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I'm not sure I buy it. If you listen to the talk, the spokesperson for the Atlantic is only speculating. She says things like "could be...", "may be changing the way the body metabolizes..." etc. Also, some pesticides and other chemicals used in the 80's have been banned in the US. Plus, organic food has gained tremendous popularity, so many people aren't ingesting that stuff, anyway. Has there been a study comparing people on an all-organic, or mostly-organic diet to people eating conventional fruits and vegetables, to see if the consumers of organic foods are thinner?
It's easy to fling around theories, but that's all they are, is unproven theories so far. The millennials I know are as slim as 20-somethings and early 30-somethings were in the 80's. And they don't go to the gym. They don't have to; their hormones at that age manage their metabolism just fine, and they don't overeat, or gorge on sweets and other empty carbs, or eat junk food. The video seems to be peddling stereotypes of Americans eating a lot of fast food. People were doing that in the 80's too, and those people were overweight. The rest weren't.
More study needed.
Most people can't afford organic food prices. The price on a bunch of regular bananas is like 48 cents a pound. Then you go to the "organic bananas" and suddenly the price shoots up to $3.00 (That's an accurate price on both items as I just went to the store today and saw that.) (Although, as far as I'm concerned - it's a fricken banana, it's organic just because it's a fricken banana.)
Food was cheaper back then, as well - and that is accounting for inflation. It was easier to afford the "raw" foods like vegetables, fruits, meats than it is today. And when people don't eat the raw foods, they get inundated with salt, fat, sugar, corn syrup (which seems to be in everything), etc.
And I swear they are adding more salt and more sugar into everything. I just tried some chips the other day after I don't know how many years since the last time I had chips, and I couldn't stand them. There was so much salt - it felt like my tongue was swelling. I've never liked salt. Hate it. So, I'm definitely aware of salt in things - and these chips, that we've been able to buy for decades, were disgusting.
And in many parts of the country, people don't walk. They drive. Everywhere. I know people who won't even walk a few blocks to get somewhere. No matter how many times I come across that, it never fails to surprise me. "Really? It's only 10 blocks away!" Nope. They will not walk it.
As for "millennials are all thin" - no, they are not. Gen Z isn't all thin, either. I went to a local college campus today to see someone, and just about every person I saw on campus, (considering it was a Saturday so not a ton of people, but a good chunk), was overweight.
I think it was easier to afford fresh, whole foods back in the 80s than it is now. And I think a lot of people are lazier than people were in the 80s. I know that when I was a kid, we never got to sit inside all day long, summer or winter. We had to "go outside and get some exercise" every single day. Ride our bikes, play "King of the Mountain" in the winter, play hoops, a small version of baseball, catch, tag, whatever, we had to go outside for most of the afternoon.
Your memories of McDonald's are not very accurate. I went to McDonald's many times in the 1960s. We had one of the oldest McDonald"s in Uniontown, PA and I used to visit my aunt in Youngstown, OH were we would go to McDonald"s and many other fast food restaurants in Boardman and Austintown Ohio.
According to Wikipedia, McDonald"s opened its 1,000th restaurant in 1968. After that it hit the following milestones:
I've made the comment many times that I grew up in a town that was so small we didn't get a McDonald's until the late-70s. I'm sure Houston had scores of McDonald's in the 1980s.
It is also hard to believe that anyone could grow up in America and not eat pizza. We had many mom and pop pizza shops in the 1960s and I remember Pizza Hut and other chains opening in the early 1970s.
Depends on where you were. McDonald's opened it's 1000th restaurant in 1968--I was in high school by then. How many cities are there in the US? So it had little penetration during my childhood.
What makes you think their penetration was as great with 1000 restaurants as it is today? Or even in 1980s.
That's the point of the thread. There are more than three times more McDonalds in the US today than in 1980s.
And so many other franchises have followed the lead of McDonald's, since the time "franchise" was still a new thing.
Quote:
I packed my lunch everyday in junior high from 1967 to 1970. We didn't have a cafeteria and ate lunch at our desk in homeroom. It was rare that I didn't take potato chips and some kind of pastry. My friends and I usually went to a local bakery before school and we would buy cream puffs, doughnuts, eclairs, cupcakes, etc. After school we often hung out at a local corner store where we drank Mountain Dew and ate those fruit pies with glazed sugar. Candy bars were also popular for lunches and after school snacks.
So what are the differences between then and now that contribute to the obesity problem. One is the McDonald's and other fast food drive-thrus. According to Wikipedia, "In 1975, McDonald's opened its first drive-thru window in Sierra Vista, Arizona, following Wendy's lead. I have recently noticed how busy McDonald's drive-thrus are around dinner time. I think the trend of drive-through dinners have gotten to be very common with many families. Also the proportion sizes have increased drastically. We would drink a 12 oz. can of soda in the 1970s. Now people get a 32 oz. soft drink because it is the same price as a smaller size. I also remember when a McDonald's meal could be purchased with the advertisement of getting change back from your dollar. We would get a regular hamburger or cheeseburger, what is now a small fries, because there was no other size, and a regular Coke, all for less than a dollar. Now I see people ordering a couple of Big Macs or Quarter pounders with cheese, and a supersized fries and drink.
