On obsesity and how things have changed

[nadinbrzezinski]

When I was growing up we had THREE meals.. breakfast, lunch and dinner...

We kids were allowed snacks... after all kids did eat snacks back then too. But the ones I was offered were either cucumbers, or jicama, perhaps fresh apple.


Oh and food while growing up had a lot more vegies, fruit and other ahem fresh ingredients. Yes, there was cream and cheese as well... but in far smaller portions.

At times I think back to that... desert, you want desert? Cake was something we had six times a year, the four birthdays, and they Jewish New Year, day of atonement, and passover, ok my bad, actually eight, since mom bought the rosca de reyes for the Sixth of January. How many people can do that? Soda? You want soda? Only when we had visitors for dinner... it was a SPECIAL thing... or the apple soda if we had the stomach flu... (orders of the pediatrician)

Now comopare and contrast today...

How many of you offer your kids ice cream regularly, or cookies, or ice cream sandwitches? You are not alone. This is normal.

Then we have latch key keys... ok so the kids come home. What is it that we have for them at home? Usually fast food, or things like Tontinos Pizza Rolls are quick. are easy, and the kids can do that. I mean I don't know about you, but I don't think I want a nine year old handling a sharp knife to make themselves healthy snacks.

Now there is what we have for desert and other hyper palatable foods. Not to mention the portions... you folks think a 6 oz bagel is normal? No, the normal one is half that size, a 3 oz one, You think a 6 oz croissant is normal? Nope, that woudl be a 2 oz one. But we have been trained to think that bigger is better.

But to all the perfect people who keep doing this... congrats, most Americans don't and it is time to give them a hand in doing such.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I think one thing that's obviously different now is the size of portions,

especially at restaurants. You get this enormous heap of whatever (usually something that doesn't cost the restaurant much, like French fries), and you feel like you have to eat it because you paid for it.

[Warpy]

5. Best thing to do at one of those restaurants

is eat only half of everything, take the rest home for lunch the following day. I am never embarrassed to do that. I've paid for the damned stuff but there's no way I can eat like a stevedore.

The only bagels I eat are Lender's. Yes, they're frozen. They're also the closest I can get to a real bagel in NM. The bakery bagels are not only too big, they're like soft rolls.

As for the latchkey kids, I was one of those in the 50s. There were snacks when I got home, usually Oreos or other cheaper store bought cookies. My mother wasn't much of a cook and hated to do it, so forget anything fancy. If there were carrot sticks in the fridge or apples on the table, I'd eat those. Usually, though, it was Oreos.

I agree that portion sizes have gotten ridiculous and that most of us could use some help, especially if we're working folks with children.

Supermarkets do provide one thing my mother never had: sliced veggie sticks. Maybe those plus containers of flavored cottage cheese dips would tempt the kids away from the pizza rolls.

On edit: The worst disservice our parents ever did to us was that "clean plate club" garbage. They really set us up with that nonsense.

[SoCalDem]

7. We always "take home".. sometimes even half the salad

or if we want the same thing, we just share:)

I wish some restaurant would get smart and offer half portions for a reduced price (wouldn't even have to be half).. they'd probably sell more desserts too :)

Around here if you order the chicken fried steak dinner they give you TWO pieces of meat, each about the circumference of a cereal bowl, a BIG blob of potatoes, a rather large salad for around $12.00.. why not offer half the potatoes, salad on the plate and 1 piece of meat ..for maybe $8.00?

[pipi_k]

19. Me too. I used to be able to eat like a starving bear but not anymore

If we go to the little local place I can get a cup or bowl of their homemade soup plus a chicken salad wrap and end up taking half the wrap home for the next day.

Chinese food...forget it...one of the combination dinners lasts me three days at home.

when we go out for an ice cream cone I always get the "baby" size, but even that's bigger than I'd like...

[Odin2005]

38. Wow, you perfectly described what I ordered for supper last Wednesday.

Once a month many of us disabled people here in Fargo meet at a family restaurant called Brenda's Shack and that is EXACTLT what I had! cost about $11 and was damn good, but that was a lot of food! :rofl:

[Cid_B]

54. Umm.. because they'd rather have the $12?

If 100 people come in your resteraunt every day and buy 100 meals at $12 a piece the resteraunt makes $1200.

If 100 people come in and half order the 8 dollar meal and half order the 12 dollar meal they make $1000.

Easy...

[SoCalDem]

89. In cold hard numbers, yes, BUT the psychology of having a

group of menu items with "small & large" portions with prorated prices could bring some people back to restaurants, and could encourage them to eat there more often,

They make a KILLING on the drinks... $2.49 for Iced tea???

they could also sell more desserts if people were not so stomach-bustingly full:evilgrin:

Asian restaurants often have "half v full" orders of items, and the half-order with the (not really "half price") encourages us to order a bigger variety..more items ordered per meal ..

Many of these same restaurants spend advertising money printing up coupons that offer "2nd entree half price" or free this or that, so why not just select some itrms and offer two sizes?..

