Obesity and Smoking Trends Over Time

Here's something else you might take into consideration (4.00 / 4)

the shift from farming done mostly with manual labor to living in cities doing more sedentary jobs.

When Harold was born, in 1929, his family farmed for a living. Mostly subsistence farming, but they did have to have some cash crops to pay for things they either couldn't grow/build themselves or for services they couldn't perform themselves, such as gringing the grain they grew. Because it was the depression when he was a kid, they also ate a lot of wild game, greens, berries, fruit, etc. Most of what they and everyone else grew was what we would consider organic.

There weren't a whole lot of heavy people, at least not in the pictures I've seen of farmers from that era. The type of work those people had to do meant that you could pretty much eat what you wanted. You're going to burn it off. Harold's father used to cut grain with a scythe that had a big cradle on it. Believe me, as someone who has a schythe and who uses it on a regular basis, if you're doing that all day, no matter what you eat, you're probably not going to get more calories you'll burn.

I think also that the life expectancy really does have a lot more to do with advances in medicine than anything else. When was the last time you heard of someone's kid dying of whooping cough, a lot used to. Or polio? All I have to do is think back when my grandma got cancer, around 1962. The doc sent her home to die. When my mom came down with breast cancer they did a radical mastectomy, and told her that if she lived for 5 years she'd probably be fine. No radiation, no chemo, no fancy drugs or other treatments. Just scrape to the bone and cross your fingers. Then when my mom came down with cancer again in 1990, radiation, chemo, the whole shebang. If her aorta hadn't blown, she probably would have survived. The advances in medicine are some of the most awsome changes to society that I can imagine.

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 20:48:03 PM CDT

And don't forget heart bypass operations... (4.00 / 1)

I had one 30 years ago and I'm now 30 years older (and a whole lot wiser....!).  Without it I would have survived a month or two more then died. Yep, the good old days were'nt really so good in so many ways.

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by: DennisP @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 10:43:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

you just made me think (visually) of something (4.00 / 4)

I never really thought of the stats in a "personal" way, but when I was a kid, very, very few children in the class were overweight. I don't have any of my class photos scanned in, but in my minds eye, we were all basically the "right" size. I didn't even appear (in comparison) as slender as I do now. I can't remember what year it was as an adult that I started noticing overweight/obese children, but I do remember sorta being hit with it. There were just so many more. Next up was riding the subway and seeing infants and toddlers in strollers also overweight or on their way to it. Not normal baby fat, even I had that, lol!~ (yes, there is a photo of me bare bottom up on the changing table, all rolly polly). What I was seeing was different.

Obesity/diet should still play a role in smokers health. Smokers eating a healthier diet have bodies better armed to fend off the effects of smoking (and other things right  down to colds). And if they are obese, even more of a prob than just a bad diet. And age is a factor also. I think we are starting to get to the end of the generations that ate in moderation (in general). Both my parents quit smoking either before my sister and I were born, or very shortly after (can't remember). Neither ever gained weight due to not smoking. Mom weighed 99lbs when my sister and I were toddlers/pre-school. Mom never really put on weight until middle-age. She was still slender though. Part of it was genetics, but part diet as they always stressed moderation in eating, not so much verbally, but by what was cooked and served, and eating a healthy balanced meal. For us kids of parents of those earlier generations, that type of thing stuck with a decent portion of us, but many of us are also "victims" of the boom into processed food. In my own family on my dad's side, there is one sibling where moderate, healthy eating did not follow on.

It's interesting if you look at what they are stressing now about diet, exercise etc, it's all stuff some of us in the generation ahead of you grew up with as routine. Yes, a lot more of my generation is overweight than should be, but I would be surprised if the info was really that new to them. Oh, and we all grew up with Phys Ed in school, playing outside etc. All of that plays into diet and health issues along with the 2 working parents in middle and lower income classes. I'm very surprised when I watch some shows (including cooking ones where average people are involved) and some of the basics about food is unknown by so many. They may realize 'some" stuff is 'bad', but the lack of knowledge about good food and diet is really interesting. Do they even teach this in school anymore?

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by: nycstray @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 22:49:57 PM CDT

I don't remember more than three or four, myself... (4.00 / 2)

Which seems to fit in with Jill's trends here - I was born in 1979, my classes only tended to have a few overweight kids.  I was on the bone-thin side myself, up until about junior high.  

My daughter was born in 1997, and I'd say around 2003 / 2004, it was easily a quarter of her classmates noticeably overweight.

