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I came across a YouTube short recently
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that asked the question why were we so
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skinny in the 1960s which is a fair
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question because in the' 60s we had an
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obesity rate in America of about 133% to
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put that into perspective now currently
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as of 2025 we have an obesity rate that
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is closing in on 43% and this is all
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kind of wild because it's not like
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people were known in the' 60s for their
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healthy food choices so why in the world
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did we have such lower body fat
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percentages back in the' 60s from my
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research it turns out there are really
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four simple basic things that they were
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doing in the 60s that we aren't doing
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now that made all the difference let's
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dive into it my name's Autumn I'm a
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certified clinical nutritionist with my
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Master's nutrition Human Performance and
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today's video is sponsored by Kettle and
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fire more on them in a bit okay so back
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in the 60s their nutrition guidelines
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were very simple their basic food and
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nutrition guidelines at the time were to
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follow the basic four to have meat Dairy
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fruit SL vegetables and Grains it was
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less nuanced it was a lot less guidance
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it wasn't like the 50 page report that
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we now get from like the USDA dietary
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guidelines So within this conversation
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you'll often see two big theories
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floating around for why is people think
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that we weighed less than than we do now
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the first one has to do with meat intake
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over time some will say that our meat
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intake has really increased which has
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caused the obesity rate to go up a
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Business Insider article shows that we
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eat about 90 calories worth of meat more
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now per day than we did in the 1960s
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interestingly most of that is actually
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coming from chicken which rose
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dramatically since the 1960s and beef
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intake is actually significantly
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decreased since the' 60s and70s but this
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really doesn't explain the weight gain
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meat is high in protein whether it's
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from chicken or it's from beef which
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means it's very very satiating in fact
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there's so much research on high protein
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diets now and how it is one of the most
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effective ways to achieve a weight loss
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goal because it helps to make you feel
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so full So Satisfied that you just can't
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overeat which leads us to the second
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theory and it's that our calorie intake
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over time has increased now when you
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look into the research of this the
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specific numbers really vary I think
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because we don't have a firm grasp of
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what we really ate in the 1960s simply
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because we weren't really doing the
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research on nutrition that we are now so
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we don't have the data but one study
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shows that we ate about 2 200 calories
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on average per day in the 1960s whereas
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now we're eating about 3600 calories per
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day that's a 24% increase and what I
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find absolutely fascinating about that
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is that's with us having more
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information about how much calories or
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how many calories are in our food now
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than we ever have before you can't
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really go to a restaurant now or get
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something to eat or like get a packaged
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food item without knowing exactly how
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many calories are in your food people
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now are way more Savvy and understand
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way more about the calorie intake
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they're getting Now versus when they
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were in the 1960s in fact most people
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have used some form of a calorie tracker
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and tracked their calories there was
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none of that in the 1960s at least
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nowhere close to the degree that we have
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it now yet even with this bigger focus
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on calories that we have now we're
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eating way more calories than we did in
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the 1960s so clearly just focusing on
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the calorie level of our food isn't
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really the solution instead we have to
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understand why it is that we're
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consuming so much more food something is
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causing us to eat substantially more now
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in the 2020s versus in the 1960s so what
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were they doing in the 1960s that made
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them have a substantially lower obesity
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rate turns out it's really four main
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things before we get into that I want to
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a toddler I'm currently pregnant I'm
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grass-fed cows cool it and then like
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store it all so I love that kettle and
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below so you don't miss out on that
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discount okay so there's four big things
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that people are doing different back in
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the 1960s that we just really aren't
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doing now that made it so they have an
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obesity rate of only 133% versus our 42%
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and the first big one is that
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home-cooked meals were the rule not the
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exception most people ate at home yes
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there were like some TV dinners those
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were starting to become popular but
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meals made at home was the norm and even
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the school lunches followed those basic
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guidelines that I mentioned earlier they
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would have some type of really high
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quality protein they would have some
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fruit some bread some veggies and then
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probably milk when I was looking through
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that chora thread to see really
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firsthand what it was that people were
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eating in the 1960s and what they
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remembered eating they would say it was
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things like roast chicken and meatloaf
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beef stew steak and potatoes and always
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always always some overcooked squishy
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canned veggies my dad said that they
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would pretty much always have like pot
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roast and my mom has a very specific not
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Bond memory of lima beans so honestly
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it's not like these were necessarily the
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healthiest types of food but the fact
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that there are meals prepared at home
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really makes all the difference this
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helps to reduce the sugar intake helps
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to get more protein and helps to
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increase the vegetable intake and just
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eat more whole food that combination
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alone helps to significantly raise the
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Tidy hormones within the body like
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peptide YY and cck which means that
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people feel full and satisfied and that
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they don't need to overeat versus now
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people heavily rely on a lot of pre-made
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foods and these foods are often Ultra
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processed to the point where we don't
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get the same satiety cues that are going
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to be triggered and therefore we need to
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eat more and more and more in order to
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feel satisfied so a big thing we can do
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for this first category is to make a lot
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more more of our meals at home but I
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would say to make sure they taste better
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than they did in the 1960s this will
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make it so you actually enjoy your food
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and so you won't lean more heavily on
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those Ultra process hyper palatable
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Foods learn a few basic simple recipes
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to start with things that you enjoy
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things that you're comfortable with
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making and you can always expand from
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there like I have my super simple
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cottage cheese bowl that went absolutely
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viral last year and it's literally just
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three ingredients and it takes like 5
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minutes or less to prepare I'll have
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that video right here if you want to
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check it out but you can make things
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like tuna salad you can make things like
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scrambled eggs like it doesn't have to
