I remember hearing for the first time about it in 1999. That's when I first heard about it, but when did it start?

I remember hearing for the first time about it in 1999. That's when I first heard about it, but when did it start?




Four words "High Fructose Corn Syrup."

That and the fact that people aren't as active as they were.  Plus some of those food additives do wierd things to the body. 

Four words "High Fructose Corn Syrup."


add in McDs, BK, the unlimited soda refills, and sitting on the internet.

Personally, I don't know that it started at any one given time. I remember coming up that there were obesitiy problems, late 70's early 80's. It just appears to be more prominent now.

Personally, I don't know that it started at any one given time. I remember coming up that there were obesitiy problems, late 70's early 80's. It just appears to be more prominent now.


I'd say it was a recognized problem in the '70s and early '80s, but it became a so-called "epidemic" in the late '80s, accelerating in the '90s and '00s.

I remember my sister's friend's mother was considered remarkably obese--obscenely fat--in the '70s.  I saw photos of her from back then recently.  Today a person of that habitus would be considered merely moderately overweight.

In a big reversal, the bigger the population gets(weight wise),  the smaller the media stars get.  Marilyn Monroe would have had to lose a few pounds if she hoped to get a job these days, she would be considered too fat and would spend her days sweating it out in the gym, not eating, and throwing, and eating ex-lax.  It is all part of some odd schizophrenic pattern we have.

http://evilbeetgossip.film.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/marilyn_monroe.jpg

In a big reversal, the bigger the population gets(weight wise),  the smaller the media stars get.  Marilyn Monroe would have had to lose a few pounds if she hoped to get a job these days, she would be considered too fat and would spend her days sweating it out in the gym, not eating, and throwing, and eating ex-lax.  It is all part of some odd schizophrenic pattern we have.

http://evilbeetgossip.film.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/marilyn_monroe.jpg


*SCHWING!*

Norma Jean was perfect just the way she was!
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Around the turn of the century, being fat was desirable.  It was a sign of prosperity.

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that if it tastes good, it's bad for you.  So, I eat whatever I want... but I don't eat alot.  I get full really quickly.  And I'm barely (maybe 5 lbs) overweight.  I'm still of the old school belief that it's not so much WHAT you eat, but how much you eat.  (Yes, this is the old school belief that most people had before the obesity epidemic)

I don't buy into the low-carb, low salt, low sugar, low cholesterol, low protein, lowfat, nonfat, no preservatives, low starch... because I'm not eating plain broccoli and rice cakes for the rest of my life.

I remember when I was a kid obesity was not a problem. That was the 90's...I think I started noticing it more in Jr. High, so I'm guessing it must have began sometime around the turn of the century. Well, with all the processed crap like McDonalds and Pringles (I have that ONCE IN A WHILE...guilty pleasure), and the fact that more kids are staying inside playing video games more than they are playing sports outside, which was very common when I was a child, it's no wonder that this thing is not uncommon (my 12 year old cousin just plays COD modern warfare all day...THANK GOD he's not a fatty). Hopefully this recession will get parents to stop wasting their income on junk food and video games and encourage their kids to go out and get some exercise. I think with all the awareness now though, this kind of thing can only get better with time...hopefully.

Hopefully this recession will get parents to stop wasting their income on junk food and video games and encourage their kids to go out and get some exercise. I think with all the awareness now though, this kind of thing can only get better with time...hopefully.


Problem is, it's not as easy nowadays for parents to tell their kids "Go out and play" because most kids are not allowed to be out roaming around without parental supervision...  In these times with both parents working, there isn't always time to prepare home-cooked meals every day plus make time to supervise kids playing outside.  It's a much different world for kids now than it was when I was growing up.

When did the first McDonald's restaruant open?

When did the first McDonald's restaruant open?


1948 in Southern California, by Ray Krock i think

I grew up in the 50s in a very working class neighborhood.  I don't think any one of us in the neighborhood saw the inside of any restaurant until we were in our teens, and then it was a pizza parlor.  Fast food was a piece of bread and butter, but not to close to dinner time.  There were kids that were overweight, but not near as many as there are now.

