To not understand why the 70s were so much healthier considering the crap we ate?

[Destinysdaughter]

I'm currently reading the thread about what was considered normal in the past, cooking with dripping, jam sandwiches etc and am curious as to why obesity was so rare in comparison to now where it's virtually an epidemic?

People didn't eat out much.
Nothing much in the way of ready meals.
Smaller portion sizes.
Less junk food.
More exercise. School run was always a walk!

More exercise? Fewer fizzy drinks/sweets etc?

There was no snacking. We ate at mealtimes and that was that. Now I can't seem to get through an evening without a bag of crisps. And yes, way more exercise.

Smaller portions.
Less snacks.
Walked everywhere.
Fizzy drinks were expensive.
Same for alcohol.

more exerciise, much more exercise.
manual labour, walking everywhere...

I think it's largely because in the 70's you had your 3 meals a day a maybe an occasional biscuit as a treat. Little snacking, very few fizzy drinks, no huge caramel lattes etc and eating out was for high days and holidays only. Also, generally people were more active. Lower car ownership, more heavy manual jobs. Also, convenience food was still in its infancy.

Well, in the 70s, I ate nothing whatsoever with added sugar, no squash, no sweets/chocolate, no crisps, no processed food, and ate at a restaurant once a year.

Have you seen what people eat nowadays?

I don't think they were healthier, although certainly slimmer, partly perhaps due to cigarette smoking being much more prevalent. Life expectancy now is about nine years longer for men and seven years longer for women than it was in the seventies.

It was exactly as Wolfie says.

We cooked from scratch & portion sizes were smaller. We didn't snack as much as today, and takeaways were rare enough to be a real treat.

The dripping or jam sandwiches were a treat, they wouldn't be every day.

We walked or cycled to school.

No ready meals to speak of really. I remember when Vesta curries appeared in the shops.

No snacks. Kids were allowed 'treats' occasionally. I remember being allowed a bag of crisps after school on Thursdays.

If I moaned about being hungry, the response from DM was 'good, you'll enjoy your dinner then'.

Because we were more active? And we didn't snack? I was born in the 70s I walked to school and everywhere else we only had one car my dad used for work. I played out with my friends every night and most of the weekend. I had 3 meals a day cereal for breakfast lunch at school and usually meat and 2 veg every night. We never had crisps chocolate sweets etc in the house except Christmas. I used to get a few sweets at the weekend from the market with my pocket money that was it for the week. We only really had dessert on Sundays or special occasions.

More cooking from scratch
Less access to junk food, processed stuff, take always and eating out
We played outdoors, skipped, rode bikes until it got dark
We walked to school

Yep, snacks weren't really a thing. Sweets were expensive, actually food was more expensive full stop.

Everything cooked at home. No takeaways or dinners out. I was listening to a radio programme the other day that was talking about the clear link between the increase in eating out and the rise in obesity. We only ate out on my birthday when I was young, and that was a carvery. We do it a several times a month now, and I think that's low compared to some.

*takeaways

Jam sandwiches and the like would have been party food, not every day fare.

Most food was fresh, not full of additives. We also walked or rode our bikes. We didn't drink fizzy pop , or eat crisps and chocolate daily - that too was party food.

Takeaways weren't common. Microwaves weren't mainstream.

Definitely not fewer fizzy drinks & sweets. The pop man came round every week and we (all friends at school) would have a 10p mix bag of sweets every day.

Loads more exercise though. Walk to school, home for lunch, back to school & home again. Playing out for hours - mainly running games, ball games etc.

The mumsnet massif seems to be of one mind on this. A rare and wonderful event!

I grew up in the 70's and ate very healthily thank you very much. Not everyone lived off dripping and Angel Delight .

We walked to most places - one car family. We had home cooked meals, meat + 2 veg, no snacks, no crisps, no booze (well I was a child so obv not, but parents had no booze in the house and never went to the pub). We just had much less of everything. No screens, not even a tv until a friend felt sorry for us and gave us one. Played outside on our bikes etc

Golden age .

The word snack didn't exist

No snacking
No costa coffee type places
No kids snacky type thing like fruit winders
No sugary kids drinks like fruit shoots
Kids played outside lots more
No tablets
Less household gadgets so housework was more physical
No McDonalds/Subway/Greggs etc
Less eating out - some people consider it the norm to go to Nandos/Pizza Express & no longer a treat

we where poor so no crisps, pop or cake - except homemade bickies

we walked everywhere - no car

TV was on evenings only - in the day we played out or curled up and read

very little to pick at really - I remember making sugar butties as a treat - so we ate less shite

We never ate out or had takeaways either, a chippy tea was a rare treat. I don't think I went to a resturant until I was at high school and my friend invited me for a meal at the Indian most years for her birthday. My mum or dad cooked fresh food everyday, no ready meals or much processed food although there may have been the odd findus crispy pancake or birds eye potato waffle. I think portion sizes were smaller too I've got some of my mums old dinner plates and they're about a third smaller than the dinner plates I have.

Then - walked everywhere
No snacks
Played outside
Sweets / cakes (homemade) only at birthday parties
Food not used to calm / entertain kids
No cafes / coffee & cake
Not as much choice / less money spent on food
No drinking at home (wine). Went to pub at weekend
No take away / ready meals. Chipper / Chinese occasionally
No such thing as sandwich shops etc...

of course we snacked in the 70s, we did nothing but snack! i think it's lack of fast food places, we only had the wimpy