[Odin2005]

37. I like to by the packaged shredded lettuce for making salad. Very convenient.

Oh, and don't get me started on my mother's "starving people in Africa" routine. :eyes:

[Warpy]

42. "So? Send this to Africa!"

It didn't work, of course, and I spend many miserable hours at the table staring at congealing fat on something I was never going to force down my throat no matter what.

I learned by the age of 5 how to palm stuff and shove it into toilet paper in my undies for later burial in the shrubbery.

Milk was more problematic and if my mother didn't turn her back long enough for me to get it down the sink, I ended up choking it down and getting diarrhea a few hours later.

To this day, I abhor the stuff, won't even drink the substitutes.

[Odin2005]

45. HERETIC! Milk is da BOMB!!

:rofl:

[Warpy]

59. It certainly has that effect on my GI tract

You can have my share.

[nadinbrzezinski]

52. Sounds like lactore intolerance to me

and you were born at an age they didn't know.

I am sorry.

[Warpy]

58. Oh, my mother connected the dots between milk and diarrhea

but mothers in the 50s thought we'd die if we didn't have that horrible stuff poured down our necks three times a day.

Sunday dinners were great, we had iced tea.

[Hansel]

74. When I was a kid I had chronic belly aches and the doctor prescribed, wait for it...

more milk. He thought I might be developing an ulcer.

After several months of drinking milk 6 times a days there was no improvement. I went back to the doctor and got a different physician. He said stop drinking milk you're lactose intolerant. Magically all of my belly aches went away within days. :7

[nadinbrzezinski]

84. My oldest brother had it too, mom connected it

and by age two he didn't get milk anymore. Of course the pediatrician in Mexico (my pediatritian too), connected the dots too. He was far ahead of his time. To this day though my oldest brother will NOT eat anything even with a hint of cream in it. Though mature yellow cheese, all he wants (and should not have that much any more) Since he tolerated that, well that is how he got his calcium in. The rest of us got a big glass of milk... he got a hunk of cheese. I was six, he was much older and I do remember that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

51. Tonight I went to a local Mexican place

I asked how big where their tacos and how many tortillas per taco. They were shocked I ordered only ONE... and made two tacos, out of one. I cleaned up my plate, but that was a NORMAL portion, not the special, which would have been two of those beans and rice. Obscene

[wordpix]

21. another thing that's different is the amt. of processed foods

If you grow up eating highly processed foods, you grow up addicted to heavy amts. of salt, sugar and fats. No wonder we're the Obese Nation. After I was a heavy teenager, I started eating mostly natural foods and growing my own garden. I have been a size 4 my entire adult life this way. I'm 57 and no health problems (knock wood). Just saying, it's not that hard to get control of your health and weight but you have to get off the addictive high salt-sugar-fatty foods. I don't even like that stuff anymore.

You're right about the heaping helping french fries. The other thing restaurants do is give you a big white bun with your burger. White bread and white pasta are empty calories, and high calories at that---but they're cheap.

[TexasObserver]

25. "it's not that hard to get control of your health and weight"

You make a very good point. Fast foods and processed foods contain more sugar and salt than foods one prepares at home.

And I agree with your assessment of white bread. It's not a healthy choice.

As for french fries, one really has to know when to stop if eating french fries. Better not to get them at all.

[wordpix]

60. french fries are addictive with all the salt they add--without the salt, you can stop eating them!

[nadinbrzezinski]

85. It is the combo of salt, sugar (fast carbs) and fat, the type of fat used

and how it acts in the pleasure centers in the brain. (Dopamine release)

One choice is full avoidance, the other is to learn how to know when to stop. The latter is a trick all on its own. I have managed to master it... but it took some years.

I have not gone for the forbidden food list... for some folks that works... for some folks that is the best choice in fact.

But you are right, they are designed to be highly addictive.

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. It is, and that has led to a distorted sense of what is a normal portion

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

2. This is in no way refuting your post, but....

....I kept my nine and seven year old nephews this summer while my sister(their mother) recovered from a surgery. Well, I worked two jobs, and by the evening time, I was exhausted. After picking them up from camp and driving them home around 730pm, those Golden Arches looked mighty sensible to me. I admit it...sometimes that dollar value menu took the place of a sensible home cooked meal.

I don't advocate unhealthy eating @ all, but I do see why parents(especially single mothers) go the fast food route more often than they should.

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. Of course, and that is part of the point

This is how society has changed

[msongs]

3. lol a soda was something we had once a week as a special treat from dad nt

[FarCenter]

4. A nine year old should be able to handle a sharp knife

I believe that I had a pocket knife of my own by then.

[SoCalDem]

8. Remember those rusty sand pails & sifters we all had?

we ran around with GLASS jars to catch bugs.. we lived so dangerously back in the day :)

drank from garden hoses, no seat belts..all our toys were metal :)

[abumbyanyothername]

11. Having kissed the windshield

and still with the scars to prove, I would vote in favor of seatbelts.

