Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
JUNK FOOD. When I was a kid in the 1950s you hardly ever saw a fat person. People ate real food, prepared at home. Meat, potatoes, and two vegetables, that was supper. Dessert was a bowl of peaches or pears.
Snack for a kid was a glass of milk with some homemade cookies.
Maybe not the healthiest but a LOT BETTER THAN TODAY.
A treat on the weekend was ice cream but you didn't have it sitting in your freezer--the family went OUT FOR A TREAT and got ice cream cones.
If you had a PARTY there was soda but you didn't drink it every day, it was a TREAT.
We did have convenience foods. They were frozen chicken pot pies and once in a while, a frozen tv dinner.
Most people had never even heard of pizza. Later on, it did become something you'd have on a date but it wasn't a MEAL.
There was a lot of driving around back then too but kids rode bikes. It's got to stop at the kid level because FAT KIDS grow up to be FAT ADULTS. Then it's really hard to lose weight.
I agree with all of the above. Generally, I do all of these. I splurge two or three times a week on a meal or two, not two or three times a day like most Americans. Also, my splurges are probably healthier tahn many Americans "healthy" choices. As a result, I am the size of a normal human being... meaning that I am MUCH smaller than the typical American... I'm 5'10" and 140 lbs. I have a lean, muscular frame and do not in any way look anorexic... and I'm not. I eat more than most do... I just eat food that is nutritious and not calorie dense crap.
I wish more Americans would realize what abormal, unnatural freaks we are becoming by insisting on eating a garbage diet.
I truly am not attempting to be offensive to you in anyway but 5'-10" at 140lbs??!!!?!
That's extremely thin. The kind of thin that you see at the elite level of marathoner's.
Simply wow.
If I saw you I would attempt to shove some meat and potatoes down your throat just so I didn't feel guilty about not doing anything for you.
MID CENTURY MODERN--I just had an idea. For all those who think this 50s style is cool, why don't you try to eat they way the people ate back then? For the fun of it. Be authentic.
Sit in your '50s chairs at your '50s table and eat '50s food. It could be fun.
Breakfast=juice and corn flakes with milk and a tiny bit of sugar.
Lunch=A BLT with a small glass of milk. Two oatmeal cookies, homemade. not the loaded with sugar and ***** that you buy.
Supper=Slice of meatloaf with ketchup, baked potato with butter, steamed carrots, peas. Dessert=mandarin oranges.
Bedtime snack=bowl of cereal.
In between meals=Water, lemonade, Zarex (hahahaha), piece of homemade banana bread, a few lifesavers to suck on.
For an adult--coffee or tea instead. That's how we ate and we weren't fat. Also, go outside and mow your own mid century modern lawn yourself and, in winter, shovel your own snow with a vintage 1950s snow shovel. Kids play outside until 8:00 sharp. Not allowed inside unless the weather is bad. TV=2 hours a night, if that. Then you'll be mid century modern and not fat.
And, to the OP, this is why we are fat. We didn't used to be this way.
JUNK FOOD. When I was a kid in the 1950s you hardly ever saw a fat person. People ate real food, prepared at home. Meat, potatoes, and two vegetables, that was supper. Dessert was a bowl of peaches or pears.
Snack for a kid was a glass of milk with some homemade cookies.
Maybe not the healthiest but a LOT BETTER THAN TODAY.
A treat on the weekend was ice cream but you didn't have it sitting in your freezer--the family went OUT FOR A TREAT and got ice cream cones.
If you had a PARTY there was soda but you didn't drink it every day, it was a TREAT.
We did have convenience foods. They were frozen chicken pot pies and once in a while, a frozen tv dinner.
Most people had never even heard of pizza. Later on, it did become something you'd have on a date but it wasn't a MEAL.
There was a lot of driving around back then too but kids rode bikes. It's got to stop at the kid level because FAT KIDS grow up to be FAT ADULTS. Then it's really hard to lose weight.
