In 1970 less than 4% of people were obese.

In 2008 66% are obese.

Why do you think that is?

Much more food available. fast food restaurants, microwaveable meals, in fact I don't know of any microwave ovens in use in 1970.The supermarkets have many more convenience foods now than in 1970.

Too many opportunities to be lazy -- video games, cable TV, literally 100's of drive-thrus every where you look, overabundance of just crappy food. Less and less people want to take the time anymore to make a decent dinner, convenience is taking over. If we wanted to play when I was a kid, you did it outside

At the risk of sounding like a crotchety granny...

When I was a kid it was a big treat to go out to eat. Maybe twice a month..tops!

PE was mandatory

If you wanted to go somewhere you walked or rode your bike.

There wasn't much to watch on TV...and we had to GET UP to change the channel.

Oh the humanity!

Chick
I agree lol. Also, there was a time we were responsible for our own actions. We didn't blame everyone else. MC Donald's made me fat. Noooooooo, you stuffing crap into your mouth made you fat. Pleaseeeeeeeeee take some responsibility.

Kids get taller with every generation so their caloric needs probably increase a little bit

I'm 50. I used to go to McDonald when I was a kid. The biggest sandwich they had was a Big Mac and back then I thought it was very filling. Add a shake and some fries and you were stuffed. If McDonalds went back to that menu they would go out of business.

Do you think fast food has driven the obesity epidemic or the obesity epidemic has caused the fast food companies to increase their portions sizes in order to stay competitive?

I remember there being lots of "TV dinners" back then. I also remember all sorts of snakc foods. Fritos Oreos Twinkies, Hostess cup cakes were a standard in most kids bag lunch. Everyone drank whole milk. We had sugary cereals like Captain Crunch, Frosted Frosted Flakes, Sugar Crisps, Rice Krinkles, (loved them) Lucky Charms.

We were less sedentary but there were lots of kid who were and they usually were not fat. They were skinny and soft. The fat kids I knew were few and far between and most of them played sports. As I recall one kid was a terrific athlete. Great tennis player. He definitely chowed.

We cruised in cars. We were active but I don't recall being that much more active than kids today. Most of our parents were couch potatoes who worked sedentary jobs but few of them were over weight.

Socially things were different. Kids usually worked out their differences without adults getting involved. If you got in a fight at school the principal chewed you out and made you shake hands. They didn't make a federal case out of everything. It was a more spartan existence but I think we were better off.

Back then nobody would have bought a 1/2 pound burger and super sized fries. A large coke was 12 or 14 ounces. We probably could not finish anything bigger. Today a small is 20 ounces with free refills. If I get fast food I order a small diet Coke.

Today I weigh 145 pounds. I eat some junk food. Due to a back injury I am fairly sedentary yet I still have abs.

I guess I just can't believe the conventional wisdom of the day. You can still by a regular sized burger. 8 and 12 oz bottles of pop are still available. Healthy choices are still there but it seems to me that most people reject those choices in favor of more and more and more.

Sorry for the length.

Kyle
I think businesses sell what people will buy. If people didn't want the stuff places like MC Donald's wouldn't sell it. Don't blame the company.

KYLE ~ I don't know where you were raised, but we didn't have any fast food places in our town at all; I never had pizza til in my teens, you had to go to a large city to get a hamburger and fries (which I didn't even see until I was 4 or 5 y/o). I first went to KFC in my late teens and that was once a year maybe???

CHICK ~ we lived the same way; we played outside every day! We rode our bikes and played sports like soccer, baseball, football, skating, road hockey, and so on. We had intermural sports at school at lunchtime. GYM WAS MANDATORY; and we didn't have any obese kids in our schools either.

There were no cafeterias at school; we brought a small lunch from home. We ate oatmeal or puffed wheat for breakfast on school days; eggs and ham/bacon or peanut butter on toast on the weekends.

I worked in stores; there were no AISLES of chips and pop and baked goods and cookies and candy like today. People ate better then, plain and simple; and they did not spend all their spare time in front of TV's, Gameboys, and computers.

SHY ~ yes, we do make choices: nobody denies that, but they have been influenced by our upbringing and our society too. Let's face it; the stuff tastes good or people wouldn't be spending billions of dollars eating it each year. What was supposed to be a rare treat in the 70's has become daily fare in the 90's. It's quick, easy, and cheap to get now; BUT, the cost to our health and society is going to be staggering ...

ONE THEORY ~ I have been wondering if all those hormones that they have been putting in the animals to make them want to eat more (like the cows) have been passed on to us; which may have affected our hunger centers in our brains that makes us think that we are still hungry when we are not(there are scientists studying this possibility as we speak).

Now, if people are eating junk food all the time, are they getting enuff nutrients to satisfy their bodies needs? My family suffers from a vitamin and mineral deficiency, and we all have to take supplements just to maintain normal health, or we start to get sick. One of our siblings has CF (a lung and wasting away disease).

