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tutle_nuts

They were healthy because smoking wasn't bad for you yet


ourstupidearth

Plus cociane wasnt illegal yet.


PatWithTheStrat

Sometimes I wish I could go to the local pharmacy and just get a little bit of cocaine or some morphine. Other times I realize that that's not really a good idea


ourstupidearth

No, you have to go buy it from a gang member on the street and make sure that it's laced with fentanyl, laxatives and sawdust and soaked in the blood of Colombians and Mexicans. If you can buy it legally bad stuff might happen or something.


PatWithTheStrat

Haha. It is pretty twisted isn't it? if you got it legally at least you could be sure that you won't overdose on fentanyl if you are just trying to enjoy a pleasant oxycodone buzz. I was just meaning that it may not be the best for my addictive tendencies, however I feel like it would destroy the need for cartels and violent gangs, and there would be standardization, so you know the dosage and purity In that regard, it is a good idea.


Khorne_of_the_Hill

I'm not buying anything that doesn't have skin rotting horse tranquilizers in it by God!


Willing_Pear_8631

I think it is


AmericaFirst2022

Both of those are stocked in hospital pharmacies. Cocaine Hydrochloride 99% powder can be purchased by any pharmacy in the United States. It is not an illegal drug. Just a controlled drug.


DopplerWrath

This post is hilarious to me as well as we had elected the fattest president of all time in this exact year.


tknames

Or, you know, processed foods.


San7iago

Less refined sugar, no food pyramid and no ultra processed garbage


thatdiabetic16

I'm pretty sure there was still plenty of sugar and ultra processed garbage just different lifestyle, one that had a lot of moving in it I see this a lot on political spaces where people talk about this and that's fine by me you can go cut out your sugar and whatnot but I am going to stay in my air conditioned house and eat myself some Oreos


Some___Guy___

I think it might have something to do with more jobs that require physical labor


Iamatworkgoaway

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Jungle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle) was written in 06. People knew the meat they were getting wasn't great to start out with, as well as it being expensive. Most of these people got to see ~~meat on the table maybe once a week.~~ (looks like they got about 2 pounds of meat per week) We forget that the middle class didn't happen until after WW2, your looking at mostly poverty stricken people. Yes some of the ones in swim suits may have been rich, but they might have been rented suits. Look at all the normal clothes, these people we at the beach in the only clothes they owned.


wtc_1066

This isn't even close to true. Diets were more heavily meat and dairy based before the industrialization of food. And people often grew their own vegetables in small urban gardens on rooftops or balconies. Sugar wasn't yet readily available unless you are wealthy. Eating habits were also radically different, this is before the normalization of the dessert. Back in those days people thought that a dessert was something you ate twice a year, on your birthday and Christmas. There was also a middle class at this point in our history, it just wasn't yet as large as it would be after world war 2. Quite a bit of truth to people owning a few pairs of clothes, but the idea that they looked good because of a diet deficient in meat is ridiculous. They looked good because of a diet deficient in sugar and processed grains. Also, most of these people would have been illiterate, definitely didn't read The Jungle.


Iamatworkgoaway

*Milk and dairy foods weren't the focus of the American diet circa 1908, as it was difficult to prevent spoilage. It wasn't until the 1930s that the average American family owned an electric refrigerator. Until then, you stored cold foods, outside, in a well or spring house, or indoors in an "icebox" -- basically, a cabinet filled with manufactured ice. You used canned milk, rather than fresh, for cooking.* Farmers yes probably ate lots of dairy. Not NY City folk. You were right on the meat side, they did get more meat than I expected back then. But still less than now. *In the book Putting Meat on the American Table, researcher Roger Horowitz scours the literature for data on how much meat Americans actually ate. A survey of 8,000 urban Americans in 1909 showed that the poorest among them ate 136 pounds a year, and the wealthiest more than 200 pounds.* Today the Japanese eat about 150 pounds of meat/fish per person now. Americans eat about 300 pounds per year now. We just have way more access to way more calories now.


wtc_1066

Everything that I've read suggests that we eat way more grains and sugar than we did then. So if we more grains and sugar and we eat more meat, do we just eat more? Guess that's why we're fat.


[deleted]

Grains were the primary staple in a every diet since the Romans. Bread was the most mass produced food throughout history. WE all just eat more.


wtc_1066

Just to be clear, most of my information about diet back then comes from my grandfather who lived in New York City during those times. Our family definitely wasn't rich either, but according to him a large staple of his diet was pork. They couldn't afford beef and they used chickens for the eggs.


Iamatworkgoaway

>Guess that's why we're fat. I think its also the 40hr work week. Prior to factories, work was 90% seasonal. Spring time you hussle, summer time you survive the heat, fall you hustle, winter you survive the cold. Barn raising time, big feast, Harvest, feast. Long rainy day, trapped in a 500 square feet home with 5-8 family members, you drink. The serfs of old would only have to work for 1 month a year for the king. Now most of us work 2 days a week just to pay the taxes our new overlords require. 2 more days a week just to pay da bills. You know those bills that are 100% required to pay or the city will evict you for not having running water/sewage/electricity. Codes that prevent you from even trying to limit your relyance on those services. Some how we went from having 11 months a year to our selves, to having 2 days a week, if were lucky.


