4 ms·

The strange thing is in other [especially European] countries, these post-war "baby boomers" are falling apart at the seams and it's largely their parents' faul

The strange thing is in other [especially European] countries, these post-war "baby boomers" are falling apart at the seams and it's largely their parents' fault. All because of food. Parents of baby-boomers lived through war. Food was rationed. Luxury food was seriously rationed. Many grew up without processed fats like butter, or even sugar. The end rationing was a celebration and these parents wanted their children to have everything they couldn't. Sugar. Fats. The new-fangled convenience foods that came over with Americans post-WWII (operating bases, etc). As time went on this junk food just became even more affordable. The result is a demographic that has just awesome levels of T2 diabetes, obesity and coronary issues, as well as all the problems that have been associated with these conditions (a fair amount of dementia). In many cases, the parents who lived through the war are now caring for and outliving their children.

saiya-jin 11y ago
Same result can be found all over the world, albeit the path to it might be different (or not). I don't think we are in worse state than many other westernized places. At the end, we do our own choices where to spend money - is it cheap and somewhat tasty junk food, or something better (which might not be more expensive, or even cheaper if prepared ourselves). Blaming others for issues that people cause themselves when they have other options is cheap...
mcv 11y ago
That's not what I'm seeing. My impression is rather that the war generation taught their values of not wasting food to their children, and every generation, the lesson gets dilluted because the war is increasingly distant. My baby-boomer taught me to not waste food, and I try to teach my kids, but I also notice that my wife does not share this value. Maybe because her parents grew up on a farm where food was less scarce? Or maybe it's simply different families, different cultures. In any case, I don't see high levels of obesity and diabetes in baby-boomers. And I think it's more my generation and possibly later generations that eat too much junk food.
- oliwarner 11y ago
  Boomers' children are slightly better. They haven't really known rationing so aren't in the position where they really want to push "luxury" crap on their kids. It's been a slow realisation but I think we're only just getting to a point where as a population we understand that feeding children crap means we get fat children. Food waste is something slightly different but I agree, there's a very consumerist approach to food these days. Most are disconnected from production so don't care where it comes from, how much effort goes into it, how many welfare sacrifices are make to get its cost down. Fixing both of these issues is done by getting people making and eating real food. Re my original comments, OT is a geriatrician in England. She's seeing people in their 60s and 70s who have had to move back in with their parents to be cared for. You shouldn't be having geriatric issues until you hit your 80s. She obviously doesn't have the direct experience of other generations but her colleagues tell me this is a relatively recent thing, with this generation. It'd be interesting to munge through a ton of medical data on this.

saiya-jin 11y ago

Same result can be found all over the world, albeit the path to it might be different (or not). I don't think we are in worse state than many other westernized places. At the end, we do our own choices where to spend money - is it cheap and somewhat tasty junk food, or something better (which might not be more expensive, or even cheaper if prepared ourselves). Blaming others for issues that people cause themselves when they have other options is cheap...

mcv 11y ago

That's not what I'm seeing. My impression is rather that the war generation taught their values of not wasting food to their children, and every generation, the lesson gets dilluted because the war is increasingly distant. My baby-boomer taught me to not waste food, and I try to teach my kids, but I also notice that my wife does not share this value. Maybe because her parents grew up on a farm where food was less scarce? Or maybe it's simply different families, different cultures. In any case, I don't see high levels of obesity and diabetes in baby-boomers. And I think it's more my generation and possibly later generations that eat too much junk food.

oliwarner 11y ago
Boomers' children are slightly better. They haven't really known rationing so aren't in the position where they really want to push "luxury" crap on their kids. It's been a slow realisation but I think we're only just getting to a point where as a population we understand that feeding children crap means we get fat children. Food waste is something slightly different but I agree, there's a very consumerist approach to food these days. Most are disconnected from production so don't care where it comes from, how much effort goes into it, how many welfare sacrifices are make to get its cost down. Fixing both of these issues is done by getting people making and eating real food. Re my original comments, OT is a geriatrician in England. She's seeing people in their 60s and 70s who have had to move back in with their parents to be cared for. You shouldn't be having geriatric issues until you hit your 80s. She obviously doesn't have the direct experience of other generations but her colleagues tell me this is a relatively recent thing, with this generation. It'd be interesting to munge through a ton of medical data on this.