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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Smoked instead of ate. That's what my mom would say, anyway. And she was super skinny then.

My mom too. She quit in 1990 and immediately put on a lot of weight, she really wanted to start smoking again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:back then - smoking, less snacking

now - soda, processed food, weird diets, constant snacking for adults and kids

My parents are still thin now and they pretty much eat natural food they cook themselves and take walks, no crazy exercise or diets to remain thin. They do eat the occasional Trader Joe's frozen pizza or local hamburger. But it will be like 3-4 people sharing a pizza and eating it with extra vegetables and fruit. Same with breads - they do buy croissants for breakfast sandwiches, but each sandwich will be 1/2 croissant with egg, plenty of sautéed veg, and homegrown greens piled on top. They only drink tea, coffee, smoothie, and water.

Oh.- I forgot that they will sometimes grab a dozen donuts for the two of them. My dad will eat one and freeze the rest. My mom eats as many as she can (like 3-4 in a sitting haha) but they do this like once every month or two, not every week.

"now....weird diets"? the 70's was hotbed of weird diets. My mom was on all of them at one point or another. Let's not forget the most famous one - The Scarsdale Diet. And there was also the Cabbage Soup Diet, Grapefruit diet, Cottage Cheese Diet, those little brown squares that were supposed to taste like chocolate.

[Anonymous]

People weren't any skinnier in the 80's OP. They were heavier because working out wasn't a thing. Your parents were skinny because they were young. Once you get into your 50's, it is WORK to keep the weight off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many obvious reasons:

1) Take out/Eat Out culture didn't exist. I can count on one hand the number of times we ate out, versus eating at home. We went to our special restaurant once a year- maybe! Also the snack food industry was 1/4 of what it is now.

2) Nothing to watch on TV since we only had 5 channels - 4,5,7,9 and 20. After Brady Bunch and Gilligans Island what was there to watch!

3) and yeah I guess a lot more people smoked

This. We rarely went out to eat, maybe once or twice a month.

Portions were smaller at restaurants, even fast food restaurants.

More movement to do everything, and most middle class people did their own lawn work and some cleaning, even if they had a cleaner.

There were fewer chemicals in food. If you look at American brands soldin Europe and the same.brands sold here, they have a lot more preservatives and fillers here.

As a kid in the 70s and 80s, we might have one afternoon snack before dinner. No snacks at school or at most activities at all, unless they replaced a meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People weren't any skinnier in the 80's OP. They were heavier because working out wasn't a thing. Your parents were skinny because they were young. Once you get into your 50's, it is WORK to keep the weight off.

Of course people were thinner in the 80s. Have you not heard of the obesity epidemic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People weren't any skinnier in the 80's OP. They were heavier because working out wasn't a thing. Your parents were skinny because they were young. Once you get into your 50's, it is WORK to keep the weight off.

Of course they were. Try obesity rate among adults has more than doubled since the 70s/80s.

[Anonymous]

although less sugar, we are consuming more corn syrup, fructose in everything. the biggest culprit I think are highly processed grains (more sugar) and inflammation-producing oils,along with more hormone and hormone disruptors in foods, fewer micronutrients in the soil. Plus.... constant eating keeping insulin pumping all day long. kids didn't eat breakfast, snack at 10, lunch at 12, snack at 3, dinner at 5, snack before bed.


so, increased refine flours an grains and cookings oils, more calories, more frequently less activity = weight gain, insulin resistance, hence obesity, poor gut health, etc. I

The average American consumed 2,481 calories a day in 2010, about 23% more than in 1970. That’s more than most adults need to maintain their current weight, according to the Mayo Clinic’s calorie calculator. (A 40-year-old man of average height and weight who’s moderately active, for instance, needs 2,400 calories; a 40-year-old woman with corresponding characteristics needs 1,850 calories.)

Nearly half of those calories come from just two food groups: flours and grains (581 calories, or 23.4%) and fats and oils (575, or 23.2%), up from a combined 37.3% in 1970. Meats, dairy and sweeteners provide smaller shares of our daily caloric intake than they did four decades ago; then again, so do fruits and vegetables (7.9% in 2010 versus 9.2% in 1970).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:back then - smoking, less snacking

now - soda, processed food, weird diets, constant snacking for adults and kids

My parents are still thin now and they pretty much eat natural food they cook themselves and take walks, no crazy exercise or diets to remain thin. They do eat the occasional Trader Joe's frozen pizza or local hamburger. But it will be like 3-4 people sharing a pizza and eating it with extra vegetables and fruit. Same with breads - they do buy croissants for breakfast sandwiches, but each sandwich will be 1/2 croissant with egg, plenty of sautéed veg, and homegrown greens piled on top. They only drink tea, coffee, smoothie, and water.

Oh.- I forgot that they will sometimes grab a dozen donuts for the two of them. My dad will eat one and freeze the rest. My mom eats as many as she can (like 3-4 in a sitting haha) but they do this like once every month or two, not every week.

"now....weird diets"? the 70's was hotbed of weird diets. My mom was on all of them at one point or another. Let's not forget the most famous one - The Scarsdale Diet. And there was also the Cabbage Soup Diet, Grapefruit diet, Cottage Cheese Diet, those little brown squares that were supposed to taste like chocolate.