All I ever remember from school about food was a brief thing on the (useless, heh) food pyramid once a year during "health" class, which in NJ public schools took the place of phys ed for one quarter out of the year in jr. high & high school.  So we spent maybe two or three days total a year, just briefly touching upon the subject.  And nothing at all on healthy food in my senior yr in high school, as I only needed to take 4 classes that year, and got out of the rest of the day on a work-study type thing.

I do remember there was a "home ec" class in my jr. high, and that they got rid of it my 8th grade year.  I guess that would have been 1992.

I still think there should be a general "basic life skills" type of class required every junior or senior year in high school, that would teach all about these things - not just healthy food and cooking skills; but also basic financial management, how to do a resume, etc...

"Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization." - Eugene V. Debs

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 01:17:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I graduated highschool in 1981 (4.00 / 2)

I remember taking a Home Ec. class in grade school (this was before my grade school was split into grade/middle school [junior high]). I think I took the home ec. class in 7th grade. The only thing I remember from that class was that I totally sucked at using a sewing machine. I know we had cooking classes, but for the life of me I can't remember what we learned to cook.... I don't have any kids in school, so I don't know if they have Home Ec. classes or other basic life skills classes or not. I'll have to ask my friend's daughter when she comes over to work the horse she's training for me today if I remember. She's still in Highschool so she'll know. Although the Molalla school district may be different from Portland Public Schools. They have 4H in Molalla, I didn't even know there was such a thing when I was in school in Portland....

My cooking skills mostly came about after I moved out on my own. I love eating really good food, but I've never been flush enough with money that I was able to eat out at really good restaurants very often. So if I wanted to eat gourmet meals, I had to learn to fix 'em myself.

The thing that really helped me is the fact that my mom loved to cook, and she cooked things from all over the world. Then too, my paternal grandma, coming from 'the old country', did everything herself too. She made her own wine and vinegar in addition to keeping her own chickens, slaughter, etc.. Back when my dad was a kid, SE portland was more like Molalla and it's outlying areas, that is semi-rural. When my dad was a kid, Westmoreland park was a cow field and cows were actually pastured there, at least my dad's family's cow was.

Anyway, when I moved out into my own appartment, two of the things my mom gave me were a set of cook books and a set of spices. She also gave me some of her extra pots and pans. The things I bought new she advised me on as well. So my parents both encouraged us to learn to cook and helped wherever I and my brother needed. Even my brother is an excellent cook, and he build a cold smoker for fish. To has that he is an avid fisherman is the understatement of the century. A big section of one large wall in his office at his shop (he owns Classico Marmo, a stone fabrication shop in SE Portland) is litterally plastered with fishing pictures.

I think the bottom line as far as people eating healthy, especially at home, is for people to be interested enough in cooking healthy that they do it. If there's something you really enjoy doing, you'll find time or make time to do it.

I think another big advantage that we have now is the prolifferation of good cooking shows. I think that Alton Brown's show Good Eats is an example of a show that really demistifies basic cooking techniques. I've learned so much by watching his show, from bread making to making sauces, etc. He really takes the 'hard' out of cooking. Once you learn basic skills, you can make anything you can think of, come up with your own recipes, etc.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 10:31:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm pretty sure we started much younger (4.00 / 2)

with food/nutritional info in school, before "health" classes. Of course, we also had Phys Ed from the time I was little. I think it was 3rd/4th grade I remember starting to compete in yearly individual athletic achievement tests. We also had things like "field day" where you faced off against your peers. Usually at the end of the year. It was also more common for our parents to teach us to cook young. Many of us were also in things like Girl Scouts, where  you also got some of the basic knowledge/life skills. By the time I
"had" to take Home Ec, it was a freakin' joke, lol!~

I wonder what the status of our children's weight would be if they all still had one period of PE a DAY?

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by: nycstray @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 11:53:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I remember field day! (4.00 / 2)

We had PE every day in grade school. I only had to take PE in my freshman year in highschool though. I really suck at sports, except swimming and horseback riding. My highschool, Cleveland, was just a few blocks from a bowling alley, so bowling was one of the things we did in HS. I got a special prize for having an average in the 20s, a record for the school at the time. I was always tripping myself during track and when we did badminton, my best friend who was my partner in doubles always snatched the birdie out of the air if it came at her from one side, instead of hitting it backhand. Between her grabbing the thing and me not being able to hit it in the first place, we had pretty low scores in that sport too.  :-P

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 13:58:56 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

We may have been only Freshman year required (4.00 / 2)

or it was Freshman had to take dictated classes and the years after that were choice. I pretty much stuck with dance classes. Freshman year (for girls) was track and field, baseball, gymnastics, and dance off the top of my head. I seem to remember standing on a tennis court at one point in HS, but that may have been a fluke, lol!~ We also had swimming, which I didn't do once I hit HS (Calif kid here). In the middle grades, we had PE and lunchtime team sports were highly encouraged. I did volleyball and basketball.