Although we did ride around in the back of grandpa's pickup, some of us sitting on the wheel well.

[SoCalDem]

13. I fell out of the car once

banged my knee, but that was all :) Sitting on the side in a convertible turned out to be a very bad idea :)

[pipi_k]

20. wow I haven't seen one of those in decades!

and we risked salmonella poisoning by licking the bowl mom used for making cake (raw eggs)

we took St Joseph baby aspirin (risking Reyes syndrome)

rode our bikes with no helmets

roller skated with no knee/elbow pads or helmets


Damn. It was a lot of fun, wasn't it? :7

[Generic Brad]

39. It's a wonder we're still alive

By all accounts here, every one of us should not have survived to adulthood.

[SoCalDem]

40. I about lost my teeth from a wildly swinging skate key on a cord around my neck

we also played "jellyfish" with dry cleaner bags :rofl:

[pipi_k]

65. hahahaha OMG I shouldn't laugh, but...

jellyfish with dry cleaner bags?

:rofl:



If I remember correctly, plastic bags didn't come with the same warnings they do nowadays, at least not when I was a kid about a hundred years ago.

These days you can't buy a box of sandwich bags without being warned that they're not toys. Kids should NOT be allowed to put 5 inch x 5 inch plastic bags over their heads and pretend they're space aliens...

:+

[suffragette]

68. Skate keys!

"I got a brand new pair of roller skates: You got a brand new key."

[Iris]

41. Even bigger question - does an apple have to be cut up? What about raisins? A glass of milk?

[nadinbrzezinski]

72. Yep, true story we took the nephews to Lego Land

they were hungry, we decided, ok, lets get them a snack.

The older one starts bolting for the cookies, No, we bought them fresh fruit

Out of the older one's mouth, who didn't eat it... fruit is not a snack.

He is a hard eater... but that told me, no matter what parents tell me, he gets away with eating what he wants at home.

Fine, there was more for the rest of us.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. They should but in reality they can't

those skills we used to teach and be taught are gone

Hell I was handling an axe for cutting kindling by 11... you have no idea how much time it took to teach my rescue crews to learn that...

[SoCalDem]

6. Cokes were a nickel and were SIX OUNCES

not 64oz Big Gulps

[msanthrope]

28. And had real sugar in them,,,,,n/t

[taterguy]

9. Belushi was thought of as the fat comic

If you watch the clips today he looks "normal" sized.

[LuvNewcastle]

14. I think John Candy would be today's

threshold for fatness.:)

[abumbyanyothername]

10. I dunno --

We only had sodas at Grandma's house until we were teens, then we could have popcorn and soda, or ice cream for an evening treat.

I think the main difference was that we were allowed to play. I mean play -- not organized activities. We played pickup baseball at the schoolyard all day long during the summer, touch football or "pass n go" (every play a pass, no running after the catch), we picked up on soccer and that was a lot of running, and, of course, Jim Ryan, Lasse Viren and Frank Shorter were heros.

Also, we rode our bikes wherever we wanted to go. No getting dropped off in the SUV.

I realize that my generation (drugs, sex and rock n roll) had a lot to do with the fear and control that parents exercise today. I suppose that it's also true that a higher percentage of us were sex abuse victims then than today.

But all in all, I think the loss of childhood freedom to explore the world on their own is one of the overwhelming tragedies of my youngest son's (currently 16) generation.

[nadinbrzezinski]

49. Again part of the problem,

Sesame Street recently released their play in the backyard from the sixties, it has a warning about not appropriate for kids

But I am also sure the PORTIONS of that ice cream were also smaller

[donco6]

12. The amount of soda is astounding.

And now it's those energy drink things. I have kids come in with HUGE cans of those MOnster drinks. I just don't think that stuff should be sold to kids.

[wordpix]

22. they are LOADED with sugar - no wonder we have behavior problems in school

[elehhhhna]

63. the caffiene is also superbad for kids & teens. Anxietycity.

Like they don't have enough of that anyway.

[donco6]

88. I agree. It's just wrong wrong wrong.

And they choose it for themselves. And it's really expensive!!! I just don't get it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

93. Except for kids wiht ADHD, but that gets me into a whole different rant

Low level speed has a curious effect on people with ADD.

[flvegan]

15. Which is why nutrition should be a mandatory course in high school.

Not one funded by big dairy or Monsanto or anyone else with an outside interest. People know what gas pump to pull up to and which octane grade to select, but far too many don't know what to put in their faces nor how often to do so.

[donco6]

56. Sorry, but we can't fit in what we have to fit in now.

I know everyone wants to jump to mandatory classes in school. But the fact is, we have graduation requirements that the kids can't meet NOW. When they fail a course, they have to double up to catch up. We have some kids enter junior year with 6 credits. And now there's another MANDATORY credit to get? It's just not doable anymore. We have to think of other ways.

