I agree and disagree.
Meat is still meat, fruits are still fruits, and veggies are still veggies. Organic foods are available, but food from Safeway is just fine. We have way more processed food, and it's cheap. Food is cheap - it's why poor people are fat.
Psychology around food is different from the '50s.
We have an abundance of food. Fuckin' food is EVERYWHERE. Its constant, and everybody is consuming constantly. 6 small meals a day? It's amazing our society is so affluent we can do that. We are so affluent, our poor are fat, and the well-to-do can be fat, but they choose not to. Instead, they buy "natural" food that's 3-4 times the price of cheap food, and spend thousands of dollars on gym equipment and memberships to SoulCycle, when a jump rope is $4 from Walmart and jogging, push-ups, body squats, etc. is free. Amazing steel, old-school bicycles are $100 on CL and can last for decades (I have a couple of those). For one month of a gym membership, you can maintain a nice, old-school mountain bike for a year, or more.
Do poor people not have access to free exercise and healthy food? Have you seen the price of eggs, beans, and apples? Do children need to eat shitty school food, or can their parents prepare hardboiled eggs, apples slices and a few slices of cheese? That's what I give my son when he goes to school, or something of the equivalent.
When people were thin, pre-1990's, did food change, or did the psychology of food change? Fast food is literally the same price now as it was 30 years ago. But 30 years ago, there weren't as many fat people.
Not to derail the thread, but I truly do think we put waaaaay too much energy around food and diet. It isn't as complicated as people make it to be. We are addicted to food - whether from a fitness standpoint or from a fat standpoint.
I remember my wife was logging all her food in an app. Everything. I was like "what, are you going to be doing this when you're 80 years old?". She doesn't do that anymore and she's super hot and fit, always has been.
We both eat "whatever" and neither one of us has gained weight. If we need to lose weight, we do small adjustments, like "no desert" or "no doughnuts on Sunday. Difference is we simply eat like people did in the 1950's. Less frequently and with a lot less shame.
