To wonder why we were a thinner nation before we all knew so much about food.

[Bumblebumble123]

Isn't it funny that in years gone by, people didn't have the knowledge about food they have now. Peoples diets weren't dictated by calories or grams of fat or carbs, they were dictated by hunger. Yet now we have an obesity epidemic.

Is educating people on food counter productive? Would we all be better to scrap the info and start listening to our bodies?

I don't know the answer. I just find it odd that we know more than ever about food yet the nations waistline is getting bigger.

Tinkly, that divvying up one mars bar for a family sounds cruel!

In my kitchen cupboard I have the everyday plates bought in the last few years - dinner plates and also smaller plates.

I also have some dinner plates from a set I bought when I first left home in the 1980s. These are significantly smaller than the modern ones, probably a whole inch difference in diameter.

Then somewhere I still have one plate that my parents gave me when I went to Uni. It is an old one they probably bought in the 1950s when they married and I remember it as one of our everyday dinner plates when I was a child. It is very similar in size to the small modern plate we would now use for breakfast or a snack.

I can only assume we have got used to much larger helpings.

Basically life has changed so much from 70s to now in every way. Some good some not so good

The government told us that fat was the problem and lots of low fat high sugar food was made, which made us fatter.

I still think it has far more to do with the sheer volume of food we eat and how little we move, compared to years ago.

Almost every 'naturally slim' person I know, eats less than almost every overweight person I know.

Obviously I'm talking about those who I've spent enough time with to know their eating/exercise habits.

There's been loads of threads on MN over the years asking 'what do slim people eat', and the majority of answers have boiled down to the amount, rather than the actual food.

Theresa we had no vending machines at our schools. And no money to put in them anyway.

Interesting point about plate size 5foot.

Food was much more expensive so people had less. Even when I was growing up (80s) snacks were a real treat. Nowadays people eat constantly and have bigger meals.

Modern necessities like two cars in one household have mean people walk less and far more people have sedentary jobs.

Then somewhere I still have one plate that my parents gave me when I went to Uni. It is an old one they probably bought in the 1950s when they married and I remember it as one of our everyday dinner plates when I was a child. It is very similar in size to the small modern plate we would now use for breakfast or a snack.

Yes! My 85 year old dad is having a new kitchen fitted and I was helping him sort out his cupboards a few weeks ago.

He still had some of the dinner plates from my childhood and they looked really tiny compared to modern ones.

I think it has more to do with portion sizes, processed/fast food and increasingly sedentary lifestyles.

Previously, the majority of households had one parent at home, so much of the food was cooked/baked from scratch. Now this isn't the case, and many families find themselves in a pinch with time so cook something that's quick, easy and often partially processed. Baked goods are overwhelmingly bought prepackaged now. Knowing what is in your food doesn't make it easier to find hours in the day which don't exist.

That contributes to the sedentary lifestyle thing. Manufacturing sector has decreased, services sector has increased, and this means many, many people are sitting in offices for 8+ hours a day, commuting either via car or public transport to work.

But people haven't adjusted their portion sizes to accomodate their new lifestyle. I am continually amazed by the sheer volume of food some people I know eat. Snacking all the time, three big meals a day etc. But their lifestyle isn't complementing it.

The thing is, again, the "low fat high sugar" thing and the government advice on fat was in response to a national weight problem. If there were no fat people there'd be no need for national health nutritional edicts, and no market for "diet" food. I don't think it helps, but I don't think it was the root cause.

Oh my just watching Home for Dinner 1900....meat each meal, 30% of income spent on food, and 3000 cal supper!

Food is cheaper now, there is also a huge variety. Most pubs do food now, more takeaways and fast food places. I'm 40 and when I was younger, food was expensive and you had to eat within your means. Everything in moderation.
Simple as that really.

Tinkly, that divvying up one mars bar for a family sounds cruel!

I vividly remember my dad doing this (between 5 kids).
And hoping I got the one of the end bits, which had was about 1mm bigger than the middle bits!

50-80% of our energy use is maintaining body temperature. Better heating is mainly to blame for increased obesity.

queen

Oh lord no vending machines but the travers brought massive boxes of crisps and they were sold for 5p Per packet. No idea where the profits went

The points about dinner plates are fascinating. My parents had a set obviously plastic and I remember massive flowers on them but they were smaller then we have now.

Agree too with poster upthread who said that greed was seen as bad. My gran used to say ‘always leave a table slightly hungry’

Years ago unless you were rich, you could not avoid being active. Walking, washing clothes, walking kids to and from school, walking to the shops and carrying back groceries, etc etc.

And calorie wise, people in the recent past ate more. But they were more active.

My dad divide up mars bars too snd wagon wheels watching morcome snd wise or the. Two Ronnies.

We dial a take away or a pizza watching Ant and Dec with our grand children

So watching the same shite but eating more!

In a nutshell

I was brought up in the 70s and 80s by parents who had lived with rationing for their formative years and who had been raised by frugal parents born in the 20s. You can imagine the huge shift in food cultures between what my parents were raised on and what they are cooking now.

My gran would save the fat off the pan to spread on her bread the next day and call that lunch. My mum gained best part of a stone on a cruise. That’s a single generation!

50-80% of our energy use is maintaining body temperature. Better heating is mainly to blame for increased obesity.

I think people get a little misty eyed and nostalgic thinking back to the 70s and 80s when kids were thin and played outside all day.
The playing out was great but I remember the 80s. Times were very hard financially and a lot of time we were hungry. Not starving but definitely not adequately nourished.
I see it in photos. The kids were thin but a lot of them looked pale and miserable, at least on the estate where I lived anyway.

The smoking thing is a biggie. Also, fast food. There is a parade of shops near my Mum's house. In the 70s it had a butchers, a small co-op, a barbers, a ladies hairdressers, a greengrocers, a newsagent, an ironmongers, an off licence, a wool shop and a fish and chip shop. Now it has a large co-op, an off licence, a Chinese takeaway place, an Indian takeaway, a pizza place and the fish and chip shop.

Also, I doubt there would have been a vending machine full of crisps and chocolate in the a&e departments of our hospitals 30 or 40 years ago either.

I think we actually didn't eat as much

meat with boiled potatoes and vegetables, even with a fatty gravy, comes to about 600 calories a plate for a woman's portion, about 800 for a man's portion.

Compare that to a korma, or lasagne, or chinese takeaway, and you can see how a more varied diet encourages more consumtion

My family have stories about rationing after the second world war, so food was very small portions, people grew their own food. A meal may have been dripping on bread or sugar on bread. In better later years food was cooked from scratch; suet meat pudding, Yorkshire pudding, dumpling casserole, with fresh vegetables which were in season and for dessert steam sponge pudding, suet roly poly, fruit crumble. People did not snack in between meals and no fizzy drinks. The food was filling and life was less sedentary. Biscuits. And cakes were homemade with no preservatives. Extra veg from allotment or fruit from hedgerow was pickled, stewed into jam etc

Also past generations rarely snacked.