To think that people were thinner

[Elfina]

In the past in the UK, up until about the 80s because food was less 'interesting'; less variety, seasoning etc so because it didn't taste that amazing you'd just eat your full and no more?

[fascicle]

Duckworth
I hate to say it, but the arguments from fascicle and sing are excellent examples of the apologist direction society is taking, and are not least of the reasons for the obesity epidemic we are seeing.

You believe that refusing to mock overweight people contributes to the obesity epidemic? Please show me some research to support this bonkers argument.

As for BMI, there's endless information available to show its limitations, and failure to take into account body shape and fat distribution. Here's a piece from Dr Margaret Ashwell on the subject:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12481427

[Tulip26]

talkinpeace Please don't accuse me of talking crap. I was told about BMI by a nurse and have since found evidence to back it up. If you're going to quote me please use everything I've said, not just one small part. And please, please don't use wikipedia as a source for your information, if you did that in any medical institution they'd laugh you out of the building.

[TalkinPeace]

fascicle
Have you actually read that link
she is warning that people with a borderline BMI might be at risk
and advocates the height waist measure I mentioned up thread

BMI is one measure
combine several
and THEN get to a healthy weight on all of them
for most of the population it just involves self control and self discipline

[TalkinPeace]

Tulip
BMI was thought up over 150 years ago
FFS the man from Met life used it in his calculations in the 1950's

find me a link to prove it WAS thought up in the 1970's

[fascicle]

TalkinPeace
Have you actually read that link
she is warning that people with a borderline BMI might be at risk
and advocates the height waist measure I mentioned up thread

I wouldn't put up a link I hadn't read. I suggest you read it with a little more circumspection - she's talking about how BMI can miss some individuals who are at risk, and identify some who aren't at risk, because body shape/fat distribution aren't considered. She refers to another limitation - BMI measurements being derived from Caucasion populations, which may not be accurate for other groups. Yes, she uses the height waist measurement you mentioned earlier. No, she didn't credit you in her article.

[WillowJoinInOurCrufae]

This is an interesting illustration of what we considered to be obese in the 1970's compared to the 21st century.

weknowmemes.com/2011/12/image-of-childhood-obesity-1971-vs-2005/

[TalkinPeace]

the "fat girl" from my class at school is often in sleb mags
she's the same size she always was
everybody else has got fatter

[fascicle]

Willow, the larger boy in the second image - from the 2005 remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as opposed to the 1971 original - is a better representation of Roald Dahl's description of Augustus Gloop, and he's also a closer match to the illustration of AG in the 1974 edition of the book I have. I therefore think those images are unrelated to perceptions of obesity over recent decades.

[WillowJoinInOurCrufae]

I do see your point fascicle. However it doesn't alter the fact that when we watched Willy Wonka in the 1970s we thought of Augustus Gloop as being obese. Looking at him now (even if you ignore the 2005 version) he doesn't look that overweight.

[fascicle]

Willow, the term and concept of obesity would not have been commonly used by the public in the 70s (it would be even more remarkable for children to be thinking in those terms).

So I really doubt that anybody would have considered Augustus Gloop in the 1971 film as being obese, especially if the book had been read first. The description in the book is of a child who sounds much, much fatter than the film's AG. So the question for people who read the book then saw the film might have been why AG appeared to be much slimmer than Roald Dahl's creation.

Roald Dahl's description of Augustus Gloop:
'...a nine-year-old boy who was so enormously fat he looked as though he had been blown up with a powerful pump. Great flabby folds of fat bulged out from every part of his body, and his face was like a monstrous ball of dough with two small greedy curranty eyes peering out upon the world'.

[Sirzy]

He may not be as large as his character but he looks large to me.

[kaumana]

I thought the two pics were interesting in how we view an overweight person in different decades.

Regardless of how the original story describes the character.

The casting director cast the actor/ padded him out to look overweight to what was considered overweight at that time.

[fascicle]

kaumana
I thought the two pics were interesting in how we view an overweight person in different decades.

The only thing we can infer from the pictures is that the 2005 Augustus Gloop was larger than the 1971 Augustus Gloop. There is no evidence to suggest that this has anything to do with how overweight people are viewed in different decades. As I said before, the fatter, more recent Augustus Gloop looks like a more faithful representation of the written character.

The casting director cast the actor/ padded him out to look overweight to what was considered overweight at that time.

Presumably you are talking about the actor in the 1971 film. Where did you read/hear that he was padded out to look overweight?

(It's a shame I don't know more about the 1971 film. When I was a child, one of the Oompa Loompa actors came to our house for lunch.)

[kaumana]

I'm not sure why you are picking a fight over this.

The original film had a much smaller actor to exhibit carrying a few extra pounds.

[fascicle]

I'm just questioning illogical arguments which appear to have no basis.

[kaumana]

Have fun playing with the Oompa Loompas...

[fascicle]

Hmmm. I think fantasy land is more your thing.

[kaumana]

I'm so glad that we did not read your bollox.