5 ms·

Reading some of the stuff people used to eat, I have a really hard time understanding how obesity is worse today than back then.

dhc02 5y ago
Seed oils.
Wohlf 5y ago
Larger portion sizes, more snacking, much less manual labor. Only the wealthy were obese back then.
- helpfulmandrill 5y ago
  But it says that soldiers were fed 4000 to 5000 calories. Sounds pretty hard to exercise enough to burn that off.
  - op00to 5y ago
    WWI soldiers marched literally for days straight with 85 pounds of equipment on their backs.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - Symbiote 5y ago
    According to [1] (which cites [2], page 9), British infantry etc have an average 4,600 calorie intake. [1] https://militarymuscle.co/blogs/studies/nutrition-for-military-personnel https://militarymuscle.co/blogs/studies/nutrition-for-milita... [2] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/583321/SACN_military_DRVs_for_energy_position_statement.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
  - kaesar14 5y ago
    Can’t imagine fighting a war of annihilation being as hard of work as being a high school athlete?
  - aquaticsunset 5y ago
    Given how soldiers then (and still, largely, now) were young men in their late teens and early 20s... this doesn't sound unreasonable at all. I could sit on the couch and burn that off. Add in setting up camp, digging trenches, hauling heavy equipment through mud and snow? Totally realistic.
pjc50 5y ago
Troops consuming 5000 calories a day seems reasonable for walking (and occasionally running) across Europe with a pack and a gun.
elktea 5y ago
Logically then, the stuff they ate wasn't the cause of obesity. Modern nutrition must have got it wrong.
randallsquared 5y ago
Given how much agricultural productivity has improved, I wonder if these descriptions of meals are more aspirational than everyday.
micromacrofoot 5y ago
a lazy person in the 20s would probably seem fairly active by today's standards... outside of reading books you would have been hard pressed to find an abundance of things to do while sitting around
tetromino_ 5y ago
It's an intriguing question! People of the early 20th century ate too much fat, too much sugar, too many carbs, too many calories, and yet did not grow obese. There is an interesting paper [1] making a strong case that the cause of the 21st century obesity epidemic is an unidentified environmental contaminant which (1) causes obesity in both humans and other mammals; (2) accumulates in major river valleys; (3) started noticeably affecting the US around 1980, and by now has spread worldwide. Some possible candidates proposed for such a contaminant include animal antibiotics, PFAS, and lithium (e.g. in industrial lubricants). [1] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6miu9BsKdoAi72nkL/a-contamination-theory-of-the-obesity-epidemic https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6miu9BsKdoAi72nkL/a-contamin...

dhc02 5y ago

Seed oils.

Wohlf 5y ago

Larger portion sizes, more snacking, much less manual labor. Only the wealthy were obese back then.

helpfulmandrill 5y ago
But it says that soldiers were fed 4000 to 5000 calories. Sounds pretty hard to exercise enough to burn that off.
- op00to 5y ago
  WWI soldiers marched literally for days straight with 85 pounds of equipment on their backs.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Symbiote 5y ago
  According to [1] (which cites [2], page 9), British infantry etc have an average 4,600 calorie intake. [1] https://militarymuscle.co/blogs/studies/nutrition-for-military-personnel https://militarymuscle.co/blogs/studies/nutrition-for-milita... [2] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/583321/SACN_military_DRVs_for_energy_position_statement.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
- kaesar14 5y ago
  Can’t imagine fighting a war of annihilation being as hard of work as being a high school athlete?
- aquaticsunset 5y ago
  Given how soldiers then (and still, largely, now) were young men in their late teens and early 20s... this doesn't sound unreasonable at all. I could sit on the couch and burn that off. Add in setting up camp, digging trenches, hauling heavy equipment through mud and snow? Totally realistic.

pjc50 5y ago

Troops consuming 5000 calories a day seems reasonable for walking (and occasionally running) across Europe with a pack and a gun.

elktea 5y ago

Logically then, the stuff they ate wasn't the cause of obesity. Modern nutrition must have got it wrong.

randallsquared 5y ago

Given how much agricultural productivity has improved, I wonder if these descriptions of meals are more aspirational than everyday.

micromacrofoot 5y ago

a lazy person in the 20s would probably seem fairly active by today's standards... outside of reading books you would have been hard pressed to find an abundance of things to do while sitting around

tetromino_ 5y ago

It's an intriguing question! People of the early 20th century ate too much fat, too much sugar, too many carbs, too many calories, and yet did not grow obese. There is an interesting paper [1] making a strong case that the cause of the 21st century obesity epidemic is an unidentified environmental contaminant which (1) causes obesity in both humans and other mammals; (2) accumulates in major river valleys; (3) started noticeably affecting the US around 1980, and by now has spread worldwide. Some possible candidates proposed for such a contaminant include animal antibiotics, PFAS, and lithium (e.g. in industrial lubricants). [1] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6miu9BsKdoAi72nkL/a-contamination-theory-of-the-obesity-epidemic https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6miu9BsKdoAi72nkL/a-contamin...