If smoking is that bad for you then why were people skinnier and healthier back in the day?

Question

Massageman · Accepted Answer

They weren't plotzed in front of computers and cell phones all day, for one.

They would actually have to WALK to the local stores to buy stuff and not have it driven to their homes by someone else.

Food were more natural back then, not manufactured with a bunch of junk ingredients (carefully named and renamed to avoid or at least minimize governmental control of them).

Going to a doctor was less expensive. In 1957-1958, when my mom would take me to the doctor, the bill was $2.00, or about 2-3% of the weekly pay of the average breadwinner. It was $5.00 if I had to have shots- and that was for any number of them. (The most expensive part of getting innocculations back then was running the autoclave to sterilize the reusable needles and syringes, and not the meds themselves.)

Today the cost of a doc visit- barring any other means of paying- is more like 20-40% of a weeks' average pay. PLUS the shots.

ProbablyClueless · Accepted Answer

Smoking pumps a bunch of toxic chemicals into your body, which causes you to lose weight because your system is stressed out. Also, I'm pretty sure nicotine suppresses your apetite. Smoking certainly isn't good for you.

But very much to your point; there is 100%, categorically, absolutely no shot that smoking is anywhere near as bad for you as people would have you believe. It's certainly not as bad for you as regularly eating high processed foods, or spending your entire life immobilized behind a desk.

How do I know this, you might ask? Because every single person on planet Earth knows people who smoke like chimneys for decades and yet barely suffer health problems. Yet there isn't a single person who eats a highly processed diet and/or lives a sedentary life who doesn't look and feel like shit in short order.

IslaTheWitch · Accepted Answer

because food was less packed with sugar and fat...

I lost my grandma and my mom to lung cancer because of smoking... I was a passive smoker the whole of my childhood because both my parents smoked and didn't care much...

my father has cancer...

smoking is a killer

CupcakeTheDestroyer · Accepted Answer

You mean in the 1950’s and 1960’s when they were advertising weight  gaining  products so girls wouldn’t be too skinny? Get your head on straight, you want to learn to stop eating then smoke a pack a day and see what happens. You’ll definitely lose your ability to taste.

DaisyM23 · Answer

it's not cigarettes that's causing weight issues, it's because of processed food, more junk food, the expansion of chains like mcdonalds and kfc, plus genetics, people are generally more lazy now too since you can do everything on devices and it takes effort to look after yourself

NamerOfStars · Answer

They were skinnier because they ate less and exercised more; they weren't healthier at all, given their notably lower lifespans. You know how today, it's considered unusual to keel over at age 60 from a heart attack?

Of course, back then it wouldn't been considered unthinkable to keel over at age 25 from a heart attack, but that has nothing to do with diet, exercise, OR smoking...

molonski2 · Answer

SMOKING is horrendous , and is a massive killer.

But what has become now a bigger killer is diet and Obesity , you just cannot somehow think that highly processed and fast food is okey , ITS NOT ! Its never ever ever stuff..

We never ate this sht , I dont.. never / no exceptions.

ManInChains · Answer

Because they didn't have fast food and probably didn't have the type of stuff in their food that we have in ours today. People back then didn't sit around all day on their phones either because they didn't have tech back then like that. The only unhealthy thing they had was smoking and they didn't even know it was bad for them until later.

Fireguy17 · Answer

there weren't' many fast food places, people tended to cook better healthier meals, portion sizes were smaller, and most people were a lot more active.
Now you don't have to even get your butt off of the couch to have dinner, some delivery guy will bring it to your door, and slip them a 20 they might even feed it to you.

Unit1 · Answer

You're looking at the wrong culprit here.

This obesity was made by contaminating what they sell as "food" with too much sugar, fats and salts and the people are unselectively buying this crap and inserting into their bodies.

Be vigilant and selective about what you put in your mouth, check the food labels and ingredients and do some basic exercises regularly and you won't have this problem.

LiamJHayden · Answer

That does not logically follow. A better comparison would be between smokers and non-smokers with the same lifestyles and diets.

People are fatter today becase on average they are less active and their diets contain a lot of highly processed food.

Twalli · Answer

They actually weren't healthier. They were skinnier for two reasons. One was that there wasn't as much fast food, because it took longer to get anywhere. The second is that they were usually not getting all the nutrients they needed to be completely healthy.

Astarlessnightsky · Answer

Smoking attacks your lungs and throat, this is unhealthy regardless if you are skinny or obese.

Also people were less obese because sugar lobby didn't poison all of all our food with sugar yet and people didn't drive as much.

Lionman95 · Answer

Because they ate less sugar and less in general. People generally had a more healthy diet and they had to work more for their food. These days one can get anything delivered and doesn´t have to move around to cook.

MrExperienced · Answer

Not so sure they were healthier but cigarettes do curb appetite’s and we were far more active then plus half the housewives were on amphetamine pills and there were far less chemicals in our food.

Nikki1989 · Answer

Less junk food and people exercised more. Now people eat garbage and stare at their phone all day long.

Abdulwahh · Answer

Well if we look at ourselves today many of us have technology many of our generation had phones at a very young age in that sense we became less active however im our parents or grandparents times they played outside there fun was more activity based. I dont understand where the smoking part of the question comes in.

exitseven · Answer

People did not eat so much sugar and fat and they did not sit all day and play with a computer. Also nicotine boosts your metabolism and causes you to burn more calories. All your skinny models are big smokers.

jshm2 · Answer

Because they were poorer and had to work harder as well. Not to mention nearly starving to death due to two world wars.

Reporepo378 · Answer

"If modern medicine is good for you why were people skinnier and healthier and less obese back in the day?"

Bricealan · Answer

Smoking killed your appetite, so people ate less... but thought very little about what it was doing to their lungs, complexion etc

OtterMan68 · Answer

Sugar content in food is way up as are processed foods. People are not exercising as much as they used to - especially children. but bad diet is the key figure

Drumlin2001 · Answer

Because there was less processed foods and they did more physical activity. Kids weren't sat on a games console for all hours.

leahzrc · Answer

The government controls population by contaminating our food with toxic substances.

jahaims · Answer

Food wasn't poison and people were more physically active

RedInnocent69 · Answer

Diet and exercise. We exercise now because we often don’t work physically as hard.

QuietRunner · Answer

in addition to making your own food people physically worked harder maybe they ate less

Anonymous · Answer

Being skinny doesn't mean you're healthy lol smoking doesn't make you fat

4ngelic · Answer

smoking isn't the reason they were skinny...

electromagnetic · Answer

Less processed foods.

normalice · Answer

High fructose corn syrup

laly520 · Answer

smoking is that bad for health

handsomelad70 · Answer

They also died MUCH younger than today.

Still-alive · Answer

Is this a serious question? Lol

Awesomesauce2005 · Answer

Fast food and technology.

WhiteBoyChill · Answer

Because of excercise and better diet

Sofie1994 · Answer

Cause some had eating disorder.

mickeysmonkey · Answer

People smoked instead of eating

Bluegreen3737 · Answer

Walking

If smoking is that bad for you then why were people skinnier and healthier back in the day?

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If smoking was not really bad for your health would you do it? ?

If smoking is that bad for you then why were people skinnier and healthier back in the day?

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If smoking was not really bad for your health would you do it? ?

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