The Difference Between 1973 and Today
 

Last night, I attended a family party - a 50th wedding anniversary party. One thoughtful family member took all of the footage from the old video cameras and put them on a DVD. We watched the videos loop on the screen for some time. All of the old footage was from the 70s and very early 80s.

All but two were thin - almost too thin, by today's standards. And the two that weren't wouldn't stick out today as being "fat", but more like "slightly chubby."

Watching this with the backdrop of those same people, all ballooned out into obese bodies, riddled with health problems was really eye-opening. I caught a few glimpses of my grandmother in the video - she collapsed and died of a heart attack at age 48 - she was about a size 14. She was the heaviest of the bunch. In contrast, I have two aunts that haven't seen below 325 since the early 90s and another who has always been about 250. The rest hop around in the 180-220 range. Not a single one of them shops outside of the plus-sized ladies
department.

My father and my uncles were stick-thin in the video and only one at this point in time qualifies as merely overweight... the rest are obese. This is not all genetic; these include the wives/husbands of all 8 of the siblings.

I saw my mother, pregnant for me, saunter in front of the camera in a thin body. (I myself have never even approached such a thin body.) I saw my aunts laze around in bikinis - in bikini bodies. This is in stark contrast to now. And yes, they are all much, much older, but even glancing at all of the cousins - even the ones who are in this young age group - only one looked even remotely close in thinness to all the women on the video. The rest of us are straight-up obese.

In the videos, the family parties looked identical to what we had last night, with only minor changes.

In 1973, the guys drank copious amounts of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Last night, the beers didn't flow as freely as they used to, but I did see a few uncles who had a Light beer in hand.

In 1973, Aunt Kathy made her famous potato salad with real mayo. Last night, she made the sort with low-fat Miracle Whip. Same bowl as 1973. The plates were heaping with the stuff the same last night as they were in 1973.

In 1973, everyone showed off their fingers, dripping in bbq sauce, to the cameras while licking them off. Last night, I saw the same people eating the same food. The only difference was that in 1973, everyone was eating legs. Last night, everyone had chicken breasts.

It was amazing to compare the then and the now with the same people, under similar circumstances.

Yep, people's metabolisms slow with age, no matter what you eat. Look around you. Most people over 40 are bigger than 20-somethings.

But what fun to watch those videos!! I wish my family had those...

But the grandparents in 1973 were not as big as the grandparents today, and the 20-somethings in 1973 were thinner than the 20-somethings today (even though they are eating lower fat Miracle Whip & chicken parts, which clearly hasn't helped them lose weight).

I met my DH in 1973. I know what you mean about pictures.

:there:

I think its all to do with the food.... now its all processed, we let the big companies lead us up the garden path, feed us crap, and we like it... they changed the basic grains to suit themselves and fed us their hotch potch products, and we liked it... they made us think we couldn't go without a cool drink for more than an hour, put it infront of us 24/7 and we lapped it up... then, when everyone was fat, they brought out the " Light " version of the crap they made you eat before...... we are a sorry bunch. Why worry about Aliens landing here and taking over the World, they must be peeing their pants watching us... :D

portion size, this is what happened, sugar, soft drinks. Most people will drink softdrinks when they are thirsty and make junkfood there prime foods that they eat. Of course they always eat dessert too after a big meal. Its not all genetics, and its not all getting older, my father before he died in 2006 remained the same weight all is life 5 feet 7 and around 140 pounds he was never sick, he ate when he was hungry and never ate big portions of food at a time, he never drank any soda. Is last few years before he died of cancer, i started getting into that junk food craze, eating tones of sugar, and pasta.

wow, i think it was more about switching from high fat to low fat. going from real food to fake food. interesting. must've been so neat to watch!

I'd say TV dinners and junk food did it, having lived through that period :) (I graduated from college in 1970.) I'm 5'8, which was very tall then, at least for stores. It was hard to find clothes. I weighed 150 when I graduated from high school, which is not horribly overweight, but I could not fit into anything -- I was what today would be a 12, but back then it was a 16, and they didn't make 16s except in specialty stores like Lane Bryant.

I never had a TV dinner growing up. I did not eat at fast food joints. I think I have a wheat sensitivity (gluten?) and we had a lot of bread -- biscuits, cake, cookies -- but they were very rationed, two cookiues at lunch, one small slice of cake as a desert twice a week. At other times, it was fruit, or pudding. There were no snacks.

When I first went to Weight Watchers in the mid-1980s, I weighed 215 and I was one of the heaviest ones there. I did not know anyone who weighed 310, as I did at my heaviest 20 years later.

You have the historical evidence, Jenn! Thanks for the post.

Im convinced we have been sold a bill of goods with the low fat thing. Ive been watching mad men marathons, and the bottles of coke they drink are like 8 ounces. A far cry from the 44 ounce fountain sodas at 7-11. Then again, they drink like a gallon of scotch a day!...(haha) not saying we need to get back to the 60s, (god forbid!) but we do need to rethink how we ate then, and were healthier than today.

Actually, any time anyones eating, its hearts of palm salad, porterhouse, oysters, chicken kiev (what IS that, anyway), steak tartar, these were the things considered good DECADENT food.

Hmm. I blame the boomers. They ruined everything (jk)

This is such an interesting thread Jen!

I have noticed the same thing in my family pictures also.

Chicken Keiv in the most simple terms is a chicken breast, sliced into to make a pocket, in the pocket you put beautiful garlic butter, with herbs if you like, then egged and breaded and then baked ( sometimes first fried ) . A World classic.... with many, many variations.

p.s. I love, love love Mad Men.... I learned so much, like in the U.S.A. you had microwaves 45 years before us in the U.K........45 years... uh.

Jenn - fascinating. Thanks

My mom was thin in the 70s but she was always drinking Tab. No doubt all the sugar has had an effect. I would also question the diet drinks, too. They all play with metabolisms in my view.

You could also add that families were more united in the past. Communities probably were too. People stayed married despite problems within their marriages. Most diets were a lot more local. Less fast food and foreign food. Less gym memberships I would think too. A lot of things were different.

My great-aunt had a huge built-in microwave oven in her house in the 1960's...I did not know that was what it was until much later and I was astounded...I thought microwaves were not around then.

However, she died of cancer, and since that definitely does not run in our family, many of us wondered if it was the micro. Can't know for sure, of course, but that thing was probably not as well shielded as they are now.

Great post Jenn!

Interesting, Jenn. I'm sure that has caused a lot of mixed emotions for you.