Why were most people so skinny in the 60s and 70s? Didn’t they eat?

[Anonymous]

So I looked at some photos from the 60s and 70s and goddamn people back then we’re so freaking skinny! Like how? I looked at photos of my parents and my aunts and uncles and they were skinny! Even my grandparents were slim. They’re sticks compare to people today. If they were in today’s world, they would not be accepted. Most men usually like their women curvy and with meat on their bones and women usually don’t like skinny men and like their men with meat on their bones too. My mom was skinny in the 70s and 80s but got curvier but she was still slender. Now she’s no offense, fat. I’m very thick and curvy. Sometimes I envy slender people but I usually get more attention from guys than my skinny girl pals.

[WindAtMyBack]

They weren't skinny. There were a healthy weight. People have gotten so fat, that some people actually consider someone at a healthy weight to be skinny.

People blame fast food, and eating out in general. But it's not really fast food that's the problem, it's the portions. Back then there was no such thing as Big Macs, Whoppers, etc. They had normal sized burgers that were half the size they are now. There was no such thing as super sized fries. A Coke was a small cup with ice, and no refills.

Not just fast food, but all restaurants and convenience stores sell unlimited free refills of flavored sugar water. Restaurants have giant portions of everything. A meal today is really 2-3 meals, yet a lot of people actually eat the whole thing.

At the stores, there was no such thing as liter or 2 liter bottles of Coke and other sugar water. A coke was 10 ounces, then they were 12 ounces, then they were 16 ounces. Then they came out in giant bottles. Candy bars were also half the size they are now.

People sit on their asses all day staring staring at computers and phones. They work in offices and pay someone else to do everything that people used to do for themselves. They get no exercise and eat like crap. It's no wonder people have gotten so fat, and healthy weight people are called skinny. They were NOT skinny. They were healthy.

[DryGermanGuy]

Fastfood entry into the restaurant market

Industrial food getting worse and worse (no oversight)

Less knowledge, interest and time for home-cooked food

Less manual and production jobs, more office jobs

More TV and social media nonsense, less sports

[sage2021]

We didn't hardly have any fast food places to eat (gorge our faces) like now a days.

We ate at home mostly.

Breakfast was oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, french toast, eggs, bacon, toast, cold cereal and milk and a glass of orange juice and glass of milk.

Lunch was a sandwich. Bacon, lettuce and tomato, peanut butter and jelly, baloney and cheese sandwich, grilled cheese sandwich, piece of fruit, a small bag of chips, a couple of cookies.

Dinner was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and a vegetable. Maybe a salad too. Steak and baked potato. Fried pork chops. Just a few ideas.

Always had dessert - usually pie of some kind.

[4ngelic]

the companies that make shitty food didn't start spiking people's food with addictive substances, and a bunch of cancerous fattening stuff, and didn't mass market junk food and unhealthy stuff, until the 80s. that's when all that stuff happened, before that even mcdonalds was healthy and organic and stuff like that

[Nikki1989]

People live on fast food now. In those days it was more eaten more as the occasional treat.

[John_Cobretti]

I guess they ate healthy and were healthy instead of being overweight or obese

[Anonymous]

Better dieting choices, and the fast food explosion had not started yet.

[jahaims]

Less processed food and more active lifestyles