I should mention, I'm not much of a athlete, never had the desire. The only thing that I did have that helped with all of the athletics we were subjected to was my competitive nature, so I wasn't a total failure at all sports, lol!~ I was a fish, as were most of my friends. We had all been swimming since shortly after walking. I did ok at track and field (if I could go barefoot), but dance was def my thing. The rest was made tolerable with friends etc. I totally forgot about badminton!

So I guess you also went to school when they still had music and visual arts as a regular part of your day/week, eh? I excelled at academics (when I bothered that is, bored a lot). Don't know what would have happened to me without art classes. Sr yr I had all my requirements filled so I spent the morning in art and dance classes and the afternoon doing a work "thing" with preschoolers. That was a very good year, lol!~

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by: nycstray @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 14:38:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I did my highschool the same way (4.00 / 2)

got all the required courses out of the way the first 3 years and did what I felt like my senior year. I did foreign languages, art and biology.

I had advanced art general and art staff. The AAG class was a repeat because that's as high as the general art classes went at Cleveland, so the teacher, Mr. Eng, told me to do what ever kind of art I wanted as long as I had original work to show each week. Art Staff was a dream. We ran the print shop for school performance productions, so when there was a play or a prom we did the posters, etc. Most of the time we just sat around goofing off and reading books, but the silk screening and design work I later put to good use when I started to do my own publishing.

Then I had 2nd year college Russian at Reed College, which I dropped after the second semester so I could have a 2 hour lunch, which I spent in down town Portland at the book shops, especially B. Dalton's. I also had first year Latin which was a blast.

And then I had an advanced biology class which was fun. We got to breed mutant fruit flies, extract DNA, and run pigeons through a skinner box among other things. My lab partner and I had the dumbest pigeon in the known universe. We couldn't get that bird to do anything. At first we thought that it was us, so we traded birds with another lab team who was having trouble with their bird. We didn't have any trouble with their bird so we traded back. Our original bird never did get trained even though at least one other team besides that one tried.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 17:40:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I remember those... (0.00 / 0)

I remember "Field Days" - but oddly enough, I seem to also remember that they stopped suddenly right around 4th or 5th grade.  Maybe it was a lawsuit / liability / insurance thing?  Very well may have been, seriously.  This was the 80's, after all - and we did get rough at times, heh.  I remember dodgeball was banned right around that time, too.

As for school food - My one year in Arizona (freshman year high school, 93-94), I remember the cafeteria was an absolute nightmare of branded chain fast food and soda fountains, etc.  Sure, I ate that stuff back then, but one thing I can say for NJ public schools is that I never would have ever even imagined anything like what I saw in Arizona that year, if I had done all my years in NJ.  Soda wasn't allowed in NJ schools, no branded fast food, etc.  The cafeteria in AZ though, literally looked like a mall food court.  Taco John's, I think, and Pizza Hut, and Coca Cola fountains with Coca Cola branded cups, etc.  Yuck...

"Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization." - Eugene V. Debs

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 18:13:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

about smokers (4.00 / 2)

if you compare the health of non-smokers and smokers, one factor might be that non-smokers generally choose healthier habits overall (like exercise, healthy diet, less alcohol) compared to smokers. If that were the case, then you might find that non-smokers are even MORE healthy than smokers but that wouldn't be entirely the fault of the cigarettes. I'm not sure, just throwing it out as a thought.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 02:50:31 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Makes total sense (4.00 / 1)

but you would have to throw the obesity factor out at that comparison, imo, and only compare healthier weights. Carrying 'some' extra prob wouldn't factor in much, but beyond that . . .