Or have we just trained ourselves to want to eat more as Kyle suggests?Maybe some people have become addicted to fast foods and junk foods becuz it is so available now. Some societies that have introduced this western type of food, are now having obesity problems like us. There's a hint; but the debate rages on ...

Sorry for rambling ROSEBUD

Just
You are very right. Part of the problem is that people have become lazy. We wonder why children grow up and we don't even know them. Ummm people, do you remember dinner time. No one was so busy we couldn't sit down to dinner. We had sports and band and everything else when I was a kid. We also had dinner time.

We had a school cafeteria in grammar school but as I recall the food was awful. The only thing that was good were the sloppy Joes. There were no choices. You ate what they were serving. Lunches from home were tastier.

I am not one to blame McDonalds. They are a corporation in business to make money. They are giving people what they want. There are places like Hardees that have nothing healthy on the menu. McDonald is showing some responsibility by offering healthy choices and I applaud them for that.

I wonder if food has gotten so tasty in a hedonistic sense that foods like apples, oranges, grapes, pears ect... don't seem like treats to most people.

I really enjoy food. Simple things like corn on the cob, baked potatoes, home grown tomatoes are very appealing to me. I like pop but pot sweetened with Splenda tastes just as good to me as the sugary type.

America is not just a little bit fatter than it was 35 years ago. It's way fatter. Where I live fat and obese are the rule not the exception. Super morbidly obese people are common place. I have also made an interesting observation. When at Wal-Mart I observe people. Fat people are usually in the snack food aisles and the entertainment area. I'm nosy so I watch what they are putting in their carts and their food choices are terrible. I know that they know better. Why don't they make responsible food choices for themselves and their kids?

The other thing I have observed over the years in the evolution of the supermarket. If you think about it most of what is sold in supermarkets today is unhealthy but like the fast food restaurants super markets need to compete.

Here is what nobody has considered. 66% of people are overweight or obese. They are consuming at least 66% of the food. They are probably consuming close to 85% of the food. That means their tastes dictate what the food companies sell. That means that there are bound to be less health choices for the 34% of the proper sized people.

Fat has now become the norm. People like me are the exception. People tell me I am skinny but my BMI is 22.9. 18.5 - 24.5 is considered healthy. I have a very tough time finding jeans as my waist is 28. That never used to be a problem. It is now. I'm wide at the shoulders and narrow and the hips and waist. That is how men are supposed to look but now I am the freak.

Why do you suppose so many people will not exercise restraint?

The government subsidizes the corn growers. The corn gets turned into corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup, which adds a significant amount of calories to processed foods. I've heard many times that people say it's cheaper to buy junk than it is to buy healthy food. Really? It may be cheaper to buy processed junk, but in the long run you are going to pay for it with medical bills. I don't limit my food budget. I buy organic when I can and locally grown when possible. I will go to the store every other day to get fresh produce. It's worth it to me. It's worth it for the health of my young children and my husband. I'm the mom. I do the cooking. It's my responsibility to keep them in great shape, on the insides especially! We eat whole grains, loads of vegetables, fruit for snacks, mostly vegetarian cuisine. If I spend an hour making dinner, it's worth it. But, I do kind of feel like a "weirdo" sometimes. I don't know many people who sit down to dinner together or who exercise as a family. But I think these things are important, so that's our plan.

Kara

We're a very busy society today. We live farther from our jobs. We run our children hither and yon ... in cars. 'Stress' is an incredibly popular buzz word.


So ... of course ... we deserve something extra, something special.

Kids only get what they are given, i.e fatty food, computer games, other non-exercise forms of entertainment. The kids aren't to blame!
People's attitude to health and food has to completely change in order for anything to improve, and i don't think that's going to happen, in fact, i reckon it'll get worse.

there are so many good points here!!! i don't think any fast food place is too blame at all people know when they go there it is unhealthy. but it is fast and easy. have people become to lazy or too busy in life. so for a mom who is out till 8 with all the kids say at a sports event for school it is easy to grab something on the way home. buy time you get home there are 100 other things you must get done too. i think life was alot more simple back then. you did sports or any after school thing for fun not to pad your application to collage. the only thing kids had to worry about was good grades. things are not the same now my 3rd grader is already being asked what she will do when she grows up and were she wants to go too collage .....maybe we should be a kid first!!!! back then mothers could afford to stay at home with kids and feed them healthy all at the same time. now for most there must be 2 incomes in the family too make it anywhere. and were does that leave are children. i have been a working mom and a sahm i don't think either of the jobs are the same as 20 years ago. now to do one or the other there are big trade offs. and lets think about the food supply at one time i know when i was a kid when mom wanted chicken she when to the barn to get it not the suppermarket!! when she wanted veggies she went to the bacement to get some because she had canned them all from the garden the year before. maybe it is time to bring back some of the old school ways maybe they were not so bad after all

adah