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be complicated which if you do need a
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little more guidance I do have a free
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5day high protein meal plan it has
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breakfast lunch and dinner recipes for
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each of those 5 days and they're all
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delicious and very simple so if you want
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to check out that free download with the
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free recipes I'll have the link pop up
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right here somewhere but you can also
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find the link down description below
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highly recommend that you check that out
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especially if you don't really know
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where to start or you just need some
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fresh ideas the second thing that they
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had going for them in the 1960s is that
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they had limited access to Ultra
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processed foods Ultra processed foods
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weren't really quite a thing yet yes
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there were a lot of processed foods
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which are a lot different but Ultra
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process is like the next level of
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processing that really strips down the
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satiety and makes so that you are so
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much less satisfied from your food and
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therefore need to eat even more these
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are foods that are primarily going to
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have ingredients that you don't
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recognize and typically a long list of
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ingredients that you would not be able
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to just get your grocery store and
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recreate at home in fact estimates say
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that about 70% of our intake comes from
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the these Ultra processed foods and some
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Studies have found that these Ultra
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processed foods can make us eat about
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800 calories more a day because they are
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so much less sating so if you eat less
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of those ultr processed foods it means
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that you naturally are going to feel
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more satisfied and therefore naturally
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eat less so what we can really do to
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mimic those 1960s is to limit our own
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access to these Foods get familiar with
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what Ultra processed foods are
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especially full meals of ultra processed
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foods and assess your intake I have a
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full video of the most common Ultra
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processed foods and really easy swaps
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for those if you want to check it out
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I'll have it linked right up here okay
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the third thing that they did in the
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1960s is that they were a lot more
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accidentally active a large portion of
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the workforce back then had more
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physically demanding jobs they also had
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a lot less structured activity meaning
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like they didn't really work out my dad
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will always say that he was super
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embarrassed when he was younger because
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his dad was like kind of a health nut at
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the time and would go for runs and his
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friends would make fun of him be like
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why is your dad going for a jog what is
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he running from so because people had
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more active jobs they had a full full
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day where they were more active versus a
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full day of sitting in front of a
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computer screen and then also probably
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commuting and also there's less active
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play time for kids too Tech social media
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computer games all of these things make
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it so that kids are going to be a lot
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more stationary be sitting at home as
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their preferred source of entertainment
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this drastically lowers how active kids
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are too and they are really only getting
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their activity from more of these
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structured exercise times like maybe PE
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or maybe if they're in some type of
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sport my mom said that if you had to to
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stay inside that was a punishment when
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she was a kid kids back in the' 60s
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really didn't have anything inside that
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would entertain them as much so they had
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to go outside and be active and play
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instead for their entertainment they
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would play sports they' play outside at
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a park or with my mom and dad they said
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they would play a game that they
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literally called Kick the Can and I
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still don't quite understand the rules
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Beyond like you would kick a can let me
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know in the comments if you know exactly
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what that game is but ranging from kids
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to adults everybody was a lot more
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accidentally active back in the 1960s
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versus now so what we can do is a little
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bit more tricky because it's not like
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you can just get up leave your job and
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like switch careers entirely but one
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thing we can do is get a walking desk
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this is actually something I really want
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to do that way I can get some activity
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while I'm standing at my desk that alone
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can help to at least provide some
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activity throughout the day that we're
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missing out on from just sitting or even
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just scheduling in going for walks
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throughout the day even if it's just
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like 10 minutes at a time and then in
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addition to that making sure that you
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are really consistent with the
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structured exercise like 3 to four days
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per week of some type of strength
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training as well ultimately we just
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really need to counter our more
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sedentary lifestyle that is just
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inherent with modern day society and the
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fourth really really really big thing
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that they did in the 1960s is that they
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got on average 2 hours more sleep than
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we do less sleep is significantly tied
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with obesity and wake G not to mention
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all the health risks as well low sleep
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causes increased hunger hormones so
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you're going to feel a lot more hungry
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the next day it also increases our
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preferences for sweet foods and it
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increases our preferences for larger
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portion sizes now I wasn't around the
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1960s but from what I have heard and
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what I have read There was just simply
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not as much to do at night as there is
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now back then there wasn't TV shows
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playing all throughout the night TV
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would literally like stop playing at a
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certain point of the day there also
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weren't laptops and computers and phones
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that you could just be looking at a
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bright screen at and stay up later than
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you really should so people would just
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actually go to bed plus they were more
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active throughout the day which meant
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that they were more tired and actually
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did want to go to sleep so what we can
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do now is first of all we need to set
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bed times again for ourselves because
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there are so many different Temptations
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to stay up late whether it be like binge
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watching a Netflix show or just
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scrolling on your phone we need to
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actually set time limits for when we're
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going to be going to sleep and on top of
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that we really should be setting time
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limits for how long we're going to be
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using our phones and TVs simply put the
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more we're looking our phones the more
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we're looking at TVs the later we're
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going to stay up the less sleep we're
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going to get the lower energy we're
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going to feel and the more it's going to
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impact our overall health and weaking
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now interestingly the 1920s actually had
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some pretty solid nutrition and health
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ADV ni so make sure you check that out
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next with this video right here also if
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you're new to my channel and you love
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this science back information make sure
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you subscribe right here come out new
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videos every Tuesday and Thursday all
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right guys thanks so much tuning in and
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I'll see you in my next video
00:11:44
[Music]
