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.

I don't think education is counter-productive - I just think it's confusing and time consuming for people to read the labels of everything they buy

A much simpler solution would to mainly buy things without labels or ingredients lists. But the problem with that is that we have too much of big business pushing processed crap and a culture of any form of cooking being too much effort for a lot of people.

If you want something cheap, quick and easy, you could always have an omelette (3-4 eggs, 200-300 calories, takes less than 5 minutes, could add mushrooms, ham tomatoes, cheese for a bit extra effort and calories and still quicker and cheaper than a ready made pizza but no doubt no doubt people can come up with a long list why the omelette isn't a reasonable expectation for most people.

Companies should be regulated to be more responsible about listing the sugar content of their products in a really obvious way on the packaging But most people don't look at labels or care about sugar consumption. If they did, there wouldn't be so much pop sold, or so many cakes in the likes of Greggs, and syruppy lattes wouldn't be popular.

And the danger of telling people to cut down on sugar is that, in an effort for big business to keep consumption high, is that they fill drinks with disgusting tasting artificial sweeteners instead of people cutting such drinks down to an occasional treat rather than a regular thing.

If the sugar and calories in your drinks are significant, the healthy thing would be to drink more plain water and unsweetened coffee and tea, not keep up a high consumption of artificially sweetend drinks

In the 80s when I was at school, food was fairly unhealthy and everyone bought loads from the tuck shop.

But we all had to do PE and people walked a lot more. The ubiquitous snacking just didn’t seem the same, occasional mug of hot choc and a rich tea rather than massive mugs filled with marshmallows, cream and a muffin the size of your head...

Theresasmayshoes11 yes I was so lanky & desperately wanted hips & some curves. Stick legs were not attractive, they seem to be more idealised now.

Food education has been promoted because of rising obesity , not the other way round

We were more physically active as a nation, there was more manual work & less car usage. I used to walk two miles to school & others had further to walk. And there was no snacking like I read about, on threads here. I also think there was more time to actually parent & cook nutritional food daily

Another example of the polarisation is the whole “abs” thing. My mum & her friends didn’t have abs & I never felt any pressure when I was younger (I was skinny but no abs as such). However after having 2 kids in my 30s I feel like I need to have abs!

I think initially we eat more because food is cheaper and more available. On top of that activity levels are lower. I listened to a really interesting radio programme recently in which they distinguished exercise and activity, the latter being the low level movement (standing, walking) that used to make up so much of our day and now doesn't.
The solution offered once we put on weight is to diet which in the long run makes people fatter. All evidence points to that.
I believe the answer is to listen to our bodies, We need to encourage children to eat in response to genuine appetite and to avoid overeating in the first place.

Inn the 8s most pubs were still pubs. Now they are all restaurants selling cheap meals all day.

Our food consumption has massively changed.

More processed food, ‘diet’low fat which means high in sugar, less active, obsession with snacks, more choice in eating out.

I know quite a bit about nutrition but it doesn’t stop me eating crap cos I just fancy it & it’s there...

Food was more expensive, people cooked their own food, there were not the huge numbers of take aways selling high fat, poor nutrition food.

There was not the huge selection of high calarie food in super markets - all the kinds of crisps and snack foods, chocolates etc. People did not consume such large quantities of fizzy sugar infused drinks.

People walked/cycled more they did not have so much access to cars.

This has really only happened since the 1980s were first went to Florida in 1985 I think and we stared in horror at the huge Americans, especially the children - you see the same sights on your local high street in the U.K. now

This is due to:

1. Much greater prevalence of cheap processed food.
2. Many people no longer have the basic cooking skills to prepare a meal from scratch.
3. We lead far more sedentary lifestyles.

And nothing to do with 'knowledge'.

There was not the huge selection of high calarie food in super markets - all the kinds of crisps and snack foods, chocolates etc. People did not consume such large quantities of fizzy sugar infused drinks.

Plus supermarkets did not have an e fleas supply of freshly baked bread, cakes and baked goods.

We didn't have microwaves either.

When I was a child in the 70s we were out all day playing, riding bikes, walking to parks (all unsupervised!) and we didn’t have a constant supply of snacks. We were not driven to school, we weren’t driven to clubs or friends houses, we rode bikes. Takeaways were rare and places like McDonalds wasn’t a thing like they are now.

I think it really is as simple as eating less over all, eating less crap and moving more.

endless supy not fleas!

Portion size too. I am sure everything is far bigger than when I was a child.

Interesting thread. I think portion size is a big factor. Takeaways in particular are huge - DH and I get one between two of us because it’s too much food. Fish and chips is a whale and a bucket of potatoes, impossible for one person to eat without wasting a lot of it. Same in restaurants.

Aside from food and exercise, houses were poorly heated so people moved more just to keep warm.

I also wonder sometimes if passive entertainment has something to do with the jigsaw; not just goggling at the box or iPad for hours and doing less moving but how the brain uses more energy when you're learning something or creating something iyswim.

Glad to see lots of people whose families were dissecting mars bars. I thought that was just mine being weird.

Exactly Alberta - huge portions seem to be an expectation of many these days, and look at all the snidey comments about bird like appetites and boasting and shaming bigger eaters you get on here if you suggest eating reasonable portions, eg sharing a takeaway, taking leftovers home from a restaurant, ordering less than one large pizza per person from Dominos, making a chicken last for more than one meal.

Fat used to be a feminist issue.

Now it's absolutely a class issue.

The malnourished used to be skinny and underweight. These days, the malnourished are obese.

OP, you are conflating cause and effect and correlation. In addition, there is no evidence to support your assertion.

Many people are still ignorant about food - how it's produced, what nutrients it contains, how many servings of fruit and vegetables they should eat daily, the link between red meat and cancer, etc.

“Fat Christopher” lived over the road from us when we were kids. When the ice cream man came, his Mum bought him TWO ice creams - one for now and one for later. All the other parents laughed behind his back at his extreme gluttony. (All of us kids were jealous...)

People have become quite bonkers over food and diet, it is like a religion.

People "sin"( or syn) or are "naughty" or "being good". You can't call anyone "fat" as being fat is now the worst insult possible.

Some people are very pious and sanctimonious about food (low carb and clean eating are the two main religions now). Others, who maybe have a weight problem, are disgusted by and "hate" themselves. We "follow" the preachers of certain diets religiously (insta, youtube, books, SW, WW).

A lot of our self worth is now tied up with our body image and diet. Food was just not such an important part of life and ourselves in the past. It was just food.

It is an emotional and cultural mess we're in

And a lot of the information is "misinformation", think of "superfoods" or the current demonization of carbs, the past demonization of fat. There is an overload of info, so people choose a "food and dietb

there just seems to be too much food available now. The size of supermarkets takes your breath away sometimes.

We used to have cake on a Sunday at teatime - for our "treat". Just once a week - a treat. Now people have cake every day, and chocolate, and sweets, and biscuits, and crisps, and fizzy drinks... they have all become "everyday" foodstuffs.

what is "a treat" nowadays?

There is just SO much food available.
Its everywhere.
When I was a kid you ate at mealtimes with an occasional biscuit inbetween.

We are obsessed with food now. Its become yet another class signifier.

We get very concerned about working class kids scarfing dirty chicken but its an issue throughout our society.

Well cooked, ethically sourced food will still make you fat if you eat too much of it.

Then you have the 'clean eaters' pretending they are doing it for health rather than because they have a raging eating disorder.

We have all gone bonkers over food. Its not a necessity anymore, its a fetish.

High five to MrsdeVere