[mnn2501]

In 1972 my first job was in a hamburger joint. Drinks were 12 oz, 16 oz, and 20 oz. Most people got the small or the medium.
We had 1 size of fries and that size is considered the child's portion at places today - most people shared that one back then.
While we did have a 1/4 pound hamburger, most people got our regular cheeseburger - 1/10#
Most people still did some kind of physical work for a living, nobody sat at computer screens, and kids went outside and played.
If you look at what people eat today compared to their amount of physical exertion you'll know why they (we) are fat.

 

[pancho]

If you eat more and move less you gain weight.
Don't take a genius to figure that out.
People have been looking for something that will allow them to set around and eat all they want for many years. Some just don't care anymore.

 

[fishhead]

All you have to do is look at photos of our childhood to answer your question are most Americans too fat.

Obesity and the diseases it causes are going to bankrupt our health care system to the point only the wealthy will be able to afford it.

 

[Guest]

Only poor people are getting fat?

No, but many poor people are fat.

 

[JeffreyD]

All you have to do is look at photos of our childhood to answer your question are most Americans too fat.

Obesity and the diseases it causes are going to bankrupt our health care system to the point only the wealthy will be able to afford it.

Health care is not a right. If you can't afford it, you don't get it. What did folks do 50 years ago? Mostly around here, we see fat illegal aliens. I would think that fat folks would drop dead of a heart attack. That won't cost the health care system much at all! I see cancer costing far more than obesity.

 

[JeffreyD]

No, but many poor people are fat.

Cheap, high carb food tastes good, so that's what they get. They don't care about the future, it's about instant gratification. Besides, the government will take care of them!

 

[MO_cows]

We eat a lot bigger portions than before and we move less. It doesn't matter if you eat high fructose corn syrup or organic honey, calories are calories and you have to burn them off or they become fat.

And being in poor physical shape makes it worse. Muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat. So an out of shape individual will gain weight easier than one with some muscle mass even when you don't consider their activity level, just their basic metabolism.

I think becoming a "car culture" is part of what did us in. People will drive ridiculously short distances that would have been walked not so long ago. I remember as a kid and "pre-drivers license" teenager walking and bicycling miles to go somewhere. My best friend lived 2 miles away, we constantly walked and rode bikes back and forth to each other's houses. Today, I think parents are too fearful to let their kids do this so they drive them.

 

[Haven]

I always laugh when I drive through town and see people mowing their 200 foot city lots on big riding mowers. A few days ago I saw a guy having serious issues trying to navigate around a tree next to the curb on a zero turn tractor... He had about 12 feet from the front porch to the curb and the tree was in the center about 2 feet from the sidewalk.

 

[Guest]

If a person earns their money themselves, it can be spent on any thing. So they fill out their grocery list and maybe buy clothes, go to a movie or pay bills. if all their money is food stamps they have no choice but to use food as their entertainment. Unless they want to break the law.

I Think no matter what food can be as addicting as any drug.

 

[pancho]

The neighbor of a friend of mine asked to borrow their riding mower to mow his lawn.
After a couple of weeks he still hadn't returned it. One evening they saw him riding it down the street. When they stop and asked where he was going on their mower he said his car broke down and he was riding the mower to a business a couple of blocks away.
He was going to the gym to workout.

 

[sidepasser]

You know part of it is the additional fast food, but I had "fast food" when I was a kid, it was McDonalds or a local joint, but burgers were there.

Thing is, my parents didn't attempt to feed me all the time with junk food. That was a TREAT and I might get to go three -four times a year for ONE small cheeseburger, a SMALL fry and a SMALL cola drink.

Sometimes (very rarely) we would go to the Dairy Bar and get a plain vanilla ice cream cone.

We ate food that was food...i.e. it came from our garden or my granny's garden and the meat came from venison, pork we grew and a calf we grew out. Chickens and eggs were the same deal.

We did play all the time outdoors because if I was indoors, it was either raining or I was sick or doing chores..lots and lots of chores.

so yeah, I went outside to play..and stayed outside till dark or I was called in for dinner.

Now parents are afraid to let their kids out to play because there are child snatchers out there, molesters, dope dealers, and all sorts of bad things.

My daughter refuses to let her kids go outside unless she is outside with them and she lives in a gated community because she is terrified someone will snatch and grab them.

It is truly a sad way to live. I am so glad I grew up in the 60's.

