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The sheer speed with which this happened undermines many theories about what's causing it. People talk about idle desk jobs, a car-dominated culture, and abunda

by Meekro 7y ago

The sheer speed with which this happened undermines many theories about what's causing it. People talk about idle desk jobs, a car-dominated culture, and abundant cheap food. Those things were just as true in 1990, though, and far fewer people were obese.

onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
But how long had they been that prevalent by the 90s? One does not gain 30 pounds overnight.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- mc32 7y ago
  But also it doesn’t take decades to put on a couple of stone. A poor diet over a year or two will do it without trying.
autokad 7y ago
in 1990, we still had a lot of manufacturing jobs. I think the "idle desk jobs" still makes sense. Probably demographics is more important though. For example, median age is going up. In fact, a lot of the things we complain about today can be at least partially attributed to that.
dawnerd 7y ago
From personal experience I can attest to it being sitting all day and not really moving around much plus eating a lot. People always go on about how you should change but it's just so freaking hard to break out of it once you're gone.
svachalek 7y ago
I don't know about how much eating at home has changed, but I think people today would be shocked at how small a restaurant meal was in 1990. Back then the large, upscaled items would be the "small" of today.
- pascalxus 7y ago
  absolutely. When my family goes out to eat, we usually only order 1 meal and split it between the 3 of us, the meals are that HUGE. half the family don't get what they want, but it is cost effective.
pascalxus 7y ago
the thing is, it takes a decade of delay for this to set in because fast-food and other harmful food like substances are much more harmful in child hood. So, if you were raised descently well on normal food until your 20s, then started eating horribly, it's not nearly as bad as if you started eating horribly in your childhood. We can see this clearly in China. The older generation seems to have some resistance to junk food in terms of weight gain: this is why asians have a reputation for remaining slim, even if they eat junk food. But, it's not due to their genes: they were simply lucky enough to not be introduced to those bad foods until their adulthood. If you look at the newest generation in China in the cities, their obesity rate is skyrocketing at an extremely high rate.
- zzzcpan 7y ago
  > because fast-food and other harmful food like substances are much more harmful in child hood How so? Growing children can probably handle a lot more junk food and sugar without any consequences than adults.
  - graeme 7y ago
    They mean that if you do overwhelm your metabolism or fail to learn motor skills as a child, you may be ruined for life. I know some people who just hate exercise. I think they has no habit of movement of any sort. Likewise, people who were fat or weak as a child have no baseline sense of what it feels to be healthy - and neither do their bodies cells. So kids can handle more sugar, but if messed up the consequences are worse.
  - pascalxus 7y ago
    Addictions are more severe, the earlier they happen.
mumblemumble 7y ago
Based on my memory, they were somewhat less true in 1990, if you look at how much it happens and not just whether or not it happens. Focusing on kids, because that's where I've got the clearest reference for making my own comparisons: 30 years ago, kids in my neighborhood spent most their time running around outdoors. I'm not even sure everyone's parents knew where they were half the time, and it was fine as long as you made it home for dinner. Nowadays, kids seem to spend most their time playing Minecraft or Fortnite or whatever. I don't see them often on the sidewalk unless they're headed to or from school, and the playgrounds are generally pretty quiet. Over the same time period, hours of TV watched per household is up by about 2 hours per day, and consumption of the Internet has gone from zero to whatever it is right now, so that's where I'm guessing all the kids have gone.
- philg_jr 7y ago
  In the early and mid 90s I was playing a lot of Zelda, Super Mario World, and Mario Kart on SNES, but also had a Genesis, then a Saturn, and a PS2, then N64... ;) Definitely watched a lot of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network too. I really wouldn't point to modern video games as the blame, look more toward how the food has changed. Anetdotal, but the majority of people I know eat like shit.

by Meekro 7y ago

onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago

But how long had they been that prevalent by the 90s? One does not gain 30 pounds overnight.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
mc32 7y ago
But also it doesn’t take decades to put on a couple of stone. A poor diet over a year or two will do it without trying.

autokad 7y ago

in 1990, we still had a lot of manufacturing jobs. I think the "idle desk jobs" still makes sense. Probably demographics is more important though. For example, median age is going up. In fact, a lot of the things we complain about today can be at least partially attributed to that.

dawnerd 7y ago

From personal experience I can attest to it being sitting all day and not really moving around much plus eating a lot. People always go on about how you should change but it's just so freaking hard to break out of it once you're gone.

svachalek 7y ago

I don't know about how much eating at home has changed, but I think people today would be shocked at how small a restaurant meal was in 1990. Back then the large, upscaled items would be the "small" of today.

pascalxus 7y ago
absolutely. When my family goes out to eat, we usually only order 1 meal and split it between the 3 of us, the meals are that HUGE. half the family don't get what they want, but it is cost effective.

pascalxus 7y ago

the thing is, it takes a decade of delay for this to set in because fast-food and other harmful food like substances are much more harmful in child hood. So, if you were raised descently well on normal food until your 20s, then started eating horribly, it's not nearly as bad as if you started eating horribly in your childhood. We can see this clearly in China. The older generation seems to have some resistance to junk food in terms of weight gain: this is why asians have a reputation for remaining slim, even if they eat junk food. But, it's not due to their genes: they were simply lucky enough to not be introduced to those bad foods until their adulthood. If you look at the newest generation in China in the cities, their obesity rate is skyrocketing at an extremely high rate.

zzzcpan 7y ago
> because fast-food and other harmful food like substances are much more harmful in child hood How so? Growing children can probably handle a lot more junk food and sugar without any consequences than adults.
- graeme 7y ago
  They mean that if you do overwhelm your metabolism or fail to learn motor skills as a child, you may be ruined for life. I know some people who just hate exercise. I think they has no habit of movement of any sort. Likewise, people who were fat or weak as a child have no baseline sense of what it feels to be healthy - and neither do their bodies cells. So kids can handle more sugar, but if messed up the consequences are worse.
- pascalxus 7y ago
  Addictions are more severe, the earlier they happen.

mumblemumble 7y ago

Based on my memory, they were somewhat less true in 1990, if you look at how much it happens and not just whether or not it happens. Focusing on kids, because that's where I've got the clearest reference for making my own comparisons: 30 years ago, kids in my neighborhood spent most their time running around outdoors. I'm not even sure everyone's parents knew where they were half the time, and it was fine as long as you made it home for dinner. Nowadays, kids seem to spend most their time playing Minecraft or Fortnite or whatever. I don't see them often on the sidewalk unless they're headed to or from school, and the playgrounds are generally pretty quiet. Over the same time period, hours of TV watched per household is up by about 2 hours per day, and consumption of the Internet has gone from zero to whatever it is right now, so that's where I'm guessing all the kids have gone.

philg_jr 7y ago
In the early and mid 90s I was playing a lot of Zelda, Super Mario World, and Mario Kart on SNES, but also had a Genesis, then a Saturn, and a PS2, then N64... ;) Definitely watched a lot of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network too. I really wouldn't point to modern video games as the blame, look more toward how the food has changed. Anetdotal, but the majority of people I know eat like shit.