Soda and Fruit Juices Should be Banned

[Sinder]

Picking out a handful of items and saying that food was processed back then isn't really an argument. It's like finding some outliers and saying that's the norm.

What percentage of groceries sold in the 70s were processed versus today? That's the metric I'm talking about.

I remember eating alot of processed foods as a kid (70's and 80's).
The one glaring difference IMO is the lifestyle and activity differences.
I was always outside as a kid, always active.
Now we have a term for that because it isn't the norm- free range kids.
Kids sit in front of their video games, they sit on their phones. At least in the 70's and 80's when you ate a bunch of junk you burned off the calories because you got off your butt and went outside to do something active. Now kids stuff their face with junk and park it in front of a screen. Mom won't let them out in the yard alone, or they can't walk to the park. What else are they going to do.
Anyway my point is it isn't just food. Maybe we should ban video games and over protective parents too.

 

[Mysterian]

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.

We meet every Wednesday afternoon behind Denny's, just bring your goat-stick.

 

[RamblingMad]

So are we also banning fruit too? Because that is full of sugar. So are some vegtables. And carbs are broken down into sugars. So what exactly should people eat.

Also TV dinners have been a thing since the 50's. As were cereals.
"As you can see, early cereals were developed and consumed as health food. That all changed in 1939 when the first sweetened cereal, Ranger Joe Popped Wheat Honnies, debuted on grocery store shelves. From that point forward, sweetened cereals grew in popularity, eventually becoming the norm. Radio and television advertisements propelled breakfast cereals into popularity. Product placement in childrens television became the popular marketing choice for cereal companies. Cartoon characters didnt just appear on the boxproducers worked cereal brands into their stories, and characters frequently gorged themselves on sugary cereals in what amounted to 30-minute infomercials. This changed in 1969, when the FCC ruled that characters in childrens shows must not appear in commercial messages during the show itself. By then, it was too late children had become the target audience of choice for cereal brands. Advertising practices changed, but the goal was the same, and kids were completely hooked on cereal. The rest is Saturday morning cartoon history."

I'm not sure why you think none of this happened until the 80s.

Also banning things worked really well for alcohol right?

It wasn't as available. You can see the impact on this chart. Things go sideways in the mid-80s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesi...e:Adult_male_obesity_in_the_United_States.svg

We are banning stuff all the time. We eat stuff that is banned in the EU as well. I don't see this as a big deal. But it will never happen.

 

[RamblingMad]

I remember eating alot of processed foods as a kid (70's and 80's).
The one glaring difference IMO is the lifestyle and activity differences.
I was always outside as a kid, always active.
Now we have a term for that because it isn't the norm- free range kids.
Kids sit in front of their video games, they sit on their phones. At least in the 70's and 80's when you ate a bunch of junk you burned off the calories because you got off your butt and went outside to do something active. Now kids stuff their face with junk and park it in front of a screen. Mom won't let them out in the yard alone, or they can't walk to the park. What else are they going to do.
Anyway my point is it isn't just food. Maybe we should ban video games and over protective parents too.

While exercise is important, it's not the main driver. What I don't get is the adult numbers.

 

[Kennywood]

Governments are already trying to dictate what you will and will not eat. Just look at the schools. Some schools will not allow parents to pack a lunch for their own child. If they do allow it, they reserve the right to inspect the lunch and reject it, if it doesn't conform to their requirements.

The government is saying that they know what's best for your child. If you don't agree, that's too bad.

 

[BrianL]

I remember eating alot of processed foods as a kid (70's and 80's).
The one glaring difference IMO is the lifestyle and activity differences.
I was always outside as a kid, always active.
Now we have a term for that because it isn't the norm- free range kids.
Kids sit in front of their video games, they sit on their phones. At least in the 70's and 80's when you ate a bunch of junk you burned off the calories because you got off your butt and went outside to do something active. Now kids stuff their face with junk and park it in front of a screen. Mom won't let them out in the yard alone, or they can't walk to the park. What else are they going to do.
Anyway my point is it isn't just food. Maybe we should ban video games and over protective parents too.

Yeah, same here. Heck, even in the 80's school lunches weren't all that healthy, but they were balanced. We might have pizza or a hamburger, and a vegetable and some pudding or fruit cocktail. It wasn't the healthiest food other than the vegetable, but the portions weren't all that large either. I ate plenty of sugary cereal, pre-packaged snack-cakes, and such as a kid, but moderation is key. I was also plenty active, running around and riding my bike and such. I did play a lot of video games too though - there's time for both! I have never had a weight problem and have been pretty healthy all my life. It's not the foods, its the attitudes that surround them.

