to consider my grandma’s theory on why we’re all fatter?

[bagelbreath]

My grandma swears up and down that although food and movement are obviously big factors to the massive weight gain of the country, heating is also very important.

While she lived in a cold house, wore stockings and dresses year round, and spent a lot of time outside, we all sit toasty in our well heated and insulated houses. Her theory is that it took lots of energy to stay warm then vs now.

Is it crazy? I kind of think it makes sense

I think people are trying to make it so. Like those threads about how exciting it is to cook up a meal for 30p per person

Thin as a rake until the menopause - much harder now to keep the fat off.

Same here - I was one of those people who couldn't put weight on - I was 6 1/2 stones when I got married and ate like a gannet!

I'm now just under 12 and getting bigger by the minute despite watching what I eat.

I was as though every surplus calorie I'd ever consumed was hiding young the corner waiting for me to hit the menopause.

I have great respect for good gravy, mint-infused or otherwise. It can make or break a dinner.

Thesimplelife88
Rats! That's my excuse gone!

I think it's the combination.. 50 years ago less people had cars so walked everywhere . Had more active jobs and even those at home worked harder to do the same jobs eg twin tubs v washing machine.
On top of that the growth of convenience foods with very addictive Sugar

It's not just one thing and I honestly worry about the how bad things will be In another 50 years unless there are scientific developments which will involve tablets that burn fat which might solve the issue

I have no recollection of sugary cereals in my childhood. It was weetabix, cornflakes, all bran, or shredded wheat I hated shredded wheat. I was certainly allowed a spoonful if sugar with cereal but recall leaving most of the milk.

Was never given toast and jam - hated the bitterness of marmalade.

I do remember my mother making me a pancake for breakfast with lemon and sugar - to get an egg into me. I was a skinny bean then. I didn't like boiled eggs or bacon (far too salty).

😂😂😂oh that made me laugh. I am in the east, so quite dry really, but I guess the chub rub has it’s own sound. 😂

We never had snacks between meals, played outside and walked to and from school from an early age and jobs were less sedentary.We all sat at the table to eat food and portion size was appropriate.We also didn’t have pudding regularly either.Fast food I think was a wimpy restaurant but only for a birthday

Forgot to add we drank squash or water .absolutely no fizzy drinks unless it was Xmas or birthday and actually I brought my kids up the same way.coca cola etc was seen as a treat

I also think drinking alcohol at home was basically unheard of when I was a child (unless you were posh). No bottles of wine, beer etc except perhaps at Christmas. I think we had an ancient bottle of sherry in the cupboard.

I think it's combination of lots of things, a more sedentary lifestyles and there wasn't a culture around eating out and snacking for ordinary working class people. I don't ever remember eating out in restaurants or pubs when I was a kid, I was 14 before I tried a Macdonalds.
It was the local chippy, chinese or pie shop and they were not regarded as aspirational, just a friday night treat after working all week. My local town centre is now dotted with takeaways, coffee places and ice cream emporiums etc now, eating out, walking around with you 1000 calorie frappuchino is seen as aspirational leisure activity now for working/ lower middle classes.

My Dad used to say the same thing - he thought we’d all got used to central heating and sitting more. When he was young, a lot of people used to swim in the sea loch where he lived. Now no one does - it’s too cold. A few ladies have started in last few years, but nothing like the summer crowds of his youth. He also said that fetching coal/logs, cleaning and setting fires took work - far more than flicking a switch.

interesting thread - when you read it all together, so much has changed - our homes, housework, jobs, food, nutrition, expectations of treats/indulgence.

Obviously if we all had to fight our littermates to the death over scraps the survivors would be stronger and fitter.

But I prefer to live in a land where I have the choice to turn the heating up and say no to a biscuit and go for a walk instead. Why do so many others find it impossible to make those decisions or think others do?

Smoking.

Keeping busy also helps avoiding snacking. So it has two benefits.

Yes, I think it's probably a factor. When you are living in a very cold place, like the far North, you really do need a lot of extra calories to keep warm.

Women! Get weaving! Skivvying is next to skinniness! I'm sure there are other benefits. Oh yes, Giving the biggest portion to your husband and then to your kids and eating some bread and jam because that's all the family can afford.

I think a big contributing factor is that everyone is so burnt out they don't have time to keep fit and learn how to cook healthily and so many people are depressed, motivating ourselves is harder! But lots of factors come in to play and those are only two.

Even eating cheap crap won't make you fat as long as you don't eat too much of it, stop the constant snacking and take plenty of exercise.

Almost every single overweight person I know eats an awful lot of food but they probably don't think they do, if they're comparing it to the people around them who eat even more.

I do think snacking, and it's from tiny kids who seem to be stuffed constantly, is huge.

I'm sure a factor with that was the pushing of the idea that it was better to snack and graze all day, which was popular when I was around 10 or so.

In a lot of countries no one snacks much, if there are snacks they are social and planned regular ones where there is a gap between meals. Kids stop snacking a lot younger too.

I agree. It is easy to consume a huge amount of calories from snacks every day even healthy ones.

For me I think the biggest driver is stress.

758 was the burn for the whole day, not the actual walking. I took a fast paced walk into and around town, totalling 14km and am pointing out that if a a person of yore was regularly walking those distances daily, they wouldn’t burn anywhere near enough to be able to eat 5000calories a day.

My point was that people overestimate how much they can eat after a little bit of exercise. A walk like that is very much only a little bit of sedate exercise, but it is considered exceptional by many people now.

Read about history of slaves. People did used to need 5000 calories a day but they were working extremely long hours doing heavy physical work like cutting cane sugar. It would be like permanently being in a spin class.

Being a slave is a bit different to granny walking to the market and mopping the floor every day, but yes, I can believe someone doing forced hard labour every day might need more calories.