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

[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/

Dcum is always toting that Americans need to eat a middle eastern diet.

Yet the majority of countries on the top ten fat list are middle eastern countries.

Interesting.

[Anonymous]

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 don't think she was middle class.

Today she is probably one of those dcum self proclaimed $300k salary "middle class" people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom just brought over a ton of old photos from the 70s. Damn were my siblings and I thin!! I always thought of myself as the chubby one and I was a toothpick in these photos. We were outside playing, biking, swimming from sun-up to sundown in the summer. We also all played travel soccer, tennis, etc.

[/b]People didn’t snack as much, portion sizes were MUCH smaller. Bagels were 1/4 size—so were muffins. There weren’t fatty Starbucks drinks. People are at home more frequently instead of eating out[b].

48-year old. Yes--there was no SUPER SIZE. Mc Donald's typical meal was a small cheeseburger the size of your palm and a small fry.

If you go anywhere today they try to upsell you the biggest size of anything. They look at you like you are an alien if you say 'no'. "But, really--for only a $1 more you can get the super, duper fattest meal with the largest Soda'...Ummm--no I just want water.

Each time over the past few decades my spouse and I have lived abroad, we come back several pounds lighter without trying. The portion sizes are a big deal. We even took a sabbatical where we partied, drank and ate throughout Europe for 6 months and when we got home people told me I looked anorexic. It was organic food, smaller portion sizes and lots of walking. And, we are avid exercisers and always worked out daily prior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The obese didn't live as long then..you can live a lot longer with heart disease and diabetes now.

That's true. They can take a lot more medications to somewhat control their conditions while continuing to gain weight. You're also much more likely to survive an initial heart attack these days.

[Anonymous]

price of food. doesn't need 18 pages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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/

Dcum is always toting that Americans need to eat a middle eastern diet.

Yet the majority of countries on the top ten fat list are middle eastern countries.

Interesting.

Who on earth is saying that? Middle East is suffering from obesity, at least wealthier countries and even Egypt's poor are getting overweight. Same thing, fast, cheap food, and poverty issues there too. Maybe from 200 years ago when it resembled Mediterranean diet? I should know, saw it with my own eyes.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I wonder what the people in China, Thailand, and India think when they make our utterly enormous clothes.

They are poor, but thin, making gargantuan 3x, 5x, etc size clothing for people who can afford to eat beyond their wildest dreams.

[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.

Untrue.

Read the factual census data posted earlier.

Most households in the 70s did not have 2 cars. Only 1/3 of the households had two cars and those were mostly not middle class families.

Most households did not have central air in the 70s. Some had window units. Many had no AC at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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)

I think that because houses were generally smaller back then, people look at their parent's houses and think "We must have been poor/middle class."

My inlaws had a nice for the times 1970s home. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, dining room, living room and big kitchen with separate eating area. They were upper middle class and that was considered a large spacious home back then.

Now it is considered a small starter home.

My family's middle class neighborhood was full of 3 bedroom/1 bathroom modest homes. They would be considered tear downs now, not fit for anyone but the poors.

Middle class people in the 70s did not generally have central air and middle class families in the 70s generally did not have 2 cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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/

Dcum is always toting that Americans need to eat a middle eastern diet.

Yet the majority of countries on the top ten fat list are middle eastern countries.

Interesting.

Who on earth is saying that? Middle East is suffering from obesity, at least wealthier countries and even Egypt's poor are getting overweight. Same thing, fast, cheap food, and poverty issues there too. Maybe from 200 years ago when it resembled Mediterranean diet? I should know, saw it with my own eyes.

Food forum. Kids forum.

They also come with the "Americans are so fat. You should eat a veggie focused diet like they do in the middle east."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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/

Dcum is always toting that Americans need to eat a middle eastern diet.

Yet the majority of countries on the top ten fat list are middle eastern countries.

Interesting.

Who on earth is saying that? Middle East is suffering from obesity, at least wealthier countries and even Egypt's poor are getting overweight. Same thing, fast, cheap food, and poverty issues there too. Maybe from 200 years ago when it resembled Mediterranean diet? I should know, saw it with my own eyes.

Food forum. Kids forum.

They also come with the "Americans are so fat. You should eat a veggie focused diet like they do in the middle east."

NP.

Traditional Mediterranean/Middle Eastern diets are very veggie focused, and healthy. But the Mid East has become wealthy. Meat is expensive. So is exported food and restaurants. So yeah, things are changing.

But traditional Mediterranean & Middle Eastern diets are healthy - but some morons think "Chicken Parmesan" is some kind of traditional Italian dish, and if they eat it they're following a Mediterranean diet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes I wonder what the people in China, Thailand, and India think when they make our utterly enormous clothes.

They are poor, but thin, making gargantuan 3x, 5x, etc size clothing for people who can afford to eat beyond their wildest dreams.

They think Americans are big and fat... and they will tell you so to your face unless they are use to dealing with Americans. In their culture, it isn’t considered rude to comment on size.

3x in Chinese sizing is a size 8 in the US. The Chinese don’t make 3x, 5x except for export.

[Anonymous]

It’s simple, we eat more now. Portion sizes are out of control. It’s truly disgusting how big portions are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes I wonder what the people in China, Thailand, and India think when they make our utterly enormous clothes.

They are poor, but thin, making gargantuan 3x, 5x, etc size clothing for people who can afford to eat beyond their wildest dreams.

They think Americans are big and fat... and they will tell you so to your face unless they are use to dealing with Americans. In their culture, it isn’t considered rude to comment on size.

3x in Chinese sizing is a size 8 in the US. The Chinese don’t make 3x, 5x except for export.

Funny.

In Japan they openly tell you if you are too heavy. It is not considered rude there to comment on weight.

[Anonymous]

eating less
smoking
no electronic devices

no need for 20 pages