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I think it's a mixture of a couple of things. First off, more people eat out because fast food is everywhere and very accessible. Secondly, I think that because more households have two working parents, fast food is eaten more as a family meal. I know when I was growing up, my mom didn't have a lot of time when she got home from work, so a lot of times we just ate fast food. I don't judge her because of it. She is a very independant woman who was able to have a family and a career. But as a side effect, I didn't learn about eating healthy. We have actually discussed it together and sometimes she feels bad about it. I'll just make her pay for part of the therapy bill. :wink: How do you think exercise plays a role in the increase? Do people exercise less now than they did 30 years ago?
I'm sure a number of factors come into play. Abundance would be one of them. Never before has food been everywhere. Your choices are limitless, and food that is conveinent ( that meaning ready to eat ) is normally not the greatest. I don't think that I have ever saw a banana or an apple for sale at a gas station. It is more like a 2 1/2 serving bag of doritos or a king size candy bar and a giant mountain dew. That is considered a "snack" :?:
I think that overall, people do exercise less than they did 30 years ago - especially children. In 1973 (30 years ago), I turned 9. I don't think there were any video games then, and if there were, it was just "Pong". Regardless, I didn't have it. ;) The early versions of "Pong" were quite expensive (as is everything when it's new) and my family could not afford such a luxury. So we had to entertain ourselves - by playing board games, listening to music, watching TV and mostly by playing outside. 30 years ago, many towns/cities were lucky to have a few TV channels. Bigger cities might have had about 8-10 channels. Cartoons were only seen on Saturday mornings (maybe a token cartoon during a weekday morning show). Now, one could watch a cartoon at any time. With cable or satellite TV, we have an influx of channels. In other words, combine cable TV, tons of video games and now home computers (with even more games and the 'net), and children have a way to entertain themselves for hours even days, while moving hardly at all. Not much exercise going on there... Then there's the problem of more and more schools reducing or eliminating gymnastics. In high school, I had a gym class every day. We did weight-lifting, volleyball, track, swimming, etc. Now kids might not have gym at all! So that's even less exercise. As for adults, I think 30 years ago, a lot of work was more manual. But with technology, many more sedentary jobs became available. Likewise, there's less walking or biking to work. I walked to school every day as a child/teen - now parents drive their kids to school and then drive off to work. Note in bigger cities, like NYC, where driving is insane, people are pretty much forced to walk around the city to get to and from their jobs. As a result, these people are in better shape! I think studies have shown this to be true (although I don't have a source to cite here). So yes, I do believe people are getting less exercise now than before. Some argue that in the 60's and 70's, 40% of Americans' food was from fat. Now our fat intake has dropped significantly, yet we are more obese than ever. They use this argument to say that it's not the fat that was bad. There's truth there, but it's not the complete story. First, I think the type of fat we eat (trans and saturated fats) has increased - these are the unhealthy fats. Second, it seems our diet is poor. Maybe we eat less fat, but if we fill that fat void with sugar or highly processed foods, we aren't getting any nutrition (and that excess sugar becomes fat anyway). Third, portion sizes are huge. In the 70's I remember McDonalds had a commercial stating you could get a hamburger, soda and fries for under $1. Now McDonalds pushes their SUPER-SIZE double cheeseburger meals. And fourth, the afore-mentioned lack of exercise has added to our obesity. Blaming fat consumption - or lack thereof - is hardly the reason for getting fat or becoming thin. Even though I ask about other diets, I'm not yet convinced there's a major difference in Atkins, South Beach, low-fat/low-cal, Weight Watchers, etc. All these diets stress a few things: portion size, lots of water and lots of fruit and/or vegetables. In other words, they stress an overall sensible eating plan, regardless of whether it's a bit higher in fat or in carbs. If people follow ANY of those more sensible eating plans and eat less, but eat better, they'll lose weight. Throw in *some* sort of exercise and the weight will drop even faster. But it seems everyone wants a magic pill. As stated in the [url=www.chunktohunk.com][b:64638c4c61]Chunk to Hunk[/b:64638c4c61][/url] book, we didn't take pills to get fat (unless you are on hormone therapy - there's always some exceptions) so why should we expect to take pills to get thin?
PONG!! The days when Atari 2600's ruled the day! If you were to sit a kid down with this game today, they would look at you as if you were some kind of nut. :) Everything you said Doc is pretty much dead on. 3 channels of TV left very little for a kid to work with. Add to that bad reception and rabbit ears, and you were better served just to go outdoors and get dirty! Marketing is relentless, too. Not just for food items, but for games that look almost like a real TV show! It's amazing that I have to wonder if it is an ad for a TV show, or a game. That seems sort of crazy..