I think another thing that may be factoring into our health is manufactured vitamins. We may not utilize them as well as natural sources and we could be missing out on trace that would make them more effective. I see in some circles, there is a trending away from vitamins as a source for vitamins. One thing I never got was processing vitamins out, only to add manufactured ones in. And these days it's even more dangerous, what with pre-mixes and all. If you follow pet food, you see connections between health problems and food that when tested has had the vitamins off. There are pet owners that are actively tracking, testing, getting the word out and holding the PFCs feet to the fire. We see it for humans in some supplements and RX drugs, but I do wonder about what's in the canned food etc. Prob another very good reason when reading labels, go for less ingredients or make sure the vitamins shown in the nutritional label aren't from supplements.

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by: nycstray @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 11:41:30 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

What I'd like to know is (0.00 / 0)

where "poor" people find the money to buy prepared foods. As a young person entering the job market, we, (my brother and I shared a house he bought,) couldn't afford anything but the basics; staple vegetables like onions, potatoes, tomatoes and rice; luxuries like celery or ground beef when we were flush. We were both working at regular jobs.

We had no choice but to learn to cook. Granted the Fanny Farmer Cookbook never won any prizes in Paris, but it was (moderately) healthy food. After a few readings and leaning on our mother's how-NOT-to-cook-liver experience, almost every meal started with... "cut up an onion and sauté in oil...", though I'm sure we never said the word sautéd out loud.

The greatest change I've noticed in two generations is a general loss of experimental curiosity. (Obviously denizens of this and similar blogs should exclude themselves in this observation.) But growing up, Popular Mechanix and Popular Science were widely read. The garage inventor was ubiquitous in America.

Sometime around the dawning of the Nintendo Era, all that was lost. People stopped being spontaneously inventive... with great pride. MacGyver became a hero and at the same time the butt of endless jokes. It became chic to unimaginative, incurious, unresourceful and doltish.

Darwin wept.

Yankee Frugality: use it up, wear it out, make it last, or do without.

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by: Anonymous Bosch @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 11:59:10 AM CDT

Prepared foods are cheaper (4.00 / 1)

if you shop sales. And then there's the ease. Some poorer families have parents working more than one job etc. Even if they only shop the outside of the aisle, the frozen area always has mega deals on frozen processed meals. Same with the canned goods aisle etc.

When this recession started kicking in big time, there were many news reports etc on how to eat cheaper and healthier. Many people don't know the "value" of whole foods etc. Many daytime shows are still featuring how to cook healthy on a budget and the FN has a show or 2 dedicated to it. One actually does the price breakouts and compares to store bought processed, along with how to utilize the main ingredients and/or dish for other meals that week. Amazing that we need that much info out there to do something as basic as feed ourselves right. These are aimed at ADULTS WITH FAMILIES. That's just nuts! It says there is a large enough percentage of people out there without this basic knowledge.

a general loss of experimental curiosity

cryin' shame, isn't it. One of the things I always liked about cooking was just opening the cupboards to create! I'd leave the spice and staple ones open as I grab my main ingredients and they would stay open through the whole process. Now the kitchen is set up so all that stuff is out 24/7 within reach of the stove. I even put the fridge where I could do a half turn from the stove and butcher block and reach in it. Gotta have access to the cold stuff!!  

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by: nycstray @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 12:39:56 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I completely agree with you about being experimental (4.00 / 1)

about cooking. I always was of the mind that recipes were a jumping off point for anything new that I wanted to cook. I'll more or less go by the recipe for the first go 'round, but after that all bets are off.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 14:00:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Early on I didn't realize they were jumping off points (4.00 / 1)

but I wasn't afraid to think a little extra ingredients would ruin it, lol!~ Now I do use them as inspiration if I want to try new things. I can sometimes follow a recipe. The first year with the CSA, I did use a lot of recipes as a way to expand my cooking, but again, more often than not, just a starting point. I'm working on getting my blog live, but what's been hanging me up is giving recipes of some sort. I gave that idea up for good last night and I'm just going to give rundowns of what I tossed in unless specifics are needed {grin} I think I'll be more successful in actually keeping up with the blog if I do it in the same manner I cook and do everything else (artist here!), just  wing it!

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by: nycstray @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 14:46:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

One of the most important things (4.00 / 1)

people tell me all the time about recipes is to write down the ammounts, which I almost always forget to do. I do everything to taste.

I like watching Justin Wilson, the Cajun cook. He's great, he'll pour some salt into his palm and say now that's 1 teaspoon full. Everyone will laugh and then he'll pour the salt from his palm into a measuring spoon, and yep, it's one teaspoon. I gaurauntee it!


Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 17:48:24 PM CDT

[ Parent ]