was everyone slim in the 1950s/60s

[ambereeree]

I've been watching old films and it seems that everyone was slim in the 50s and 40s. Even women with quite a few children. Is this reality or just in films?

Powerful stuff Villers

I mentioned France bacause people were complaining about people sounding judgemental and my point was that maybe we are entitled to be judgemental as other western countries (not USA) are not as unhealthy.

Do the French have better life expectancy and health outcomes than the British? I don't believe they do.

The poorer French are as obese as the UK. Likewise in Italy/Greece/Spain.

Poverty is a correlation for obesity.

According to List by the OECD (2016) on wiki for average life expectancy UK lies at 22nd place and France 9th .

I'm totally prepared to admit I'm being judgemental btw - judgemental of people who refuse to stand back and analyse stuff. Yep.

At least now we're openly arguing about something and not just letting the thread rumble along with its undercurrent of criticism whilst pretending it's all just plain old sharing of facts!

What? The use of a "worn out" old saying rather than couching my language in a vocabulary that you approve of?

I can sympathise that Brexit has affected you. But I think you are very judgemental on other posters and the thread as a whole.

No the thread has turned into a total bore by someone with a bee in their bonnet.

I'm totally prepared to admit I'm being judgemental btw - judgemental of people who refuse to stand back and analyse stuff. Yep.

That's a pretty pompous way to say that you are intolerant of anyone who dares to disagree with you.

No the thread has turned into a total bore by someone with a bee in their bonnet.

Someone cut ahead of me in the supermarket queue this morning.

I'll bet money that person was a Brexit voter.

According to List by the OECD (2016) on wiki for average life expectancy UK lies at 22nd place and France 9th.

That sounds like a huge difference, but if you look at the acutal figures, the difference in life expectancy between France and the UK is only one year.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_life_expectancy

I've just dug out an old sewing pattern

Size 8 = bust 31 1/2, waist 24, hips 33 1/2

Size 10 = bust 32 1/2, waist 25, hips 34 1/2

Size 12 = 34, 26 1/2, 36.

Size 14 = 36, 28, 38.

Size 16 = 38, 30, 40.

I've just looked at Next sizing, who are generous and they are bigger by three inches for each size on the waist.

So I'm inbetween a 16-18, but really I'm 18-20. But we have changed body shape thanks to better nutrition and the Pill, as well as not wearing girdles, as said.

It isn't the leap that some would like to claim, though.

The French do have a better life expectancy. And also are healthier in old age. The Spanish even more so.
Doctors there will tell you to lose weight and be careful. Culturally people are told to lose weight and being overweight is stigmatised in many places.
Particularly Paris.

The French do have a better life expectancy.

According to the statistics quoted above, the difference in life expectancy is only one year, so not really significant.

I'm one of the posters who has found the tone, with all its rose-tinted nostalgia and judgemental othering, distasteful.
then
I'm not really talking about nostalgia as such
Make your mind up!
It's more the implication that people were better because life was harder and they were resilient, strong and just morally superior to today's fatties.
Well, implication is subjective isn't it? I've never seen this suggestion. Again you can't seem to differentiate between reminiscence and nostalgia.

WitchyMcWitchface, France has better outcomes for many diseases and conditions. So do many other Countries.

Do they suffer less, heart attacks, cancers, diabetes, coronary heart disease, vascular health? I know that more unborn babies are lost through salmonella and other things than do in the UK.

"Culturally people are told to lose weight and being overweight is stigmatised in many places.
Particularly Paris."

Paris is one City. As in there are less obese people in London than Skegness, for example. Likewise Edinburgh compared with Glasgow.

The stigma tends to come from the sexist opinion around Women staying attractive to Men, so I'm glad we've abandoned that, tbh.

Sorry Villers what "worn out old saying" are you referring to at 15.41?

In any case, it's really nothing to do with vocabulary I "approve of". I just speak as I find. I found the tone of the thread unpleasant in places.

It's weird how upset people get when someone identifies something or interprets something in a different way. They'll spend ages arguing that what you've seen isn't there - even if you quote stuff at them.

Also not sure when judgemental became the worst accusation ever. Yes - I guess if I don't agree with you I'm "judging" your opinion as wrong. Big deal!

Some people clearly wanted this thread to purely be a series of different ways of saying "Yes, we used to eat less", with a subtext of "and weren't we lovely and thin compared to today's lazy fatties" bubbling to the surface every so often. Fantastic!

Eppursimuove

You can play semantics all you like. There's some crossover between reminiscence and nostslgia, isn't there?

The fact that I've used both terms at times might seem like a "gotcha" moment to you, but the distinction I am making is that being nostalgic about how people were (in terms of their personal attributes) is different from hankering after their situation or lifestyle. The latter is more pure "nostalgia" I suppose, which is why I tried to redefine my point.

It's not that hard to follow, surely?

We didn’t have smartphones. A computer was operated with punched cards that you had to codify. People went to church. There was little tv. We played outside.
How is that, for example, nostalgia? It's patently true (apart from the church going, which I don't agree with).
or have you dropped the nostalgia thing through lack of any evidence?

sorry, cross post.
I think you're wrong. you think most of the posters here are horrible Brexit-voting types.
Fair enough.

Why pick one example from a thread of 24 pages and ask me to show how there's an abstract notion in those 30 or so words? Random.

with a subtext of "and weren't we lovely and thin compared to today's lazy fatties" bubbling to the surface every so often. Fantastic
Blooming heck .... I've been on this since the start and we are now on page 12, if that was the 'subtext' I'd have gone long ago. It was an interesting chat about life in the past. Lots of differing views , lots of different memories.
Discussing weight and diets is dead boring imv, you've turned the thread let's get back to the mundane chat please.

well, as you can't come up with any example to support what you think apart from how it all makes you feel, that's a bit rich

Nope. Don't necessarily think they're Brexit voters. Just that there's a particular type of thinking, which I've seen worrying hints of on this thread, that has much in common with the thinking that can lead to decisions like Leave.

Page 18 (which I just picked at random):

-we're no longer in tune with our bodies
-we've lost sight of what's normal
-we're a "band aid" nation now

Could probably find similar in most pages (didn't realise you hadn't read the thread - just assumed you'd be able to see/remember stuff)

If you don't think those examples contain a subtext of "we used to be better in a variety of ways" then I guess you'll never see stuff I do.