So....obesity

[vraiblonde]

My friend just posted a meme on his FB about how people back in the 50s weren't overweight and now everyone's a whale.

^^That's not the meme he posted, "whales" just reminded me of it.....

Anyway, friend thinks it's because of all the chemicals they put in our food - he makes RFKJ look like a junk food junky. But let me suggest it's because food back then didn't taste good, therefore people ate for sustenance and not pleasure. Nobody pigs out on cottage cheese with canned peaches, but it's pretty easy to kill a bag of Doritos.

I still have nightmares about this pea salad thing my aunties used to bring to family picnics. Everybody pretended it was good but it was vile, and you never see it anymore - we kids couldn't wait to grow up so we'd never have to eat that again. Jello molds with shredded raw vegetables. Canned hams. Baloney sandwiches on white bread with American cheese. Canned mushrooms. Mock apple pie. Spam. Creamed chipped beef.



Thank god for Food Network. Or not, considering they taught us how to make delicious food that's enjoyable to eat, so we eat too much of it and get fat.

But who decides what "obese" is anyway? Back in the day people longed to be "fat" because it was a sign of prosperity. Attractive women were plump, not rangy and emaciated. I think fashion designers started this because skinny women are natural clothes hangers. But then you see a fleshy actress rocking a tight dress and it's like, va-va-voom! Yet it's always the starved anorexic actresses who get voted Best Dressed by the fashion mags.

So that's what I'm thinking about today.....

 

[SamSpade]

I think RFK IS on to something. I wish I had a nickel for every story of people moving here from overseas who arrived slim - had more or less the same lifestyle - but their whole family got fatter.

Friends who visit here mention just how much sweeter foods are - like plain old BREAD. Because they all have high fructose corn syrup.

I do know absolutely every time we went abroad to adopt - about a half dozen trips - we always LOST weight even though we never lacked for food and often ate crap like McDonalds, Starbucks, 7-11 and KFC. Granted we were always under stress, walking and such, but sometimes we didn’t do hardly anything all day.

It really wouldn’t surprise me at all if virtually all our food is stuffed with junk.

 

[stgislander]

Friends who visit here mention just how much sweeter foods are - like plain old BREAD. Because they all have high fructose corn syrup.

The yeast rolls at Texas Roadhouse are like eating candy.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

I can eat a quart jar full of green beans that were canned from the garden.

 

[Czar]

My friend just posted a meme on his FB about how people back in the 50s weren't overweight and now everyone's a whale.

View attachment 185332

^^That's not the meme he posted, "whales" just reminded me of it.....

Anyway, friend thinks it's because of all the chemicals they put in our food - he makes RFKJ look like a junk food junky. But let me suggest it's because food back then didn't taste good, therefore people ate for sustenance and not pleasure. Nobody pigs out on cottage cheese with canned peaches, but it's pretty easy to kill a bag of Doritos.

I still have nightmares about this pea salad thing my aunties used to bring to family picnics. Everybody pretended it was good but it was vile, and you never see it anymore - we kids couldn't wait to grow up so we'd never have to eat that again. Jello molds with shredded raw vegetables. Canned hams. Baloney sandwiches on white bread with American cheese. Canned mushrooms. Mock apple pie. Spam. Creamed chipped beef.



Thank god for Food Network. Or not, considering they taught us how to make delicious food that's enjoyable to eat, so we eat too much of it and get fat.

But who decides what "obese" is anyway? Back in the day people longed to be "fat" because it was a sign of prosperity. Attractive women were plump, not rangy and emaciated. I think fashion designers started this because skinny women are natural clothes hangers. But then you see a fleshy actress rocking a tight dress and it's like, va-va-voom! Yet it's always the starved anorexic actresses who get voted Best Dressed by the fashion mags.

So that's what I'm thinking about today.....

Drive by any school at recess time, so many kids are really porky. You never saw that 50 years ago, maybe a few but that's it.

 

[Grumpy]

Drive by any school at recess time, so many kids are really porky. You never saw that 50 years ago, maybe a few but that's it.

Agree with that, I noticed in the graduations I've attended over the last few years that well over 50% of the grads could lose some weight.

 

[Czar]

Agree with that, I noticed in the graduations I've attended over the last few years that well over 50% of the grads could lose some weight.

It's shocking to see how overweight these young children are.

Can't run around outside anymore during non school hours, they need to sit, snack, and play video games.

 

[OccamsRazor]

On the rare occasion that I visit Pax, I am quite shocked at how 'portly' some of the uniformed personnel appear to be. I always thought there were standards associated with being in the armed forces.

 

[Monello]

HFCS
Glyphosates
44 oz. sodas (high caloric drinks)
Refined foods in boxes
White flour (Highly processes carbs)
Hormones (HGPs) added to animal food (banned in Europe & China)
Forever chemicals in water
Vehicle dependent, unwalkable cities
Overconsumption of sugar
Overconsumption of fats

Take your pick from the list above.

 

[SamSpade]

It's shocking to see how overweight these young children are.

Can't run around outside anymore during non school hours, they need to sit, snack, and play video games.

There’s gotta be something going on there.

When I was a kid the school DAY was longer but we had three recess sessions. Gym was every other day and it was almost always outside.