[Hansel]

75. It can be taught in home economics

or integrated in other mandatory classes in creative ways. It doesn't really need to be a whole new class. It could even be taught in the lunchroom through guess speakers (brown bags) or videos and signage. There are many creative ways to integrate this into the schools.

[TexasObserver]

77. Yes, they can be taught such with very little time a semester.

Public schools try to jam far too much information into courses now, and students are learning less and less. Instead of focusing on teaching basics until they are learned, we see students overloaded with work, overloaded with homework, and their parents covered up with materials sent home by teachers who seem to think the only class each student has is theirs.

I'd like to more focus on basic understanding of things like the ability to do simple math without use of a calculator, how to eat sensibly, how to stay fit, how to do competent research, how to distinguish between good sources and bad ones, how to write simple sentences and paragraphs, and how to communicate in proper English.

More attention should be applied to teaching the basics, and less attempt made to cover vast amounts of material and end up doing so poorly.

[donco6]

86. Right.

That'd be great. Except for the fact that the state mandated test includes material from A-Z, for each major subject area. If you choose not to cover A-Z, but A-F, then your scores drop precipitously. You get put on the "failing" list and out come the microscopes.

When that happens, the state steps in and gives you a curriculum audit. They then TELL you what you'll teach and HOW you'll teach it. They'll tell you what courses you AREN'T going to teach anymore, so that you can teach the courses they want. And you'll be right back to covering a lot of ground in a short amount of time again.

They'll also change your graduation requirements so that all kids have to have 4 yrs of English, Math, Science and Social Studies. That takes up 4 of the 6 periods a day. And if a kid fails any of those during a prior year, he takes it again in a subsequent year, thus eliminating another period. And then there's the graduation requirements for Foreign Language, Technology, Phys Ed., Art, Music (which we still have and don't want to drop). And in the off chance a kid actually passes everything and still has time, we might be able to offer an actual ELECTIVE, like photography or ceramics or independent study in something.

And when all that fails to raise test scores (because that's really all the state Dept. of Ed. cares about, regardless of what they say), they'll take over your school completely, fire all the staff, and bring in an outside vendor, such as KIPP. Your school will become a regimented, walk-on-the-blue-line-down-the-hallway school. Which would be really sad.

[TexasObserver]

90. Yes, it's a mess and needs serious revamping.

As I said, the attempt to mandate too much hasn't made students more educated, but less. Every year they add more to requirements of teaching, and every year the students graduating know a little less than their predecessors.

[donco6]

83. We haven't had Home Ec in 15 years at least.

And our lunch period is open. But we could have people in for those who'd watch it.

[mithnanthy]

16. When I was a kid...

I looked forward to Friday nights because I was allowed to eat a small bag of Wise potato chips and I could have a small coke with it. That was IT for treats. I watched horror movies with my parent's friends kids, while they visited. NO treats during the rest of the week...it was breakfast lunch and dinner. I've made up for THAT! hahahaha!

[RB TexLa]

17. I eat two meals, one in the morning and one in the evening.

[wordpix]

24. +1

[nadinbrzezinski]

53. I eat five to six really small meals

As a diabetic that is great for control

[pansypoo53219]

18. i got veggie fried rice at an asian place for lunch.

i ate quite a bit, and took enough home for 3 more meals. charge less and give me less is ok.

[pipi_k]

23. We had three meals a day too when I was a kid, but we also

had pretty regular access to homemade cake, pudding, ice cream, soda, cookies, etc.

the difference...or one of them...is that when I was a kid, playing indoors was something we didn't do unless it was raining, there was a blizzard or hurricane, or we were sick.

We were outdoors nearly all the time.

My sisters and I were not overweight. In fact, I was almost painfully thin.

Same thing for my own kids...they had access to some of the not-so-good stuff, but neither of them was overweight either...for the same reasons...outdoors all the time, not sitting glued to a computer screen or video game.


PS....I had to laugh a bit about not wanting a nine year old to handle a knife for making himself healthy snacks... When my younger brother was five years old he got hungry and decided to cook up a hamburger on the stove. All by himself. He was a rather independent sort of child...

:7

[TexasObserver]

26. "We were outdoors nearly all the time."

In my view, that was a key, because we ingested large amounts of sugar in our food and drinks. We had tea and Koolade that both had high sugar used to make them. We drank whole milk, and lots of it. We used a great deal of sugar on cereal.

Everyone put salt on everything, too. I haven't shaken salt on food at a restaurant or fast food place in over 20 years. I haven't used whole milk in over 20 years, and prefer skim milk. I haven't put sugar on cereal in over 30 years.

It was the large volume of outside activities which kept us fit. We rode our bikes or walked just about everywhere.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. I'm told that Norwegians believe that children NEED to play outside every day

They'll send them out even in the dead of winter.

[TexasObserver]

30. Have you ever seen Curling competitions at the Olympics?

This game had to have been invented in the Great Frozen North by parents.

