re: When did obesity really become an epidemic?

Lo fat campaign was the Covid vax propaganda of the 90s.

When the average family could afford to eat more than they needed on a regular basis.

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Late 90’s early 2000’s

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Seems about right based on my experience. We didn't have very many fat kids in high school.

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Look at all those adults who BMI doesn't apply to because JJ Watt has a BMI of 34

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the 60’s and 70’s, you didn’t really see a lot of obese people

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My theory, our approach to eating has changed from 40-50 years ago.

In the present, we have a lot of food in the US in quantity and ease of access to food. Typically, you can get a variety of foods within a mile of your home. Because of the plentiful supply of food in restaurants and at home, we are served bigger and bigger portions.

Thus, our expectation of eating a meal is to eat until we are completely stuffed. However, 40-50 years ago, people ate everyday meals to be not hungry not stuffed. They would only eat until stuffed or feasted during special celebratory occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays...

Today, we expect every meal to be a feast. At home, we pile our plates and restaurants would serve huge portions. Daily, we are eating more calories than we can burn, and we gain weight.

We need to change our expectations. We eat meals every day just to not be hungry, not to be completely stuffed.

Anyway, that's my theory...

I venture to say that 2 income households was the start of it. That along with no PE in schools. Kids come home to an empty house and snack like mad while playing video games until mom brings home a sack of fast food for supper.

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We need to change our expectations. We eat meals every day just to not be hungry, not to be completely stuffed.

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I couldn’t tell you the last time I ate anything more than 2x a day. Most days it’s only 1x. Only the desperate in this country know what hunger is. All the rest know is it’s time to eat, again

no willpower, 100% convenience, garbage food, mass quantities, several times a day, every day

obesity is the easiest way to kill yourself. Much easier than restraint and effort to eat well

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There's a three mile long sidewalk between Jonesboro and Hodge. Men would walk from Jonesboro to the paper mill in Hodge, work their shift, and walk the three miles back.

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I know the mill you are talking about but did not know about the sidewalk and men walking that far on it

When all of the bad genes started to kick in.

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The main cause was mainstream (aka government) nutritionists and doctors began pushing us away from healthy, fat, nutrient rich foods to "healthy" "low fat" foods full of carbs and sugar.

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the funny thing is that growing up we purposely avoided all the low fat/“diet” food because it didn’t taste as good. We ate fresh food every day and my parents wouldn’t buy the new stuff because they thought it was crap. And it was crap

the other thing we never had around the house was soft drinks. We all drank them of course but almost never at home.