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

[Anonymous]

Coachella girls look fat to me.

[Anonymous]

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 ^^^

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.

Dp. Thos girls are fat. Probably would fall near the obese category, two in the middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s related to the microbiome. For some reason, something in our air, water, or food has shifted the mix of bugs in our guts. No sure exactly how, but I think this is driving the obesity epidemic.

Portion sizes also got much, much larger.

Agreed. And I think it is all the plastics in our environment these days - they disrupt the endocrine. There is plastic in bread these days, for god sakes.

[Anonymous]

Wholesale food clubs. My family drank soda until we joined one of these. Then it was soda all the time and all the snacks we could possibly eat, because they were now cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1

This, plus the the massive use of antibiotics. Farmers use antibiotics to fatten cattle. Why people don't think that has an effect on humans is beyond me.

We lived abroad for 15 years in 5 countries. I came back to the states for long stretches to have my kids, be in my sister's wedding, etc. I always gained in the U.S., lost overseas. I exercised the same or more in the U.S., due to being able to run outside alone without fear.

Sorry to make it political, and neither party is great, but one party wants to protect human health and ensure the safety of our air, food and water, while the other one wants unfettered capitalism with fewer (if any) regulations on chemicals,
air and water pollution etc. How we vote matters.


All meat, poultry and dairy foods sold in the U.S. are free of antibiotic residues, as required by federal law — whether or not the food is labeled "antibiotic free."

[Anonymous]

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/

But look at the data they are using. People write down what they eat and how much they engage in leisure exercise. They weren't wearing pedometers. I run the same mileage as I did in my 20s, but I'm much fatter now because my daily movement outside of intentional exercise is much lower, thanks to computer job, etc. I guarantee you the difference is due to the amount of movement the people are gettting. We are just fatties who sit around staring at screens and dont even do our own shopping any more.

[Anonymous]

I truly think it’s just genetics, portions, and movement. I’m not sure in what order.

My husband and I are thin (but not sticks) and so are our kids, our parents and siblings. None of us are on weird diets except my SIL. We are all fairly active but nothing crazy. We don’t do a lot of snacking and cook a lot at home, even before Covid. But we drink juice almost daily and soda probably 1x a week: occasional drive thru or chipotle/Panera type food.

Growing up my mom always said “everything in moderation.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Coachella girls look fat to me.

Eating disorders have destroyed the heathy perspective

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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

Heroin chic was in the 90s, not the 80s.

This Kate Moss/Marky Mark Calvin Klein ad sort of set it off: https://www.crfashionbook.com/celebrity/a25907245/remembering-kate-moss-calvin-klein-legacy/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fruit did not come in tubes. No lunchables.

No it came rolled up on saran wrap



We had PLENTY of junk food back then, I promise you. This was not some agrarian paradise. Our food was chock full of chemicals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fruit did not come in tubes. No lunchables.

No it came rolled up on saran wrap



We had PLENTY of junk food back then, I promise you. This was not some agrarian paradise. Our food was chock full of chemicals.

I’m 42 and we totally had lunchables in the 80’s. Also, bologna/American was a popular sandwich. Usually with a side of Doritos. And like a PP mentioned it was all in the those plastic sandwich baggies that folded instead of zipped because the zipper ones were way too expensive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fruit did not come in tubes. No lunchables.

No it came rolled up on saran wrap



We had PLENTY of junk food back then, I promise you. This was not some agrarian paradise. Our food was chock full of chemicals.

I’m 42 and we totally had lunchables in the 80’s. Also, bologna/American was a popular sandwich. Usually with a side of Doritos. And like a PP mentioned it was all in the those plastic sandwich baggies that folded instead of zipped because the zipper ones were way too expensive!

I’m 46, co-sign everything above. My mom wouldn’t buy Lunchables because she said they were overpriced and full of sodium. But she did buy Cokes (I’m sure I had a 16 oz glass bottle — remember those?! — nearly every day), and Hostess snack cakes, and Better Cheddars, and sugary granola bars, and all sorts of junk.

