Definitely a contentious issue!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ne-elses-fault/

That seems to be a meaningless rant. I remember the 50s, 60s, and 70s quite well. People were the same then as they are now. There were lots of office jobs where people sat at desks all day. People take as much personal responsibility now as they did then. The big difference is that people ate meats with saturated fats and drank whole milk. Now it's fat =-free junk food and vegetable 'milk'.

Let us not forget that smoking cigarettes was a majority passtime for adults and many teens back then. Whether nicotine revs up the metabolism or was just a no calorie accompaniment to tea, coffee or beer, it certainly helped with the "no snacking" culture. Adults I knew who were trying to give up the habit often turned to sweets instead because they "had to" have something to entertain the mouth, and hence gained a few pounds.

Don't think smoking would be approved for weight loss today though, but who knows in this crazy world.

Is it? I don't think so. It's another article which constantly contradicts itself, so i doubt it has a point to make. But here in the US, data shows people tried to follow the Food Pyramid. We DID adjust our diets according to what we were told.

Now, I hear that 80% of the US population is obese. That's what happened. We were told all the wrong things, and we're STILL told all the wrong things.

I agree - smoking was definitely a factor in weight control.

There was of course the mouth entertainment factor - that cigarette kept their mouth as well as their hands occupied.

But I knew people that gave up smoking - and it wasn't so much that they needed mouth entertainment, but without smoking dulling their taste buds and olfactory senses (the smell of a food affects your overall enjoyment of the food), suddenly everything tasted so much better, and they were so thrilled with the taste of everything that they wanted to eat more and more.

That's definitely one of the biggest factors involved in the fattening of the population.

But that doesn't mean there's not other factors involved.

There's the proliferation now of ultra processed foods so readily available and easy to pop in your mouth while working at the computer, watching TV, or driving in the car.

There's the commercials while watching TV that whet your appetite to go grab a snack. Product placements during the TV show itself entice you to go get a snack of the product shown. Product placement during theater shown movies having the same effect to make you want to hit the snack bar. The small bag of popcorn (about a quart way back when) you used to buy to munch on while watching a movie - that's graduated to a 5 quart bucket of popcorn (which I understand some movies will do a free refill - what a bargain!)

So you exercise to work off the excess calories, but depending on what kind of exercise you're doing that may not help much, since you can certainly walk'n'munch at the same time. (I recall a TV commercial a few decades ago which showed us exactly how to do that - with a guy walking along a sidewalk, eating his bag of chips.)

Even Marathon runners keep carby snacks in their pockets so that they can keep their energy up (because most of them are running on carbs, and need to constantly top up their blood sugar to keep going)

People also drink a lot more empty calories now than we did 50-70 years ago. As was already pointed out, we had whole milk at meals (full of nutrients), maybe a little glass of juice at breakfast for vitamin C, and drank water in between. A small soft drink was a rarity, reserved primarily for special occasions. Now, there's at least a full aisle of sodas and sports drinks and vitamin waters and energy drinks and coffees (essentially coffee flavored-milk-shakes), and flavored teas, so you can easily consume a whole day's worth of calories without ever taking a bite of food - and consume all those calories in the form of sugars.

Add to that the desire to reward yourself for eating more and more of those rancid tasting hearthealthywholegrains, by eating a treat.

And that's not to mention those of us of a certain age who are physically slowing down while still having as much appetite as when younger, but not the stamina, muscle mass, and joint flexibility to work it off any more.

It all adds up over time, so that the younger you start eating like that, and the longer you eat like that, the harder it becomes to not only change your habits, and improve your strength and stamina, but also unload the excess weight.

I noticed it went into overdrive 20 years ago, when the Big Gulps and 2 liter Mountain Dews were welded into the hands of teens and young adults.

Though the six ounce sodas were still available when I was a child and we visited the grandparent's farm, in the old vending machines. But the cans were already 8 ounces at that time. Both were rare treats, not a daily staple.

Now, I see daily 16 ounce cups of coffee, grain "milks," flavorings, and sugar syrup. People down the equivalent of three or four candy bars and call it coffee. That's the Big Gulp of grown-ups now.

Yes, I agree with your point about smoking, too. This is connected.

Their taste buds have been beaten into submission and that's why so many seems to crave these over-flavored, sugar saturated, lab-created sensory bombs. Their coffee, breakfast, and snacks are all interchangeable now!