Huh, in the 70s? I guess because my parents were immigrants we didn't experience any of that. I do remember the aerobics craze.

[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/

I didn’t read the article which may cover this, but I recall reading an article that discussed the effects of global warming on fruits and vegetables. As I recall, the sugar content in even organically grown fruits and vegetables is much higher now than it was a few decades back. Might have something to do with the obesity crisis if true.

My folks were pretty lean when I was growing up. They both smoked 2 packs a day and got a significant percentage of their calories from alcohol. We ate home-cooked meals every day—always consisting of chicken, steak or pork plus fresh vegetables and huge servings of starches. We went to restaurants maybe 3 times a year, other than McDonald’s which we had whenever we traveled. They never exercised on purpose, but we did do all our own house and yard maintenance. My mom also loved to go shopping and definitely put in some miles at the local malls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People weren't any skinnier in the 80's OP. They were heavier because working out wasn't a thing. Your parents were skinny because they were young. Once you get into your 50's, it is WORK to keep the weight off.

Of course they were. Try obesity rate among adults has more than doubled since the 70s/80s.

And kids! I remember when I was in school, there were like 2 heavy kids who got teased. Now I see obese kids pretty regularly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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/

I didn’t read the article which may cover this, but I recall reading an article that discussed the effects of global warming on fruits and vegetables. As I recall, the sugar content in even organically grown fruits and vegetables is much higher now than it was a few decades back. Might have something to do with the obesity crisis if true.

My folks were pretty lean when I was growing up. They both smoked 2 packs a day and got a significant percentage of their calories from alcohol. We ate home-cooked meals every day—always consisting of chicken, steak or pork plus fresh vegetables and huge servings of starches. We went to restaurants maybe 3 times a year, other than McDonald’s which we had whenever we traveled. They never exercised on purpose, but we did do all our own house and yard maintenance. My mom also loved to go shopping and definitely put in some miles at the local malls.

This is fascinating. I'm also wondering with all the chemicals / GMO / pollution / etc. in the 70s-90s if the soil carries less nutrients, our produce has fewer nutrients, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know folks. I was around in the 80s and I ate tons of snacks, lots of candy and junk food, and we watched TV all the time. Cable became a thing in the 80s. And yes, we ate at home a lot but a lot of that food was heavily processed. Lots of casseroles from recipes on the back of a soup can, lots of freezer meals, etc. And I had a SAHM. My own child eats better and watches way less television than I did at her age. And it's not an SES thing -- my parents were/are a higher SES than my DH and I are.

I still agree that processed foods and lack of exercise is a big part of it, but I'm not sure television is the culprit. I think it's stress. I think families are stressed, parents are stressed, kids are stressed. I think everyone numbs with whatever is handy, whether that's fatty foods or television or video games or the internet. I think we're all trying to make the day to day as tolerable as possible because the long term feels worse than ever. And so much is expected of us. Kids in the 70s and 80s just went to school, maybe did one or two activities, tops. Yes, there were fewer dual-income parents, because it was possible to own a home and send your kids to decent schools without a second income. And if you did own a home and your kids were doing okay in school (which could mean straight Bs, that was fine and most people didn't freak out about that), you were considered successful even if you worked a blue collar job and never took a vacation that required an airplane.

Being middle class in the 70s and 80s was nice. Even for POC who were experiencing more racism, being middle class was pretty nice. It was a sustainable lifestyle that felt meaningful (kids, work) but also included a decent amount of leisure time and family time.

I don't know what the heck we're doing now. It seems terrible. I think it's hard to "eat your veggies" and get some exercise when you are exhausted and stressed out and feel like no matter what you do or how hard you try, you'll never have enough money to retire on, you'll never be able to afford college for your kids, and you are one medical emergency away from financial ruin.



I think it's stress and everything else (overeating, processed and heavy foods, lack of exercise, overwork, etc.) goes back to that.

Regarding "eat your veggies" - the veggies we are eating now are veggie chips and puffs, smoothies, bagged salads that have been in the refrigerator case fora. week... etc. We aren't eating out of grandma's garden.

But we weren't eating out of "grandma's garden" in the 70s and 80s either. Were you around back then? My mom's idea of a salad in the 70s and 80s was iceberg lettuce, cucumber slices, some carrot shavings, and ranch dressing. Almost all of our other vegetables came from cans. And supply chains were different back then so you couldn't get fruit as easily year round as you can now, especially not if you grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere like I did.

People have been eating heavily processed foods since the 50s. A lot of people when I was a kid blamed microwaves for ushering in an era of terrible nutrition. And, yes, working women. None of this is new. At all. You are all rehashing an argument that has been around for almost a century as though it's a recent problem with recent causes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People weren't any skinnier in the 80's OP. They were heavier because working out wasn't a thing. Your parents were skinny because they were young. Once you get into your 50's, it is WORK to keep the weight off.

Of course they were. Try obesity rate among adults has more than doubled since the 70s/80s.

And kids! I remember when I was in school, there were like 2 heavy kids who got teased. Now I see obese kids pretty regularly.

It's always jarring to see photos of kids from back then they are always very thin. Kids just look different now. They seem bigger in every way.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

I think it's all the sugar in processed food and soft drinks. Not just the calories, but the insulin resistance that develops when you consume a diet high in sugar.