My kids are slim - in fact my boy is annoyingly skinny (can’t ever get him the right clothes) -but it still might be genes, because they don’t spend a ton of time outdoors.

Some years back - my wife wrote a paper on childhood obesity that I helped her with, and I came across something I still think - is creepy. And that’s a series of maps marking the increase in childhood obesity by percentage and corresponding colors.

It didn’t show what I expected. I expected to see a gradual darkening over the whole nation. It showed REGIONS of obesity growing slowly larger, starting in some places and growing. Then merging with others while NEW regions began to appear and expand.

It resembled - a disease. A very slow moving disease. If it had been an animation you might have thought you were watching MOLD growing.

I don’t really even have a decent conjecture.

 

[Czar]

One thing I noticed when Biden opened up the flood gates to all these illegal's, was how fat many seemed to be. How do you get so heavy if you are so-called living in poverty in a second or third world country?

HFCS
Glyphosates
44 oz. sodas (high caloric drinks)
Refined foods in boxes
White flour (Highly processes carbs)
Hormones (HGPs) added to animal food (banned in Europe & China)
Forever chemicals in water
Vehicle dependent, unwalkable cities
Overconsumption of sugar
Overconsumption of fats

Take your pick from the list above.

Had most of these things 50 years ago yet people were slimmer.

 

[RoseRed]

I think a big part of it is all the sugars that are in the supposed “healthy” breakfast foods. Cereal, PopTarts, etc. I’ve read the breakfast was originally a “break the fast” after not eating all night. The morning meal may be leftovers from the night before, which I have done many times. I hardly ever eat cereal or premade breakfast foods. Watch Unfrosted on Netflix, it’s abut the cereal wars back in 1963 between Kellogg’s and Post and the creation of PopTarts. Funny movie!

 

[vraiblonde]

Right, but what you all are calling "fat" and "porky" used to be desirable. Skinny kids meant malnourishment because the parents were too poor to feed them.

So what is "overweight" and who decides what's an ideal weight? And how did they come to that assessment? All the Hollywood sexpots from 50 years ago would be considered fat by today's standards.

 

[black dog]

On the rare occasion that I visit Pax, I am quite shocked at how 'portly' some of the uniformed personnel appear to be. I always thought there were standards associated with being in the armed forces.

 

[LJ1999]

I don't really know how to "visually" classify obese, but it is a lot different from when I was growing up in the 70's. I can count on one hand, the fat kids in school.

My mom never had junk food in the house, and yes, up until I was in high school, my mom was the raisin giver at Halloween. We didn't even have sodas or anything to drink in the house other than water and milk. And my mom made fresh from scratch meals everyday.

I hated it growing up but I am very grateful now. I don't really snack. I make fresh from scratch meals and pretty much stick to tea and water. I'm not bone thin but I'm not nearly as large as people I see my age.

My husband and I went to one of our friends daughters weddings last September. All of the girls were in their late 20's to early 30's. They were all on the large+ size. Seems like that is the norm now.

Being a teen and young adult during the 80's, being thin was the big deal. I think that mentality is still in my head today. Doesn't mean it's right but it certainly is not the mantra of today's youth.

Anyway, yes, I believe it has to do with the processed foods and the crap that people eat. And as was mentioned earlier, we used to ride bikes and play outside all day. Kids now just sit in front of the computer.

 

[black dog]

Anyway, yes, I believe it has to do with the processed foods and the crap that people eat. And as was mentioned earlier, we used to ride bikes and play outside all day. Kids now just sit in front of the computer.

Some Parents have raised their kids to be sedentary, some didn't.

 

[Sneakers]

I've posted this before, my class picture from elementary school. We thought the one or two kids in the back row were obese back then, today they'd be just a bit larger than "normal". The rest of us were skinny as a rail.

 

[LJ1999]

Some Parents have raised their kids to be sedentary, some didn't.

Oh I agree. We try to keep my niece active and she does enjoy doing physical things. But it only takes a second for her to slip into the dead zone watching videos on her tablet.

Plus, at least in my neighborhood, we were encouraged to go out and play with the other kids. Now you have to make a special date and keep the kids on a leash (at least it seems that way).

 

[Czar]

I've posted this before, my class picture from elementary school. We thought the one or two kids in the back row were obese back then, today they'd be just a bit larger than "normal". The rest of us were skinny as a rail.

View attachment 185350

Yep, even the husky kid in the back is thinner than the kids you see today.

You were a big kid for you age, only kid with glasses too.

 

[SamSpade]

The BMI is a reasonably good indicator but to be honest - if we’re judging “obese” by aesthetics and not health - I do think normal is a little above what they recommend.

Many years ago I used to see a doctor up in Rockville for weight and he mentioned a study they did over time in England. They took two groups of middle aged women - and some a little younger - one group squarely in the normal BMI - and one just over into the overweight category. Not what many might even call “fat”. Just - a look plump.

After a few years of monitoring them - colds, flu, disease etc - they found the “plump” category was overall healthier. I didn’t get an explanation just conjecture - that a few extra pounds might actually help the immune system.

Now these ladies didn’t hit the tennis courts or go hiking, but they were overall more healthy. Maybe it’s genetic.