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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mean, why were people in the normal BMI range, contrary to now, when two thirds of adults are overweight or obese?

Because there wasn't as much junk food back then. People cooked more from scratch, and their parents had fed them normal portions, not ginormous portions, so they'd grown up knowing how much food is normal.

Today, most children in the US grow up with no knowledge of what a normal portion should look like, and perhaps no knowledge of how many meals to consume a day, and even what constitutes a meal, since adults around them are snacking all day, and encouraging them to snack. Junk food occupies the majority of most supermarket aisles, and some of it is less expensive and easier to prepare and eat than healthy carbs and vegetables. We are in a diabetes and cardiovascular disease epidemic, and every taxpayer pays the burden of their, and other people's, bad eating choices.

My mom was under 100 lbs barely over when pregnant. She was not at a "healthy" weight.

[Anonymous]

Smoking, no ‘low fat’ processed snacks, fat shaming, more boring food

[Anonymous]

Lots of housewives took amphetamines mixed with barbiturates for weight loss.

“ So-called “rainbow diet pills,” prescribed almost at random in special walk-in clinics, gave patients amphetamines—and the illusion of personalized medicine. Patients in search of weight loss would receive a short consultation and a prescription that was filled in a compounding pharmacy, usually one that gave kickbacks to the prescribing doctor.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/speedy-history-americas-addiction-amphetamine-180966989/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody supersized anything. And no fast food.

+100

and STARBUCKS. People drinking their calories---1,000 calorie blended Fattocinos with whipped cream and loaded sugary Venti coffee drinks.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

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

[Anonymous]

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/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mean, why were people in the normal BMI range, contrary to now, when two thirds of adults are overweight or obese?

Because there wasn't as much junk food back then. People cooked more from scratch, and their parents had fed them normal portions, not ginormous portions, so they'd grown up knowing how much food is normal.

Today, most children in the US grow up with no knowledge of what a normal portion should look like, and perhaps no knowledge of how many meals to consume a day, and even what constitutes a meal, since adults around them are snacking all day, and encouraging them to snack. Junk food occupies the majority of most supermarket aisles, and some of it is less expensive and easier to prepare and eat than healthy carbs and vegetables. We are in a diabetes and cardiovascular disease epidemic, and every taxpayer pays the burden of their, and other people's, bad eating choices.

My mom was under 100 lbs barely over when pregnant. She was not at a "healthy" weight.

How tall was she? What is a "healthy" weight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of housewives took amphetamines mixed with barbiturates for weight loss.

“ So-called “rainbow diet pills,” prescribed almost at random in special walk-in clinics, gave patients amphetamines—and the illusion of personalized medicine. Patients in search of weight loss would receive a short consultation and a prescription that was filled in a compounding pharmacy, usually one that gave kickbacks to the prescribing doctor.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/speedy-history-americas-addiction-amphetamine-180966989/

Yikes!

[Anonymous]

My mom was so cheap she would water down the Kool-aid. It tasted like red water . We also played outside all day long and I even played travel soccer as a girl back in the early 80s on top of being outside every day. Portion sizes were much smaller.

More activity and less food (smaller portions).

I read that kids today have the activity level of 60-year olds back in the 70s. That's astounding and so awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mean, why were people in the normal BMI range, contrary to now, when two thirds of adults are overweight or obese?

Because there wasn't as much junk food back then. People cooked more from scratch, and their parents had fed them normal portions, not ginormous portions, so they'd grown up knowing how much food is normal.

Today, most children in the US grow up with no knowledge of what a normal portion should look like, and perhaps no knowledge of how many meals to consume a day, and even what constitutes a meal, since adults around them are snacking all day, and encouraging them to snack. Junk food occupies the majority of most supermarket aisles, and some of it is less expensive and easier to prepare and eat than healthy carbs and vegetables. We are in a diabetes and cardiovascular disease epidemic, and every taxpayer pays the burden of their, and other people's, bad eating choices.

My mom was under 100 lbs barely over when pregnant. She was not at a "healthy" weight.

How tall was she? What is a "healthy" weight?

5'3" I'm not making judgements on what is or is not healthy but she didn't look healthy. Her nickname was her name - bones

[Anonymous]

Maybe frame it differently. People in the 70s were normal. s been normalized. Too much junk food now and portions tripled. Order a meal in France today and it's probably close to what portions would have been here back in the 70s.

We eat more processed food, fatty food, gmo food, hormone-enhanced food and healthy food is often more expensive than unhealthy options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe frame it differently. People in the 70s were normal. s been normalized. Too much junk food now and portions tripled. Order a meal in France today and it's probably close to what portions would have been here back in the 70s.

We eat more processed food, fatty food, gmo food, hormone-enhanced food and healthy food is often more expensive than unhealthy options.

At least for my parents, they were underweight. My Dad was even a 3 sport college athlete and he was thin for an athlete. For both of them as adults they were effortlessly skinny. It wasn't some kind of crazy diet or exercise. I get kids being skinny, but sedentary adults?

I would believe it's some kind of issue across the board with our food chain.

[Anonymous]

My mom was obsessive about watching her weight, although she didn't smoke. She was a SAHM and was always cleaning something -- she's still that way at 80. My dad was a smoker and a truck driver -- he smoked and drank coffee all through his shifts. He also worked a second job a lot so when he was home, he'd eat dinner / breakfast / lunch and immediately go to sleep. We also didn't have a lot of money so no takeout.

[Anonymous]

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.