Why were Americans of all ages so thin during the 1960s and 1970s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got back from a couple of weeks in Italy. I saw very few overweight people. Portions were much smaller - lots of gelato but no waffle cones. Also they sit and eat. Never saw a person holding a to-go cup of coffee, even in Rome. You either sat at the cafe or stood up at the cafe bar. I’m trying to emulate some of these habits now that I’m home.

I remember that from Rome too. And people walked places.

Yes, and walking here is seen as being one of The Poors.

My new neighborhood is next to a shopping center with a Starbucks. I asked my neighbor if she wanted to walk over to get a coffee with me (literally, walk 30 feet out of our neighborhood and cross at one red light). We've been hitting it off so far and I thought this would be a good chance to get to know each other better while the kids were gone. She wavered and said, "I mean, I guess, but what will people, you know, think?" I was completely confused and thought she meant just us going without inviting anyone else or maybe just her going with me because something had been said about me, etc. She then clarified, "we always just take turns driving over, the girls and I do. Because so many OTHER people walk, you know?" Yesssss, I know exactly what you mean. The "other people" are the people from down the road who live in the income restricted apartment complex... the POORS, many of whom don't have cars. Don't want to be confused as being poor! They'll happily walk to exercise within the confines of our neighborhood, but just not on any main streets where someone could see them and confuse their healthy exercise behavior as being poor.

I have seen & heard it all!

disagree with the bolded. some of the most expense neighborhoods in this area are walkable, and there is real premium on walkability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They weren’t thin but normal size. If you visit other countries, you’ll see that most people are “thin”. They only look “thin” to you because the majority of Americans are overweight/fat and that is the norm here.

Visit Australia and tell me if you still think this is true.

Kind of tired of people who keep proclaiming that obesity is a uniquely American disorder.

+ 1

absolutely true.

I was just in England and thought this as well.

Americans are so hard on themselves. I saw tourists from all over the world there and no one looked as fit and athletic as Americans. There were plenty of slim people, regular people, and yes even overweight people.

I even saw fat French tourists!

Here is a list of the top 10 fattest countries in the world. The USA is #10. Yippee! We made the top 10!

https://gazettereview.com/2016/06/top-10-fattest-countries-in-world/

Here is another site with a more complete list from WHO:

https://renewbariatrics.com/obesity-rank-by-countries/

The top of the list is dominated by Oceania and the Middle East. Australia, Canada, and the UK are not far behind the US, which ranks 19 on this list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I am 50. We ate junk food all the time. Twinkies, super sweet cereal, cokes, Kool-aide, ...... We weren't fat because we were active all the time. It really is that simple.

Yes.

The 70s diet was horrible compared to today.

But most families had only one car so people biked and walked many places. We spent all day outside playing, running around, climbing trees, swimming.

Most people did not have AC so inside was HOT over the summer.

And lost of adults smoked in addition to being more active.

OMG no. I was a child in the 70's. I never heard of a single family that only had one car, that would have been very strange. I lived in a middle class suburb and everyone had AC. And no, most people did not smoke.

I grew up in the 80s and we only had a window unit AC in my parents room. Rest of house had no AC.

I assume it was an older house. That was not the norm. My parents' house was built in the 70's and it had AC.

[Anonymous]

Smoking instead of snacking. It works, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I am 50. We ate junk food all the time. Twinkies, super sweet cereal, cokes, Kool-aide, ...... We weren't fat because we were active all the time. It really is that simple.

Yes.

The 70s diet was horrible compared to today.

But most families had only one car so people biked and walked many places. We spent all day outside playing, running around, climbing trees, swimming.

Most people did not have AC so inside was HOT over the summer.

And lost of adults smoked in addition to being more active.

OMG no. I was a child in the 70's. I never heard of a single family that only had one car, that would have been very strange. I lived in a middle class suburb and everyone had AC. And no, most people did not smoke.

I was a child in the 1960s. We had one car, almost no one had two cars, quite a few families had no car. We had AC in only one room. But we lived in an outer borough of NYC.

This probably has a lot to do with it. Many families in NYC still don't have two cars. In the suburbs, it was the norm to have 2 cars and A/C, and my family was more lower middle class than upper.

[Anonymous]

I still think you see a lot more really fit middle aged people now than you did in the 70's. Most people became pudgy in their 40's. I will say that there are many more extremely overweight people now than in the 70's, but outside of that demographic I think people now stay fitter and younger looking for much longer than they did a few decades ago. I do agree that kids now are fatter on average, but most adults in the 60s -70s did not work out. And the average adult of today who watches what they eat and works out, looks a lot better than their same age counterparts of the 70's did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I am 50. We ate junk food all the time. Twinkies, super sweet cereal, cokes, Kool-aide, ...... We weren't fat because we were active all the time. It really is that simple.