One person uses a broom to sweep off what must have been an ice covered sidewalk or drive way, while another slides a big puck/stone down the sidewalk to hit other big pucks/stones, like shuffle board where it's 20 degrees F outside.

I always imagine some mother driving her kids outside in 20 degree weather, after they've been going crazy with cabin fever for days, saying "you take this broom! And you grab that rock! And you stand down there and watch!"

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. Ha, I'm from Minnesota!

When I was in college, I played on the winning team in an intramural broom ball tournament in eight below zero weather.

[Warpy]

31. They're wise

They need sunshine to get that Vitamin D.

In the winter, they need fresh air.

They also need exercise to build bones and muscle.

Do the kids a favor, kick them outdoors for at least a couple of hours a day.

[TexasObserver]

34. We took our kids on vacations with many physical activities.

A kid thoroughly exhausted from physical play and activities is a happier, healthier kid.

Nothing makes them rest well like lots of swimming.

[SoCalDem]

32. My kids played outside until the wind chill dropped to 0

they hated being kept in:)

[wordpix]

61. +1

[Hansel]

76. When I was a kid they couldn't keep us inside.

Even in the dead of winter in Minnesota. We were outside from the time we were done with our chores until curfew, save meal times.

Everyone in the neighborhood knew everyone else and we had fields and woods to play in as well as our neighbors' yards. I'm now living in a neighborhood the was built on our fields and woods.

I barely know any of my neighbors because we are a much more mobile society and because of the high percentage of two income families. Kids are carted off to daycare and are separated from the other kids in the neighborhood throughout the day where keeping them indoors is part of more easily keeping track of them and keeping them safe. The social networks just don't exist like they use to.

I can think of many ways that things could be improved within this structure. But it would require some effort to and motivation to want to make the changes.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. We had soft drinks only if we were traveling

We'd get some when we made gas station stops.

Dessert was often canned fruit or a small portion of homemade baked goods. My father insisted on SOMETHING at the end of the meal, but my mother's family reserved sweets for special occasions.

In the summer we might go to the Dairy Queen once a week. Maybe.

On Friday nights during the winter, we'd have popcorn while watching TV.

That was it for sweets, except for birthdays and holidays.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[pitohui]

35. i must be older than you, in the 60s dessert was a given, snacks were cookies

kids ate like there was no tomorrow, and sweets were considered a standard, suitable treat for children, we had no money, so yeah we didn't bake a cake every day, but we at least had ice cream for dessert if we could afford nothing else...

jicama? who the hell even ever heard of that? there was a fraction of the fruits and vegetables we have today, hell, it was the 1970s before we even heard of a kiwi, you had oranges, apples, pears, grapes, and bananas, that's it, bunky

salad was iceberg lettuce of no nutritional value whatsoever, covered w. a bottle dressing that was prob. 100 percent sugar

olive oil? christ, maybe if you lived in new orleans, the rest of the south, you can forget olive oil

and everybody was skinny, there would be one fat kid to a classroom

it isn't about the food, i feel sorry for kids today who see me eating stuff they can't eat and i'm a fraction of their size

i don't know what it is, i have a theory about metabolites in water (SSRIs, female hormones etc. are KNOWN to cause many people to gain weight)

but it sure as shit isn't the food

people ate sugary, fatty crap in the 1950s and 60s, we simply didn't know any better

the produce and choices we have in today's supermarkets would simply astonish the cook of the 50s and 60s

nope, it just can't be the food, i understand why younger people think so, it SEEMS logical...but it also SEEMS logical that the world is flat, not curved

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. I grew up in Mexico

but the idea of giving kids fruit for desert was not that alien. Today it is

[Name removed]

78. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nadinbrzezinski]

81. I'm not sure I'd give a fresh avocado to a baby

there are reasons for that, but offering a toddler avocado, sure.

Now as to immigrants, not all do that. My sis is a good example, and gosh darn it, she should know better. I love her and all, but damn it... she is an RD... guess what the kiddies get for snacks?

The usual crap.

Her eldest will NOT eat fresh fruit since he does not like it. She's created that nightmare. I joke, but it is actually tragic my parrots eat healthier than my nephews... and no I cannot eat a piece of fresh fruit without sharing with three beaks. They just love it!

[Odin2005]

36. I was a latch-key kid (late 90s/early 00s) and learned to make my own food pretty early on.

real food, too, not pizza rolls and other junk. I was making hot-dishes (real hot-dishes, not Hamburger-Helper) when I was 13, and I do make a very good tuna hot-dish. :) I'm overweight, not because I eat junk, but just because I eat too much. I'm a sucker for buffets and large portions, and I like to cook and simply like good food too much, good cooking runs in my dad's side of the family it seems, LOL!!!