You know what gets me is everybody says there is an obesity epidemic but than you see those fashion models who are stick thin and starving themselves. Thats confusing too me.

You know what gets me is everybody says there is an obesity epidemic but than you see those fashion models who are stick thin and starving themselves. Thats confusing too me.


Those fashion models are indicative of the general population

Those fashion models are indicative of the general population


Yeah, one extreme or another!
::)

I remember hearing for the first time about it in 1999. That's when I first heard about it, but when did it start?


When food was invented

When food was invented
I started eating in 1958.

I eat a lot, but all I gain is .01 ounce!

When I stand, I feel thin.
When I lay down, I feel thin.
When I sit down, I feel a little fat!

I eat a lot, but all I gain is .01 ounce!

When I stand, I feel thin.
When I lay down, I feel thin.
When I sit down, I feel a little fat!


Quit whimpering and have a pop tart.

Quit whimpering and have a pop tart.

I like the ones with the weird sprinkles on the icing and the gritty fake chocolate filling!
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When did it start, seriously?
Think it was a combination of factors that just all finally came together by the 80'/90's or so.

First the automobile coming of age in the 20's-30's, then in the late 40's to early 50's the emergence of TV and almost at the same time the building of the Interstate Highway system.
Then of course fast food-drive ins were always there.

But the combination of increased mobility by car and the interstate highway (and less genuine exercise), people plopping themselves in front of the TV at home, while driving thru the local McD's, well it was the beginning.

I think once the internet and PC's/VCR and the like came on, then it was like a death knoll.  Technology has taken away the need for humans to be a mobile as we once were by necessity.

We "sit" with no activity most of the day, if its not in front of the TV or PC its in a car, we have to make time to exercise nowadays, when it was something we got just going about our day in the past.
I can bet that if the television and PC disappeared today, we'd see a dramatic drop in the average weight of most Americans. And thats WITHOUT getting rid of any of the fast food or junk food we so joyfully put in our face.

True.  When I finally got a car and didn't have to walk as much it was good for about 15 pounds.  When I was young all the kids were out of the house after school and stayed out until dinner time, then back out until the streetlights went on. Streetlights were a city kids universal alarm clock. It was considered that if anyone was in the house during daylight hours they were sick or punished.

Come on people, I know that everything: (cars, internet, videogames, society in general, etc.) contributes to obesity, but you can't deny that the 90's was when it became worrisome and extreme. 65% of us are overweight or obese in America.

You can't say that obesity was extreme in the 50s-70s. The 80s might have been a little more, but it wasn't an epidemic. But by the 90's, it was noticable. Obesity is linked more to the 90's,00s, and in the future than to the pre-1995 years.

True.  When I finally got a car and didn't have to walk as much it was good for about 15 pounds.  When I was young all the kids were out of the house after school and stayed out until dinner time, then back out until the streetlights went on. Streetlights were a city kids universal alarm clock. It was considered that if anyone was in the house during daylight hours they were sick or punished.

My sister remembers the late '60s when we still lived in Dorchester (my dad was in grad school at the time) and even in poor neighborhoods such as Boston's Dorchester, little girls played hopscotch and Double-Dutch skip rope for hours and hours until their mothers called them in.  The boys at the same time played ball in vacant lots, rode bikes, or just chased one another around roughhousing until dark.  The last thing the parents wanted was the kids driving the crazy indoors chowing down all the food and watching the tube! 

There was plenty of crime in Dorchester back then...even in the era of infamous urban riots...but crime against children went against the thug code.  The introduction of crack into poor neighborhoods ushered in the era of drive-by shootings and dealers recruiting 8-year-olds to run dope.
::)

Then came the universal fear of child predators with John Walsh and co.  This is not to say child predators are just a product of hysteria, but hysteria took the place of a measured response. 

Bottom line, if kids don't get enough exercise, they stand a better chance of getting obese, and once they're obese, it tends to carry over into adulthood.