And like a PP in this thread described, “salad” was a big hunk of iceberg with dressing. Maybe some tomatoes and carrots.

Oh, and we ate at McDonald’s at least once a week.

I’m the same height as I was in my early teens (my growth spurt was early). Back then, I weighed about 15 pounds less. Sigh. Now it’s a constant struggle and takes vigilance not to put on any more pounds.

[Anonymous]

Cigarettes and Dexatrim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fruit did not come in tubes. No lunchables.

No it came rolled up on saran wrap



We had PLENTY of junk food back then, I promise you. This was not some agrarian paradise. Our food was chock full of chemicals.

I’m 42 and we totally had lunchables in the 80’s. Also, bologna/American was a popular sandwich. Usually with a side of Doritos. And like a PP mentioned it was all in the those plastic sandwich baggies that folded instead of zipped because the zipper ones were way too expensive!

I’m 46, co-sign everything above. My mom wouldn’t buy Lunchables because she said they were overpriced and full of sodium. But she did buy Cokes (I’m sure I had a 16 oz glass bottle — remember those?! — nearly every day), and Hostess snack cakes, and Better Cheddars, and sugary granola bars, and all sorts of junk.

And like a PP in this thread described, “salad” was a big hunk of iceberg with dressing. Maybe some tomatoes and carrots.

Oh, and we ate at McDonald’s at least once a week.

I’m the same height as I was in my early teens (my growth spurt was early). Back then, I weighed about 15 pounds less. Sigh. Now it’s a constant struggle and takes vigilance not to put on any more pounds.

It's funny--my parents were not the picture of health in the 70s/80s. They were both skinny in the 1960s when they got married and then both overweight when I was a kid mainly because they were not active people. They took walks maybe a few times a week, but never worked out or did any type of physical activity beyond walking. We never walked our dog until I was in high school or college and I would take her on walks, but the poor dog mainly got her exercise in the backyard because my parents never walked her. And they thought we ate healthy, but even if they were making home-cooked meals w/vegetables as sides, it was mainly carbs (pasta or if chicken then breaded chicken) and the portions were huge. They thought they were healthy based on their food choices, but really they weren't because everything was high carb/low protein, except cottage cheese. Boy did they like cottage cheese. But, cream cheese and jelly sandwiches were a lunch staple. No one ever made a salad--never, They refused to by fruit roll-ups and bought these disgusting natural fruit "leathers" which I hated. We lived off of Lorna Doones--never Oreos. Couldn't have Oreos, We could never ever eat McDonalds, but greasy gross Chinese food? Perfectly acceptable. We could only have soda in the summer and if so, then it had to be Diet Sprite (my dad was diabetic so only diet soda) or diet Dr. Browns. I remember when my mom started agreeing to buy Cheez Its instead of whatever gross "healthy" cardboard crackers she wanted to buy back then--I was in heaven! It was like the junk food of my dreams. I remember going to my friend's house and heating up shredded cheese on Doritos in her microwave and thought it was the best thing ever because no way would my mom a) by shredded cheese (only blocks of cheese that we shred) or b)Doritos. It's probably no wonder I am a snack addict in my adults and buy my kids boxes of goldfish, mini oreos and whatever other crap they want to have for a snack (of course this go worse during COVID) because my parents deprived me of snacks as a kid! I was a skinny kid and am a healthy weight today, but it amuses me that my parents thought they were being super healthy, when in fact they really weren't.

[Anonymous]

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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.

You are forgetting that most schools now provide “free” breakfast and lunch. So on top of whatever (hopefully healthy) you are feeding your child at home and sending to school with them they get a breakfast #2 of chocolate milk and cinnamon buns and whatever crappy lunch options they want to pick (maybe more chocolate milk, maybe a hot dog, cheesy bread stick) in addition to what you packed them or maybe they trash their lunch and just eat the crap or
Both. Either way- schools need to stop providing food beyond white milk and fresh fruit and vegetables. They just can’t do it well.