I've always been a pretty healthy eater. My mom like to joke around about how I loved a certain brand of SPINACH, yes, SPINACH, that came in a can and had Popeye on it! :rofl:

when I was sick I was given 7-up to drink. APPLE pop? GROSS!!! :puke:

[Habibi]

43. I was born in '57.

I grew up in the 60s, with home-cooked dinners. We seldom ate out.

That said, we ate lots of snacks. Not fruit. We weren't into fruit in my house. My favorites were chocolate candies, Sweet-tarts, baked goods, potato chips, and ice cream. My parents didn't stress over our eating these things, and I seem to recall eating rather a lot of them. A bowl of ice cream before bedtime, often! And I was skinny, until my thirties. Probably there were parental curbs when I was a kid; I just don't remember them.

On the other hand, we were always *out* playing, as much as we could. Constantly in motion. (Well, except when I had chocolates. Then I was hanging out in my bedroom, reading. Nothing like chocolates and a good book!)

[Vinca]

55. I've battled the fat demons from the day I took my first breath.

Because my mother died when I was only 8, my grandmother, who I loved dearly, had a big part in my upbringing. This was the 1950's when television was just beginning its heydey and a tradition developed in Grandma's household that would be my downfall. Every week night the family would gather around the black and white and the snacks would come out. One night we'd have ice cream, another those gross marshmallow cookies. Something different every night and always store bought (Grandma didn't bake much). For a little fat girl, it was heaven on earth. The only thing that saved me from becoming morbidly obese is the activity level of kids back then. We had phys. ed. and recess in school every day and we played outside all the time. Now you drive through neighborhoods during school vacations and there are no kids anywhere.

[tabasco]

57. IMO, it's not so much the food as the lack of physical activity.

Just a hundred years ago, people didn't have electricity or cars.

Now, machines do most of our work.

Cheap fuel has made Americans more lazy than our European friends, who ride bikes and walk more than we do, and are more physically fit.

[TexasObserver]

64. Yes, that's the big difference - the lack of physical activity.

There was little concept of "healthy eating" before about 1970. We drank fewer colas, but had tons of sugar in tea, coffee, colored milk, Koolade and such. The bread was white and refined. But most meals were cooked at home, and most kids got exercise daily. Obesity was the exception, not the rule. Now, texting is the dominant form of exercise.

If we want kids to be healthy, we have to require them to be physically active. Of course the People Ignoring Gluttony will find other reasons than lack of physical activity or lack of intake control.

[nadinbrzezinski]

73. That also gets us into urban design

but food has been designed to addict you to it. These are hyper palatable offerings in portions that are just insane

Think about it, the human animal evolved with about 10% sugar in its diet, right now it can gorge on the stuff. It makes us happy, it releases dopamine, see where I ma going with this?

So here is the French Paradox, they eat a lot more fat than we do. but they STILL eat three structured meals (that is changing so expect obesity to creep up) and what they consider a normal portion is far smaller than portions addled Americans do. My example of the croissant, 2 oz, vs 6 oz.

[RadiationTherapy]

62. Anyone who has been a dishwasher also knows that one can hardly dump the trash

for all the heavy, wet, wasted food in it. So not only do we over-consume food, many, many - many, many, many - people do not even take it with them; they leave it behind to be chucked. Of course, it's all composted and spread back over america's fields to replenish the soil - in the alternate universe I live in where the entire human population isn't at risk from wasteful living.

[MadHound]

66. I think that the biggest difference is the amount of physical activity that kids get today

When I was a kid all of us were physically active, biking, pick-up games of baseball, basketball and other sports, walked to school, just out running around. There were "Beware of Children Playing" put up throughout all the residential neighborhoods.

Now I cruise through those residential neighborhoods and those old signs, now battered and a bit rusted, are a cruel mockery of today's childhood activity levels. The streets, yards and playgrounds are all but deserted. No more flocks of kids on foot, bikes or skates. No more laughter and shouts sounding throughout a neighborhood. The old paths cutting through the wooded park are becoming overgrown from non-use. There is hardly a kid to be seen outside, day or night, schooldays or vacation days, it's like one of those B sci-fi movies from the fifties where all the kids are sucked up off the face of the earth.

But they're still here, you just have to know where to look. Cruise by the houses and you'll see the evidence of kids still alive in the form of flickering bluish-white light emitting from the living room window where the TV is playing. Or more flickering light emitting from studies and bedrooms where the kid is on the computer, or playing on a game system, or watching their very own TV.

This is probably the major reason why kids have gained so much weight, the sheer, simple lack of physical activity. Instead they've been seduced by the TV screen and the computer, and parents, scared witless by fearmongering about how their kid is in so much danger these days, go along with it thinking that they're keeping their child safe.

Meanwhile the kids grow fatter and fatter, suffering health problems associated with obesity at an earlier and earlier age. Hopefully our society will snap out of this soon, realize what fools they've been, and send the kids back outside.

[TexasObserver]

69. Great post. Well said. The key is early physical activity, continued throughout childhood.

PLAYING, particularly outside, was the primary avocation of kids when not in school. And even at school, recess or PE was a time to play for 30-45 minutes a day. Then after school, more play. Bike riding. Walking. Playing games. From Hide and Seek to Red Rover, we ran.

