Maybe I'm just a weirdo, but does anyone ever wish they could go back in time because we'd all be skinny? I don't mean back in time to high school, I mean like back in time to the 1950's or something Or back to the 1800's so that I'd be forced to work on a farm or something haha.

I feel like if I'd lived back then, none of us (or very few of us) would have this weight problem because we'd get more exercise and not eat as much crap as we do in society today.

Of course, I think I'd go crazy without air conditioning, advil, and the internet

I've often thought about what life would be like if I had to work on a farm every day.. To work for the food that I eat. I would definitely appreciate every bite a lot more than I do now.

Actually, I love gardening and raising food. I think it would be awesome to work on a farm for a summer -- think of all the hoeing you'd have to do! (Hoeing is one awesome ab workout.) I had a great veggie garden last summer that was a lot of fun to work in.

That is just one thing that black people in America NEVER wish! I don't know any black people that would want to go back to the 1800's!

Tara - my god, good point!

How about back in time and in another dimension, the one where all humans stayed in tune with nature. I wish I could live off the land. We have minimal needs. All we need is Food and Shelter. We do not need a lot of what we have.

A.MEN.
I think I'm doing just fine where I'm at right now.

How about going FORWARD in time, to when we've ALL figured out how not to hate each other, and gotten off our lazy butts as a society and begun to prize physical fitness over "waiflike" beauty or convenience of deep-fried fast food?

Wordy McWord.

The only reason I would want to go back in time is to meet Abraham Lincoln and other historical people. But as far as the lifestyle, no way. Not as a woman. Not as someone who wants to live to a ripe old age (which a century or two or three ago was considered anywhere from the 50s-60s) with some hope of not being an invalid. I don't think being skinny was always in vogue...that's more of a modern, late-20th century thing, I think. Look at old paintings of the women, they were quite full-bodied and that was the norm, not a deviation. In the 1950s, you had Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, both of whom would not be considered "skinny" by today's "ideals." Geez, they just ragged on Tyra Banks for being 160 pounds! GMAB!

Anyway...being the sci-fi afficianado, I'm also more interested in the future. Yeah, I wanna live in Captain Kirk's world, lol. But...I also don't think the future will necessarily be one focused on improving physical fitness per se. I think technology is all about making life easier, supposedly, for people. If anything, it focuses on conveniences designed to allow people to do less. Nobody has to get up to change the tv channel, that's what remotes are for. Online shopping, movies on demand, robot vacuums, etc. The kind of connectivity that allows people to work from home or take their work home. I dunno....I just don't see society giving up on the idea of immediate convenience and the less you have to do, the better. From my own observations of what I've encountered through work and what I've seen in my little corner of the world, people have gotten dumber, lazier, and more interested in things of convenience than in working to fix problems. I truly believe that, while our technology (including science, medicine, computers, etc.) has advanced tremendously, the human race really has learned very little about itself. Remove the cloak of technology and people basically covet the same things they always have and behave with the same qualities (both positive and negative) that they always have. Only difference now is things happen faster and easier and on a larger scale. Seriously, the way the world has been going, what the future holds scares me.

And, yes, I'm actually a pretty laid-back, positive, non-Type A kind of person.

... i wish i lived in a different world.

That is a myth. Marilyn at the size she was during her singing of Happy Birthday Mr. President was what would be a current size 6 (possibly smaller).

I am in the camp of wanting to go foward in time to a place where we've finally figured out our body/mind issues with food and no one is overweight as a result.
Also, as a woman I wouldn't want to go back in time. I like being able to vote and I am happy that I am able to get a higher education and wear pants. Among other things.

While we seem to be debunking myths in this thread, here's one:

the average lifespan of someone 200 years ago was, indeed, 50-60. However, if you take all the infants and babies that died before they turned 4 out of the figure, the average lifespan jumps 20 or 30 years--to what it is now. The 50-60 year old stat is true in a sense, but really, they had the same life expectation as we do today-----if you lived until you were out of training pants

I think that it would be interesting to see what people in the past would think about our exercising habits today. Imagine if they saw people running on treadmills, or bikes that didn't go anywhere for an hour at a time! Some might think we were crazy. It's interesting that our 21st century lives of convenience force us to go to institutions called gyms in order to actually use our bodies and keep them functioning!

My mom has said in the past that it seems odd to her that a lot of men spend all this time in the gym bulking their muscles up, but then never actually USE those muscles for anything! In the past, muscles were built because they were used for daily life, and they were very useful. Now people just bulk up for appearances -- to look like they work hard for a living! And to think, some of these people are spending hours a day in the gym to bulk up maximally....and then they never lift anything heavier than 10 pounds at home!

that is an interesting point tara, but we don't need to go back 200 years to get a comparative viewpoint.
i read in some article once that the french and italians don't understand the american obsession with exercise. they seem by and large culturally not to believe in it. and if you think about bulking up with muscle for no other reason than to have a large muscle mass or to run and run for miles on the treadmill only in order that you build up endurance in order to run some more on the treadmill....it does seem a bit silly. i mean, we do it for health reasons, but there are other things that one could do that would serve some sort of practical function as well. like walking/biking to work or whatever. but this might also be another cultural difference. most europeans do not do the same car commutes that we do in the states. we have a huge country and lots of travelling to do in any given day. for instance, i could not do my commute by bike or anything other than a car or a train and a healthy walk carrying quite a bit of baggage.

Wow! that got off on a ramble!

Wow you guys! Quite a lot of interesting philosophy here!! There are so many interesting points, I don't know where to begin!

Trekkiegirl--ITA! Technology somehow went from a being a wonderful thing to being a burden on humanity. We barely have to lift a finger nowadays to fulfill our basic needs. The human body was not meant to sit in cublicles all day, moving only our fingers to get our work done and shove food into our mouths. It really makes me wonder about natural selection--it must be completely out of whack with all of our technology lately. Our bodies think that famine is around the corner at any given moment, when in reality the abundance of food is overwhelming and not about to go away any time soon. And then you have technology that goes against the grain, like Nintendo Wii, where it forces you to be physical in order to interact with it... I hope this technology trend continues If it doesn't, I'm actually afraid for the future.

I also often think about what people of the past would think about going to a gym and running on a treadmill. It always makes me think of Back to the Future III where Doc talks about running for recreation, and the hick in the bar says "Run for fun?? What the heckfire kind of fun is that?!" lolol.

And shrinkinchica is correct about Marilyn Monroe. People always talk about her being a size 16, but in the 1950's, women's sizes started at a size 8-10! And a 10 was an equivalent to today's size zero. Marilyn would've been about a 4-6 by today's standards.

Here's another idea for discussion: Does anyone see a parallel between smoking and being fat? I personally do. They are both health hazards. They are both greatly influenced by availability, marketing, and the popular culture about what's acceptable and what isn't. But the major difference, in my opinion... is that only SOME people are addicted to smoking. ALL people, fat or thin, are addicted to food. Or, if you don't like the word "addicted"... are heavily influenced and inundated by food.

I sorta still wish I could go back into time! Despite the disease, unsantiary conditions, and lack of civil rights. At least we would have something to worry about that made sense. Instead of worrying about fat.