Almost all adults smoked, families often had only one car which meant a fair amount of walking, no computers to sit in front of and candy was relegated by many families to holidays.
The Thin Days
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
When you consume more than you walk off then you start to pack on the weight. Reverse the habit and watch the weight come off. So difficulty to do in our busy world though.
Btw- told to start my first child on solids at 6 months old. Told to start by second child on solids at 4 months. Told to start my third child on solids at 6 months. Told to start my 4 child at 4 months…you get the jist. The so called “health guidelines” are somewhat of a joke. So naturally I ignored them each child and just did what my mum and grandma advised me.
The CDC says to introduce solids to an infant at about six months, but I read somewhere in my hard-core nursing books, the baby is only ready for solids when he has teeth and is grabbing the food from off your plate. That worked for us, although the kids did become somewhat addicted to arrowroot cookies and cheese toast. They were very picky eaters as children; amazing how adulthood can change that.
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Walking is fabulous for weight loss.
Six months is too late IMHO. Started all mine at 3-4months (all soft food of course) and all developed into good eaters (well- till they hit the tweens/teens and start craving the junk food). Received some far-fetched “advice” about poor sleeping linked to starting solids too “early” from an early childhood nurse with my first. Became wiser and started scrutinising the “advice” from the professionals with each child. Therefore not a fan of these shifting “recommendations” which confuse and give endless anxiety to already exhausted parents. Reminds me of the shifting “recommendations” on weight loss which preys on individuals with struggling health and body image issues.
Yes agree – walking is great exercise- good for the mind too.
Poor health care meant that people died rather than living in poor health, which is a known cause of being over-weight. (As in, when you look at someone’s health records, they get sick and then gain weight; it’s a known eugenics tactic to insist on fixing the weight symptom before working on the health issue that caused it.)
Oh, and their mothers generally hadn’t done extreme dieting while pregnant with them. The weight issues shared by children of mothers who tried to gain no weight during pregnancy, and famine survivors, is freaking horrific. (even if it did spur the discovery/research of epigenetics)
Ezabelle-
our theory for “start solids” is “when the kid tries to steal it, let him try it.”
Has ranged from about six months to about nine months so far, not counting stuff like “gumming on a pork bone” or similar cute baby tricks. 😀
People ate a late breakfast and an early supper, and didn’t eat between meals less they “spoil their supper”.
It would be interesting to do a year-by-year study comparing rising obesity and Medicare. Maybe ex prompter hoc, but there might be some illumination there.
ergo, not ex. Friday fingers!
Restaurant portions are much bigger than 50 or 60 years ago – especially fast food servings. Junk food is more plentiful. I don’t think that there were Tostitos in the late 1960s.
My mother is a retired emergency room nurse. She picked up bad eating habits due to the nature of her job – which often prevented here and the others on her staff to go to lunch. Lost of donuts and other sweets to get a sugar rush to make it through the day were the rule. My brothers and I feasted on the sweets my mom often bought for herself and none of us put on weight until our late 20s.
My dad put on weight courtesy of Genesee Brewing Company. Both of my parents smoked, to our dismay.
While the 1970s had fast food drive thru and drive thru banking, there was no grocery delivery, Door Dash, etc. drive through pharmacies. People eat too much and don’t move around enough.