Feeding them well, helping them develop good eating habits, and teaching them about proper intakes of sugar, salt, and fat are good, but instilling a desire to get outside and be active is a critical component of teaching the kids to be healthy.

[nadinbrzezinski]

71. And ironically when you look at national statistics

those playgrounds are far ssfer today...

But parents, sis is a good example, are afraid somebody will kidnap the little ones.

That is the media, and their emphasis on stories that used to be regional best case, mostly local.

[Odin2005]

79. IMO this has more to do with the paranoid parants than the video games.

It seems to be that often the kids are not allowed to be outside unsupervised by many parents because of paranoia about kidnappers and child molesters shoved into people's heads by the MSM. That's certainly the case for my co-worker's 12yo son, who is not allowed to leave the house when his parents are not home.

[MadHound]

80. Oh I don't think that it's all paranoia on the part of parents,

Though that does play a substantial role.

However I also think that many kids are simply hooked on video games, TV and computers. Game designers have created a product that sucks you in for hours at a time. A sad commentary on our society is that it takes a video machine, the Wii, to get kids up and active again.

Also I think many parents are using electronics as baby sitters. Need a kid to be calm for awhile, stick it in front of the TV. Need a kid to play quietly for awhile, plug it into a video game. My mom, and the rest of the parents of the day limited our TV time and our options were either reading or going outside to play.

Kids are losing out on a lot of things thanks to modern electronics, their imagination and health being the two most important ones.

[nadinbrzezinski]

82. When I watch the nephews I have a policy they hate

they start horse playing when watching TV. It goes off, they go out to the backyard to play.

The oldest HATES IT. But if they are horse playing I know cabin fever has set in, and damn it, they need some fresh air. If they were my kids, easy to judge I know, I think they'd be out a lot more than they are. And their dad does have rules on how much TV so they don't get that much as other kids their age do.

[Odin2005]

91. IMO they are largely hooked on video games BECAUSE they are kept inside.

My sister lives out in the country and her 10yo daughter is always WANTING to go outside even though they have video games (including my old SNES, which I gave to my niece for her 8th b-day, and a Wii), and my sister doesn't make her go outside, either. It's because they don't live in fear of my niece getting kidnapped and hurt by MSM boogymen.

[surrealAmerican]

67. I don't know that you can generalize your personal experience ...

... with food that way. It was probably specific not only to the time and place where you grew up, but also to your family's finances, and your parents' upbringings.

My own experience is almost the exact opposite. As a child we had desert almost every night. It was sometimes canned fruit (sweetened), but more often cake (usually from a bakery). After school, we had a snack that always included cookies. After dinner, we would eat candy. Before bed, we had cheese and crackers. Except for salad, all our vegetables came from cans.
Raising my children, I am much more careful about sweets; and we eat fresh fruits and vegetables; and we don't snack four times a day.

[nadinbrzezinski]

70. No I cannot, after all I grew up in a country

where fruit is in season all year round, some fruits you'd not be able to pronounce the names off, and would not survive export. Hell, they barely survive transport to major cities.

But even there I can see the pattern changing. Gone are the days when kids were mostly offered fresh fruit for desert, and in are the days when they get American style ice cream.

Gone are the days they snacked on fresh vegies, in the street mind you, and instead go to Mickey Ds. I see it with my niece and her cohort.

Oh and gone are the days when fruit was dirt cheap as well.

As to what you said, when my sis took nutrition classes in the 1980s at an American university, that was precisely the comment from her instructor. Alas things have gotten much worst. I can see it in the waists of people... in both countries by the way.

[travelingtypist]

87. I'm in my 40s, sedentary, sit in front of the computer a lot.

My Dad has been skinny all his life, has a metabolism that's an efficient machine. My Mom eats for comfort, salty stuff, sweet stuff, doesn't even realize she does it I think, has struggled and been around 200 pounds her whole life. My weight has been stable at about 180 (a girl at 5'5") for the last ten years. I've been told I carry it well. I eat when I'm hungry, don't deny myself when I want something sweet or fattening. It's not something I have to focus too much on, thank goodness.

Just from my own experience in looking at my parents, genetics plays a huge role in this as well.

[nadinbrzezinski]

92. Of course it does

But also our food eating habits play a role, as well as the food industry and how they market junk and all that.

It is truly a matter of what came first, and how we deal with this.

Hell, I gained a lot of weight not because I was overeating... but as a side effect of a single medication that was prescribed for diabetes.

Now those who are very lucky in the genetic lottery at times get very judgmental. A person may be overweight or obese for a variety of reasons. They range from plain out over eating... to a slew of medical related problems, psychological problems or side effects from meds they take. Never, if you can avoid it, take prednisone for example. One side effect, you guessed it.