 

[dez1978]

It wasn't as available. You can see the impact on this chart. Things go sideways in the mid-80s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesi...e:Adult_male_obesity_in_the_United_States.svg

We are banning stuff all the time. We eat stuff that is banned in the EU as well. I don't see this as a big deal. But it will never happen.

As evidenced by everyone elses comments, it was pretty available prior to the 80's

I'd say that increase coincides more with cable tv and video games becoming more readily available and more popular to the masses. https://www.infinitydish.com/blog/history-cable-tv-entertainment/#:~:text=In 1984, the,of the decade.

 

[BrianL]

Governments are already trying to dictate what you will and will not eat. Just look at the schools. Some schools will not allow parents to pack a lunch for their own child. If they do allow it, they reserve the right to inspect the lunch and reject it, if it doesn't conform to their requirements.

The government is saying that they know what's best for your child. If you don't agree, that's too bad.

Yeah, that's crazy, though then again these days I could see parents sending a very innappropriate lunch to school with a kid too. There was a time when you could trust people not to do that. At my small elementary school, we had a soda machine but could only buy sodas after school - not for lunch. Kids could bring their lunch with a soda though - if the parent thought that was okay then it was okay. I usually did, and would have a sandwich and chips too. That's reasonable and the school shouldn't be questioning that. Now, if a kid shows up with a bag full of candy for lunch, maybe, but that's probably not too common and can be dealt with as a one-off situation. I hate how everything these days requires a blanket rule to be implemented.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Picking out a handful of items and saying that food was processed back then isn't really an argument. It's like finding some outliers and saying that's the norm.

What percentage of groceries sold in the 70s were processed versus today? That's the metric I'm talking about.

You specifically stated "But it didn't really take off by until about 85. The big processed food that folks ate a lot of back then was cereal. And then the TV dinner became a thing" Which is entirely false.

Boxed pasta, jarred spaghetti sauces, canned vegetables and beans, boxed mac n cheese. Hamburger/Tuna/Chicken Helper; Kraft spaghetti dinner or pizza dinner; Cans of juices (remember when Hawaiian Punch came in a can in the 70s?); Wonder bread and Twinkies, Hostess Fruit Pies, and DingDongs. Ketchup, mayo, mustard, bottled salad dressings. Canned Campbell soups, ramens, Canned tuna and salmon. Canned peaches, pineapple, pears, applesauce. All are processed foods available well before the 1985 mark.

BTW, Swanson TV dinner started in 1953. It went to the 4 compartment tray in 1960. The 'Hungry Man' dinners started in 1973. 1986 was when they started with microwaveable trays.

 

[Sinder]

You specifically stated "But it didn't really take off by until about 85. The big processed food that folks ate a lot of back then was cereal. And then the TV dinner became a thing" Which is entirely false.

Boxed pasta, jarred spaghetti sauces, canned vegetables and beans, boxed mac n cheese. Hamburger/Tuna/Chicken Helper; Kraft spaghetti dinner or pizza dinner; Cans of juices (remember when Hawaiian Punch came in a can in the 70s?); Wonder bread and Twinkies, Hostess Fruit Pies, and DingDongs. Ketchup, mayo, mustard, bottled salad dressings. Canned Campbell soups, ramens, Canned tuna and salmon. Canned peaches, pineapple, pears, applesauce. All are processed foods available well before the 1985 mark.

BTW, Swanson TV dinner started in 1953. It went to the 4 compartment tray in 1960. The 'Hungry Man' dinners started in 1973. 1986 was when they started with microwaveable trays.

Hot dogs, bologna, and those packages of carl buddig lunch "meat" were staples in my house growing up.
Canned vegetables too because they were cheap. We always had country time lemonade or kool aid by the pitcher to drink. Didn't really drink alot of soda or 100% fruit juice, just the crappy juice drink.
Favorite snack was slim jims and doritos.

There may be more variety of processed foods today but there still was quite alot that people were buying back then too.

 

[Mysterian]

While exercise is important, it's not the main driver. What I don't get is the adult numbers.

Speculating, but: More adults watching TV and/or spending time on the computer?

 

[Mysterian]

As evidenced by everyone elses comments, it was pretty available prior to the 80's

I'd say that increase coincides more with cable tv and video games becoming more readily available and more popular to the masses. https://www.infinitydish.com/blog/history-cable-tv-entertainment/#:~:text=In 1984, the,of the decade.