Exactly. I grew up in the 50's as well. We played outside. But then we didn't have all the electronics. Although we had dessert every night (if you ate all your veggies) it was a single scoop of ice cream, pudding, tapioca, small piece of pie or cake, 2 cookies, or fruit cocktail.
Funny- the more poor you are the more comfort one finds in basic things like eating...Rich people are not desperate eaters. They can afford to do other things other than eat.
That's only partially true.
Last night my wife and I went to a very nice upscale steakhouse where I dined on a thick 45.00 Porterhouse.
Did I eat all 30 OZ? Close baby!
I eat more high quality meat in a month than most small communities in Japan consume in a year.
I figure that my wife and I alone have a 9000.00 dollar dining bill per year without drinks or paying for anyone else's meal.
NYC, NJ and PA get our money.
My weight is within 15 pounds of what would be considered normal for my height.
I grew up in the 50s and people did a lot more walking and physical labor in those days. Walking a mile or so to the grocery was not unusual no matter what the temperature outside was. Washing dishes by hand meant you stood on your feet and actually moved your arms around. No Roomba, you walked around with the vacuum every day. No power self-push mowers, no mulching mowers, you pushed and you raked.
Europeans have always walked more than Americans have in the past 50 yrs. For a Parisian, a "short walk" was always to me about 30 min. worth of walking.
I see a lot of fat women but overall I see a lot of fat American men and women and this has to be the first time in all of my world travels that I have ever seen fat kids, like American kids.
.
Tough to stereotype an entire nation but most of the bigness of Americans comes from
Sedentary/lazy lifestyle,hardly any exercise
Poor diet that has way to much fat and sugar and consists of Pizza, burgers and fries,or too much deep fried and processed stuff and portion sizes that are absurd.
Way too much tv watching.
Live this lifestyle and obesity is guaranteed.
I grew up in the 50s and people did a lot more walking and physical labor in those days. Walking a mile or so to the grocery was not unusual no matter what the temperature outside was..
Even in the 70's and 80's, when I was growing up, people got a LOT of exercise.. We used to go from sun up to sun down..physically moving..kids used to ride bikes, climb trees, play ball, rollerskate, etc etc.. I used to dread having to sit down for more than 5 minutes when I was a kid. This was before the computer and video games took over..
I would blame status anxiety, first and foremost. USA is the land of rat race and status anxiety. Virtually all "social ills" and general misery of American existence are rooted in the rich soil of status/wealth anxiety & climbing. Those who can - climb, those who can't - use copious amounts of drugs (legal and illegal) and fast food to forget about present and to create alternative realities.
It's just happened that foods rich in industrial fats and sweeteners are mild antidepressants. Turn on TV, bring some fatty & sugary boxes, maybe a joint or a case of beer and, voila, you forgot about the miseries of your life, your low status, your social isolation, your... your life in other words. Alternative worlds are so more appealing.
Note, it's poor and low status folks who are the heaviest. And it has little to do with food prices, it has so much more to do with status anxiety, social isolation and permanent state of depression it causes. Junk foods are not the cheapest or the most filling foods, junk foods (as well as cigarettes, drugs) are luxuries for an anxious man helping him to forget the present.
Conversely, tell me how much junk food, drugs and Prozac your society consumes and I tell you how fit for human existence your society is.
Tough to stereotype an entire nation but most of the bigness of Americans comes from
Sedentary/lazy lifestyle,hardly any exercise
Poor diet that has way to much fat and sugar and consists of Pizza, burgers and fries,or too much deep fried and processed stuff and portion sizes that are absurd.
Way too much tv watching.
Live this lifestyle and obesity is guaranteed.
Stereotypes are based on a grain of truth, but in the case of fat Americans it's more than a grain. 35% of American adults are obese. 65% of American adults are overweight. Won't even mention how fat the kids are getting or the skyrocketing type II diabetes in preschoolers.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