In my view we really need to get our collective heads out of you know where, and realize it is complex, it is a health problem, a real one. We need solutions, we need to understand it, and in some cases legislate (see HCSF), in others educate... and yet in others admit that perhaps some folks are meant to be chubby... for a slew of reasons. But the last thing we need to do is be judgmental. And to some of those who just judge, I don't believe in Karma, but if they manage to gain weight and then cannot lose it, for a slew of reasons... well then a walk in somebody else's shoes might be good for them.

[travelingtypist]

94. Add to that that food that's good for you is expensive.

While the processed junk not so much, the stuff with all of the high fructose corn syrup in it, as you said. I listen to Ed Schultz talk about our cheap food policy and I think yeah, for the junk. I'll bet if you looked at the statistics that wealthier people weigh less, mostly because they can afford to buy the kind of food you're talking about.

Wondering if there's a study of some sort that attributes some sort of percentage of how much of this obesity epidemic is really due to "personal responsibility" or how much is due to parents buy the junk for their kids, HFCS in the food, quality foods being too expensive for average income people, how advertising and cultural factors influence behavior, our centralized, massive food distribution policies rather than people consuming locally grown foods -- it all fits together and is tough to sort out. Everything contributes.

I had my own issues with my appearance -- a horrible overbite for the first 42 years. I was lucky and found a dentist who fixed my problem in one fell swoop and the change has been transformative for me. My fix was easy. but I do understand that feeling of people looking at me funny and being judgmental.

[nadinbrzezinski]

95. Exactly, this is the tip of the iceberg

The current cheap food policy goes back to Nixon. We have created monoculture as well, due to it. Monoculture and we know this from history, is not sustainable. So that will byte us in the ass as well

As to the statistics, yep, they are real.

Ironic I've gone to readying every damn label and now cook a lot fresh at home... my food budget went UP.

[travelingtypist]

96. And don't forget the magic pills.

You know, you take a pill, the weight magically dissolves? People want what they want and they want it now, instant gratification.

I know I got lucky in the genetic lottery. I'm not on any meds, knock wood. My body works, has good "I'm full now" signaling. I do pretty well when I pay attention to what my body says it wants. I try to focus on whole foods. I have a bag of potato chips I haven't touched in a week, but a bag of raisin English muffins won't last three days. My weakness is mini-Reese's cups. Lol.

There's a lot to be said positive for getting off of the grid -- I don't have a TV, for example. I get my entertainment from the Internet, which is an addiction in and of itself. But I'm curious what you mean about the monoculture, if there was a specific example I could research? How it developed, how it died, what to look for?

[nadinbrzezinski]

97. the midwest used to have a slew of crops and crop rotation

due to smaller farms. These days it is corn as far as the eye can see (see high fructose corn syrup ain't a coincidence either). The only way that has been sustained, over thirty years of really bad practice is the cheap oil. Once that is gone, the land it's gotten a lot of damage on it.

This policy of encouraging monoculture goes back to Nixon and his buddies in the agro business, and it is actually somewhere in the AG bill every five years. They rather leave the land fallow... given the practice not a bad thing, than plant oh beans on it.

As to the pill, the only reason I don't laugh is that with the morbidly obese, that might be needed. I am not kidding. With the morbidly obese the brain chemistry might be completely out of whack and it is genetic? or did they do that to themselves? Or a combo? We will never know. Also the way foods are done these days... yep they cause addition.

By the way I got you beat on snacks at home. We got some ice cream sandwiches oh two months ago at the supermarket. We ate a few... two of them are still there. I think hubby ate two, and I ate two... during the real hot days of summer. I might have to throw them out anymore.

Oh and on our cheap food policy here are some links

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/nixon_goes_to_farm_subsidies.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?partner=permalink

Oh and people spend a lot of time on education, rightly so, or medical care, rightly so, but we don't spend any time on our food policies and lord knows we should.

[travelingtypist]

98. That NYT magazine article really pulls it all together. Nice.

Pretty much making the whole argument about the systemic dysfunction I was talking about. Imagine how much money we'd save on healthcare costs if we stopped feeding "tater tots and chicken nuggets to overweight and diabetic children."

I like that image of resolarized agriculture rather than petroleum-dependent agriculture. That would be a subsidy I could get behind where the farmers who grew local food got paid by the government to pay regular Americans enough to go out and do physical work on the farms, get the tractors out of there. You see what I mean? You know, when I'm really tired, I sleep really well. I don't need an Ambien.

An analogy, I used to get really horrible ear infections. My doctor kept giving me antibiotics, the infection would go away, but as soon as I stopped taking the pills, the infection would come back. Come to find out I had an infected tooth that had to come out. Tooth came out, the ear infections stopped. Focusing on individual behavior to the exclusion of all else is like the doctor prescribing antibiotics without finding out if there's an underlying problem and fixing it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

99. Yes it is systemic dysfuntion

And as always we need to ask... cui bono? Who benefits?

Because trust me, somebody is.