacks snack snacks all the time. Mostly processed food.

People don’t smoke.

All you have to do is eat three small meals a day and you won’t get fat.

+1 snacks, snacks, snacks.

This has to be a huge part of it. My own parents didn't have snacks at school they said they got a milk and that was it. And no snacks after sports. We are constantly shoving food at our kids and a lot of it is garbage. I hate the fact that my kids get a bag of Cheetos and a Sunny D or something like that after a soccer game from some other parent.

My kids are getting an Honest juice box and a bag of pirate booty so it has a health halo but is still just calories they don’t need. It’s exhausting to fight back against. My kids think I’m so mean to ban all this snacking.

We had zero snacks. I remember always being hungry before lunch and majorly hungry before dinner.
That reminds me, the family ate together at the dining room table every night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, no supersize Cokes, juice boxes, or huge Frappachinos. I remember getting the occasional slurped from 7-11 as a kid. A small one like once a year for a special treat. Otherwise, it was water or milk.

I think this is a big part of it too. We drank milk or water. Occasionally a little juice glass of OJ with breakfast. Anything else was a huge treat.

My parents drank coffee and my mom went through a diet soda phase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People eat all the time now. Nonstop. My kid is forced to take a snack for a 2.5 hr preschool event.

Snacks snack snacks all the time. Mostly processed food.

People don’t smoke.

All you have to do is eat three small meals a day and you won’t get fat.

+1 snacks, snacks, snacks.

This has to be a huge part of it. My own parents didn't have snacks at school they said they got a milk and that was it. And no snacks after sports. We are constantly shoving food at our kids and a lot of it is garbage. I hate the fact that my kids get a bag of Cheetos and a Sunny D or something like that after a soccer game from some other parent.

My kids are getting an Honest juice box and a bag of pirate booty so it has a health halo but is still just calories they don’t need. It’s exhausting to fight back against. My kids think I’m so mean to ban all this snacking.

We had zero snacks. I remember always being hungry before lunch and majorly hungry before dinner.
That reminds me, the family ate together at the dining room table every night.

We rarely had snacks either. at school we had “milk break” in the afternoon and the moms took turns sending snacks in to have with it. It was usually one graham cracker square or a little cup with a few tiny crackers. Almost seems laughable. And that was in early elementary only. For snack time at my kids’ school some kids bring bags of chips, jumbo muffins, or even sandwiches etc! At home we maybe got a popsicle on a summer afternoon. That was pretty much it.