Yes.

The 70s diet was horrible compared to today.

But most families had only one car so people biked and walked many places. We spent all day outside playing, running around, climbing trees, swimming.

Most people did not have AC so inside was HOT over the summer.

And lost of adults smoked in addition to being more active.

OMG no. I was a child in the 70's. I never heard of a single family that only had one car, that would have been very strange. I lived in a middle class suburb and everyone had AC. And no, most people did not smoke.

I was a child in the 1960s. We had one car, almost no one had two cars, quite a few families had no car. We had AC in only one room. But we lived in an outer borough of NYC.

This probably has a lot to do with it. Many families in NYC still don't have two cars. In the suburbs, it was the norm to have 2 cars and A/C, and my family was more lower middle class than upper.

This was not Manhattan though, and it was a time when plenty of outer borough people were frightened of the crime riddden, graffitti covered subways.

Anyway, the national data show that over half of households in the entire USA had one or zero cars in 1970. That has to include a lot of suburban households. Maybe you are thinking 1978 not 1970,or your burb was particulary auto dependent (lots of burbs in greater NY, Boston, Chicago, Philly had very good commuter rail service) or it was more upper middle class than you remember (I mean these days people who are objectively rich consider themselves UMC, and I think lots of people who are really UMC consider themselves LMC)

[Anonymous]

No Starbucks.

[Anonymous]

Kids and younger people are fatter now, older people are thinner and in better shape now.

In the 70s we mostly played outside all day and the only electronic device was a television. Portions were much smaller, and going out to eat anywhere was a special treat. Sodas were half the size they are now.

Older people did not tend to exercise, and the thinner ones still smoked like chimneys.

[Anonymous]

I saw plenty of obese people. Diets were much worse then. Plus, no exercising . Why do you think they were thinner?

[Anonymous]

I was alive then too, younger people were thinner but older people were just as large.

Think kids had more exercise/ time outside (because no one cared if we were kidnapped or not) and portions were smaller then. But, older people didn't tend to exercise and also smoke and drank a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still think you see a lot more really fit middle aged people now than you did in the 70's. Most people became pudgy in their 40's. I will say that there are many more extremely overweight people now than in the 70's, but outside of that demographic I think people now stay fitter and younger looking for much longer than they did a few decades ago. I do agree that kids now are fatter on average, but most adults in the 60s -70s did not work out. And the average adult of today who watches what they eat and works out, looks a lot better than their same age counterparts of the 70's did.

+1000000

We have a huge exercise culture now that did not exist in 60s/70s.
We eat far more healthy, we eat foods people didn't even know existed 40 years ago.
We don't smoke, we drink less.

Don't underestimate how smoking keeps people skinny!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP Fairfax County, our lives did NOT revolve around food. Soccer "snacks" were oranges. Family road trips/vacations/family reunions always involved a park with a playground. And, we played! Up and down the tall, metal sliding boards, teeter totters, swings, monkey bars, pull up bars.

Playgrounds today are more passive.

Another observation; Field Day in the 1970s was competitive. We got medals and actually competed in hurdles, 50 yard dash, relay race. Now, FD is face painting and snow cones.

What happened to the Presidential Fitness Award? That was another very popular, very competitive, active "unit" in ES and middle school. Running the 600, flex arm hang, sit ups, etc.

We didn't have rock climbing walls, zip lining and such a huge variety of organized sports and classes. No kid back then went to the gym. Today kids are lifting weights and running on treadmills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was alive then too, younger people were thinner but older people were just as large.

Think kids had more exercise/ time outside (because no one cared if we were kidnapped or not) and portions were smaller then. But, older people didn't tend to exercise and also smoke and drank a lot.

Yes, and life expectancy was shorter. My frend's fathers, and my father, all had heart attacks in the 50 to 60 age range. Mothers were definitely heavier in their 50s and 60s compared to now. But I do agree about the kids- we weren't on computers all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was alive then too, younger people were thinner but older people were just as large.

Think kids had more exercise/ time outside (because no one cared if we were kidnapped or not) and portions were smaller then. But, older people didn't tend to exercise and also smoke and drank a lot.

Yes, and life expectancy was shorter. My frend's fathers, and my father, all had heart attacks in the 50 to 60 age range. Mothers were definitely heavier in their 50s and 60s compared to now. But I do agree about the kids- we weren't on computers all day.

The retirement homes are now filled with those once portly middle aged people.