Aha! Dez beat me to it. Please count my last post as an addendum to this one.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Actually that Breatharianism movement started before the internet. Or, if you thought that the movement was only a joke, it sadly is not.

The Taconarian movement, however, was started by myself, and our numbers are growing.

Do you worship at the House of Tacos? Because I may have finally found a religion that my family can get behind...

On another note--am I the only one old enough to remember the McDonald's TV show from the 60's? Hamburgler would go around stealing people's food, and Ronald would have to fight to get it back? Big Cheese was the mayor, maybe, and Big Mac was the police? It's been a really long time, and my mom hated Saturday cartoons, so I wasn't wildly exposed (and may well be remembering some details wrong).

In any event, it's just flat-out wrong to say there weren't crappy convenience foods back in the 50'e and 60's, and even earlier. From super-sweet cereals, eaten with Pop-tarts and Tang, to TV dinners, Hamburger Helper, and Spaghetti-O's, with a side of Ding-Dongs--you could get some pretty processed stuff. It may be that the OP doesn't remember because his parents didn't buy such things.

I do think that kids were a lot more active back then, and less inclined to bring drinks and snacks everywhere they went.

 

[BrianL]

On another note--am I the only one old enough to remember the McDonald's TV show from the 60's? Hamburgler would go around stealing people's food, and Ronald would have to fight to get it back? Big Cheese was the mayor, maybe, and Big Mac was the police? It's been a really long time, and my mom hated Saturday cartoons, so I wasn't wildly exposed (and may well be remembering some details wrong).

I don't think that was a TV show, just a series of commercials. The Mayor was Mayor McCheese. It went through many iterations over the years, but the Hamburglar, Fry-Guys, Grimace, Birdie, and Ronald were the staples. There may have been some longer, interstitial segments on Saturday mornings, but that's a little before my time if so.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Bikers and rental scooter people.
The scooter folks in particular are regulars at our ER. New revenue stream.

I wish they would ban scooter for people that can walk….
now there is a slippery slope

 

[RamblingMad]

I wish they would ban scooter for people that can walk….
now there is a slippery slope

Remember lawn darts?

 

[Marrila]

I wish they would ban scooter for people that can walk….
now there is a slippery slope

I should have been more clear. I was talking about the two wheeled rental ones littering my downtown area.

 

[sam_gordon]

You know, not just kids, but did adults get less active in the 80s? Going from manual labor (blue collar) jobs to more sedentary (white collar) jobs? With the advent of robotics/automation, is it possible the workforce simply doesn't have as much physical requirements in their work?

 

[Mysterian]

Do you worship at the House of Tacos? Because I may have finally found a religion that my family can get behind...

We welcome you and your family, sister!

On another note--am I the only one old enough to remember the McDonald's TV show from the 60's? Hamburgler would go around stealing people's food, and Ronald would have to fight to get it back? Big Cheese was the mayor, maybe, and Big Mac was the police? It's been a really long time, and my mom hated Saturday cartoons, so I wasn't wildly exposed (and may well be remembering some details wrong).

In any event, it's just flat-out wrong to say there weren't crappy convenience foods back in the 50'e and 60's, and even earlier. From super-sweet cereals, eaten with Pop-tarts and Tang, to TV dinners, Hamburger Helper, and Spaghetti-O's, with a side of Ding-Dongs--you could get some pretty processed stuff. It may be that the OP doesn't remember because his parents didn't buy such things.

I do think that kids were a lot more active back then, and less inclined to bring drinks and snacks everywhere they went.

Like BrianL said, I remember the commercials but am not aware of a TV show. I do know Willard Scott was the first Ronald, so maybe there was a show that I missed (I was born in the 70's).

And I agree that processed foods have become more abundant and readily available over the years. It's not as easy to find the healthy option when convenient stores, fast food joints, and vending machines are loaded with everything salty and/or sugary.

 

[RamblingMad]

You know, not just kids, but did adults get less active in the 80s? Going from manual labor (blue collar) jobs to more sedentary (white collar) jobs? With the advent of robotics/automation, is it possible the workforce simply doesn't have as much physical requirements in their work?

I don't think it's activity related. The amount of exercise you have to do to offset diet is huge. For example, one can of soda is equivalent to 2-3 miles of walking. We're consuming too much. And not all calories are equal. And the way our bodies processes certain calories changes as we age. The science is too complex for the mainstream consumer.