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> everyone else was skinny Malnourished. The word you were looking for is malnourished. Junk food is a problem but the abundance of food didn't somehow cause "

> everyone else was skinny Malnourished. The word you were looking for is malnourished. Junk food is a problem but the abundance of food didn't somehow cause "cleavage between upper and lower classes."

everdrive 1y ago
Depends on when in the past, but fair enough. I'm not saying "the past was better" but that our overabundance of calories presents a novel problem (ie, the need for money & impulse control to avoid obesity, heart disease, etc) that didn't previously exist, and now pretty clearly marks class boundaries.
- philipkglass 1y ago
  In 1970 Americans already had an abundance of calories available, but they didn't yet have an obesity epidemic. One big difference is that in 1970 a typical person could afford 4000 calories of food a day, but most people still ate food cooked or assembled from basic ingredients at home. It's possible but less likely for someone to prepare and eat 4000 calories a day worth of homemade fried chicken, cookies, mashed potatoes, etc. Americans today can afford to eat 4000 calories worth of food and it's already optimized for palatability and convenience. It's relatively easy to eat 4000 calories of Doritos, microwave burritos, and boxed cookies. There's advertising to remind you of its existence and researchers dedicated to optimizing the delight of eating these products (increasing the odds of overeating just because it's pleasurable and frictionless). The transition from "abundance" to "abundance multiplied by advertising and product optimization" drove obesity more than simple availability of calories, IMO. I see a parallel with digital information. There was more than enough information on the Web to spend all day looking at it even before social networks were common. But that "home cooked" experience wasn't engineered for engagement time, so companies that optimized products for engagement were, in practice, a lot better at getting people to look at digital information for many hours per day.
  - bluefirebrand 1y ago
    People also smoked cigarettes in the 70s Cigarettes are an appetite suppressant. Easier to control your calorie intake if you aren't feeling hunger pangs often
scandox 1y ago
Not all the time and not across all populations. Even many poor people had adequate nourishment a lot of their lives. The real problem they faced was the precarity of their situation, since I think we can agree that even a short period without adequate nourishment is a critical problem.
nsxwolf 1y ago
Famine, war rationing, economic depression and the widespread use of tobacco and methamphetamine diet pills was why Americans were historically skinny.

everdrive 1y ago

Depends on when in the past, but fair enough. I'm not saying "the past was better" but that our overabundance of calories presents a novel problem (ie, the need for money & impulse control to avoid obesity, heart disease, etc) that didn't previously exist, and now pretty clearly marks class boundaries.

philipkglass 1y ago
In 1970 Americans already had an abundance of calories available, but they didn't yet have an obesity epidemic. One big difference is that in 1970 a typical person could afford 4000 calories of food a day, but most people still ate food cooked or assembled from basic ingredients at home. It's possible but less likely for someone to prepare and eat 4000 calories a day worth of homemade fried chicken, cookies, mashed potatoes, etc. Americans today can afford to eat 4000 calories worth of food and it's already optimized for palatability and convenience. It's relatively easy to eat 4000 calories of Doritos, microwave burritos, and boxed cookies. There's advertising to remind you of its existence and researchers dedicated to optimizing the delight of eating these products (increasing the odds of overeating just because it's pleasurable and frictionless). The transition from "abundance" to "abundance multiplied by advertising and product optimization" drove obesity more than simple availability of calories, IMO. I see a parallel with digital information. There was more than enough information on the Web to spend all day looking at it even before social networks were common. But that "home cooked" experience wasn't engineered for engagement time, so companies that optimized products for engagement were, in practice, a lot better at getting people to look at digital information for many hours per day.
- bluefirebrand 1y ago
  People also smoked cigarettes in the 70s Cigarettes are an appetite suppressant. Easier to control your calorie intake if you aren't feeling hunger pangs often

scandox 1y ago

Not all the time and not across all populations. Even many poor people had adequate nourishment a lot of their lives. The real problem they faced was the precarity of their situation, since I think we can agree that even a short period without adequate nourishment is a critical problem.

nsxwolf 1y ago

Famine, war rationing, economic depression and the widespread use of tobacco and methamphetamine diet pills was why Americans were historically skinny.