 

[FeralFemale]

I first noticed kids getting fat in the late 80s when I was a teen. I remember talking to one of my friends about how it seemed that a lot of elementary school kids were fat and she agreed. What started in the early 80s to make those kids fat? I think Haven may have hit the nail on the head with corn syrup...I don't remember portion sizes being large in the early 80s like they are today.

 

[brosil]

It may not be as simple as you think. I read a report from somewhere that all the animals were getting fatter. Not just the ones that have contact with humans but even wild Sumatran rats living many miles from humanity. The animals studied had gained 10% fat in the 10 years studied. No conclusions were offered.

 

[JeffreyD]

It may not be as simple as you think. I read a report from somewhere that all the animals were getting fatter. Not just the ones that have contact with humans but even wild Sumatran rats living many miles from humanity. The animals studied had gained 10% fat in the 10 years studied. No conclusions were offered.

Maybe the climate is really getting colder and our bodies are sensing it, so were storing more fat for hibernation!

 

[emdeengee]

We were at a bar-b-que last week and I think that the answer to the weight gain problem is simply too many helpings and too large portions. The adults did not really surprise me but I have never seen children eat so much. And from their weight it is clear that this is an on going life style. Not one parent stepped up to say you don't need that second hamburger or piece of cake and three tumblers of soda is too much.

 

[JeffreyD]

We were at a bar-b-que last week and I think that the answer to the weight gain problem is simply too many helpings and too large portions. The adults did not really surprise me but I have never seen children eat so much. And from their weight it is clear that this is an on going life style. Not one parent stepped up to say you don't need that second hamburger or piece of cake and three tumblers of soda is too much.

I know this is bad but, it's bar-b-que!! There are no such things as "to many helpings" at a bbq! For me, well, I'll just have to make up the difference during the week!

 

[emdeengee]

I know this is bad but, it's bar-b-que!! There are no such things as "to many helpings" at a bbq! For me, well, I'll just have to make up the difference during the week!

LOL! My husband feels the same! but he is able to make up the difference during the week and weighs the same as he did when he was 20. Apparently these kids are not able to. Having had weight problems in the past it just makes me feel so sad knowing that weight goes on easy but does not come off easy.

 

[plowjockey]

We were at a bar-b-que last week and I think that the answer to the weight gain problem is simply too many helpings and too large portions. The adults did not really surprise me but I have never seen children eat so much. And from their weight it is clear that this is an on going life style. Not one parent stepped up to say you don't need that second hamburger or piece of cake and three tumblers of soda is too much.

So it's ok for the adults to eat too much, but the kids shouldn't?

A HUGE portion of childhood obesity, comes from monkey-see-monkey-do. Their parentls are feeding their faces and sitting in front of the TV. The kids are on board why shouldn't the be?

BTW (going from experience in an overeating family), playing "food portion Police" at a family or public gathering, goes over about as good, as lighting off a stink bomb.

 

[plowjockey]

I first noticed kids getting fat in the late 80s when I was a teen. I remember talking to one of my friends about how it seemed that a lot of elementary school kids were fat and she agreed. What started in the early 80s to make those kids fat? I think Haven may have hit the nail on the head with corn syrup...I don't remember portion sizes being large in the early 80s like they are today.

About that time, video games came on the scene, cable TV channels were expanding, riding bikes became uncool, the increase of serial killers, made staying outdoors more unattractive. McDonalds started popping up everywhere. Pizza Hut opened it's 5000th store. Dominos pizza opened it 1,000th store.

I could go on.

 

[willow_girl]

I wonder if part of the difference is that women no longer feel pressured to stay thin in order to hang on to a husband?

My mother came of age in the 1950s, when women didn't have as many career options as they do today. She schooled me in the notion that a woman's main objective was to snag a good meal ticket and hang on for dear life! The world, according to Mother, was full of 'homewreckers' eager to steal the husband of any woman who dropped her guard even for a moment. The biggest mistake a woman could make was to 'let herself go' -- that is, to gain weight or otherwise be careless about her appearance.

When I put on a few pounds after marrying my second husband, my mother informed me in all seriousness that if another woman took my man, it would be my own fault, and I shouldn't expect any sympathy, because after all -- I had LET MYSELF GO!!!!

(I probably looked at her as if she had sprouted a second head. I had a good job, could support myself, and if my husband ran off with some skinny bimbo, oh well! :shrug: )

I don't think most women feel the same pressure to be thin (or perfectly coiffed, or elaborately made-up, or dressed to the nines) today.