Another thing that has changed, as a few others have pointed out, is the constant snacking throughout the day. My wife works with a woman who is trying to get approval for gastric bypass. She snacks continuously all day at her desk with big bags of potato chips, cookies, candy, and 32 oz. soft drinks.
It is obviously not just one thing but a combination of many changes in our society.
I've already said that. I wrote a long post on the fact that there are many changes, and you've only pointed out a few of the things I've already spoken of.
Ah, I remember being jealous of the kids who had Hostess Twinkies as I was eating the cookies and brownies my mother made from scratch. Well, maybe she used mixes for cakes and brownies, but there was no frosting from cans. And I remember when we actually had some leftovers from a bag of Fritos and I got THOSE in my lunch. Heaven.
I have since apologized to my mother.
I never ate the Hostess Twinkies but some of the other Hostess products were common in kids lunches back in the 60s and 70s. I remember the Hostess Sno Balls, Hostess CupCake, Zingers, Ho Hos, and Hostess fruit pies. It appears most of these are still being sold.
Last edited by villageidiot1; 09-07-2019 at 06:27 PM..
I highlighted 'some'. I did not say all. No need to flip out. And if you don't think that some people will use any excuse they can than I have some swamp land to sell you. I am just pointing out that not ALL people gain weight on those types of drugs.
Of course not ALL will but when I see healthy teenagers who are active on school sports teams putting on 60 lbs in a semester ... SOMETHING is terribly wrong.
I'm absolutely disgusted with the extra 50 lbs I'm carrying around right now, compliments of the hormone I have to take that prevents me from growing massive uterine fibroids. There has been no change in my diet; this is not an excuse. If I were to restrict my intake ANY further; I'd suffer malnutrition that would lead to cardiac issues & bone loss. That is simply not an option.
Editing to add: That's another ominous sign; the obese here are all suffering malnutrition. I was at my doctors yesterday & while he's not thrilled about my weight, he actually said 'you could live to be 100; I'm very impressed with your labs'.
I want to lose weight but it could compromise my health? That's so weird. I think it's hormones in the foods. I wish we could go back in time before the government took over food production when our food came from family farms & ranches. Prolly won't happen, though.
Last edited by coschristi; 09-07-2019 at 06:27 PM..
I didn't really live during the 1980s. I was born during the 1980s, but have very few memories until 1990 or so. I can't fully compare. I can talk about my experiences.
I think everyone has gotten so fat now that normal is thin. I'm 5'10" and I weigh between 160-165 depending on the day. I was 164 this morning. People think I need to gain weight. I do not need to gain weight. I have some muscle but I'm not a hulking guy. I'm all around fit. There have been very few periods in my life where I was overweight. I had 2 short instances where I was overweight, but those were quickly resolved. We're talking about months. Not a big deal.
The portion sizes are the biggest factor from my vantage point. We're also not exercising enough. I don't like the processed food element. Over the last 5 years, I have cut out soy and processed foods from my diet. The result is that I feel phenomenal. I had bloodwork done in my last physical earlier this year. My doctor was quite impressed by all my numbers. Avoiding soy, sugar, processed foods and everything has been great for me.
I never ate the Hostess Twinkies but some of the other Hostess products were common in kids lunches back in the 60s and 70s. I remember the It appears most of these are still being sold.
They are different now. I can't actually explain how but they are. So is the fast food. If I eat McDonalds now; I'm done for the rest of my day. It makes me feel sluggish & full.
Our food reminds me of when they used to experiment with saltpeter in prisons. Maybe that's what's wrong; our entire food supply has become 'institutionalized'.
I don't know about the statistics, but there was only one McDonald's in the third largest city in the state--which I didn't visit until I was in high school, and then only once. I had never had a pizza until high school (there was one Pizza Hut in the city).
It's not true to say "fast food was everywhere"--nowhere close to the extent that it exists today. Nor was eating fast food a daily event.
I totally agree with this.
Back in the 1980s there was literally like only 1 McDonald’s in the entire city of Houston that’s the 4th largest city in the nation.
So much has improved since then! Whole grains became popular, organic foods, advances in nutritional science and a better understanding of how food affects the endocrine system leading to a shift from counting calories to cutting back on carbs. Consumer awareness of nutritional needs, including the benefits of whole grains, the deleterious effects of pesticides on foods and chemical additives in processed foods, etc. all came about in the 70's and 80's.
Read Wheat Belly. Whole grains are a major part of the problem, not an "improvement."
It is hard to imagine anyone 30 years ago who was skinnier than 70-year-old Elizabeth Warren is today. If you look at Bernie Sanders, Lindsey Graham, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Bill Clinton....it's obvious that these people of means, all in their seventies, are getting better info on food than most of us.
If anyone here feels they have a weight problem, and may not be able to exercise as much as in their youth, here is something that may help. Eat 2 meals a day. Just have black coffee or plain tea for breakfast, then a normal lunch and dinner. Millions of people do this already, not realizing they are doing intermittent fasting. This allows you to go 16-18 hours (counting sleep time) producing zero insulin. Painless.
The weight will melt off, and your energy and mental clarity will improve.
I have literally eaten breakfast maybe 5 times at most in the last 30 years.
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