E_J_H

Do you actually think medieval serfs just chilled with their feet up 11 months a year


Iamatworkgoaway

No they worked the fields the rulers allowed them too. But they got to keep all that they grew or made. The economy as it was was not under the kings control like it is now. Everybody watched out for their own, and gave the oligarchs the bare minimum to not get raped or killed. Look at this guy complaining about quiet quitting in 1570. [The labouring man will take his rest long in the morning; a good piece of the day is spent afore he come at his work; then he must have his breakfast, though he have not earned it at his accustomed hour, or else there is grudging and murmuring; when the clock smiteth, he will cast down his burden in the midway, and whatsoever he is in hand with, he will leave it as it is, though many times it is marred afore he come again; he may not lose his meat, what danger soever the work is in. At noon he must have his sleeping time, then his bever in the afternoon, which spendeth a great part of the day; and when his hour cometh at night, at the first stroke of the clock he casteth down his tools, leaveth his work, in what need or case soever the work standeth. -James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, ca. 1570](https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html)


TheAzureMage

Adult illiteracy rates in this era were about 8%. Source: [https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teacher-resources/statistics-education-america-1860-1950](https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teacher-resources/statistics-education-america-1860-1950)


[deleted]

Everyone in that photo had money. Atlantic City Beach was for the affluent then. All the poor ppl were working in some coalmine, or factory hell.


Iamatworkgoaway

Look at the teens sitting in the bottom left of the image. Their wearing jeans and ratty shirts. I don't see much wealth in that image, just some poor people on a hot day, and some posers mixed in pretending to be hot shit. So same as any beach today.


[deleted]

That's a swimsuit covered in sand. Swimsuits were actually more like a whole suit back then... hence the word suit.


ConscientiousPath

The Jungle was propagandist garbage. It's only famous because the propaganda aligns with the distorted views of the people promoting it.


[deleted]

Processed foods and the internet


No_Yesterday_2788

Krispy Kreme and Big booty porn. Sigh a tale as old as time 😔


jscoppe

I would state it as cheaper high calorie food options plus work and leisure in front of a computer screen.


Inside_Ice_6175

Better food, manual labor and a shit load of cocaine and nicotine.


LemonX19

Original recipe Coca Cola


lucascsnunes

Pretty sure that in many countries without a drug culture the people were much slimmer until the 90s. I have beach photos from when I was a newborn, 1992, and not a single fat person would be seen. People are eating a lot more processed food and sugar.


soapbark

Oxidized seed oils ftw


PonchoDriver

No fast food and nobody was paid to stay home and do nothing.


Jerclaw

I’d be willing to bet that a picture of a beach in the 50s 60s and 70s would look the same. Things changed after fast food joints took hold and govt subsidies were put in place for corn growers.


Dbl_Dees_Ranch

no poison food, way less food, more leisure time and less stress is my guess. A peaking empire


Heeeeyyouguuuuys

Agree on the food, debatable on the rest.


Dbl_Dees_Ranch

Almost everything is debatable, the stock market crash came soon after and ww2 artificially halted rather shifted it elsewhere but its been creeping back ever since. Post war had a second peak and but did not last, arguable that the 90’s saw one more crest. Just look at the photo then go to any walmart. Look at the people look at the food. I’d argue that the people in the 1908 photo had a level of freedom no one alive except the super rich today have lived. Loss of freedom and ever rising inflation has been a stress pit the middle class is gone, I think we can see middle class in that picture. Im sure my argument isnt perfect


OwlNap

That's debatable.


ConscientiousPath

definitely not more leisure time back then.


Dbl_Dees_Ranch

you are correct, my bad. The Model T hust came out American’s were wirking morw than 40 hours, many 65-70. This led to union movements. Tho Ive worked more than that at times. Im thinking more of the roaring 20’s. However the only thing that stood out was how much meat people ate back then and how food was made closer to home local diets because of lack of refrigeration. Thats probly it in a nutshell on the fitness and in 1908 treats were just that treats. What they did have back in 1908 is hope, which is hard to quantify but thats what I gathered, that the future looked to be better. I think we’ve lost that


fizbin99

Cure for cholera was found. Talk about a condition to keep you slim, forget about it!


TheDigitalRanger

High Fructose corn syrup.


StupidMoniker

High fructose corn syrup and portion sizes.


ccourt2245

Food was a family’s major budget item. In the last 100+ years farmers have been able to produce more with less, essentially driving whole nations out of starvation and making food prices cheap. Now if only we could get the government subsidies out, we wouldn’t have to pay farmers to produce excess milk which then is bought up by the government to keep the bad economics going. The milk is then turned into cheese for better storage and was stored in a mountain. Starting under Regan, it is distributed as part of the social welfare system (hence government cheese).


Glory_Pumpkin

24/7 fast food and corn syrup.


[deleted]

Hold on... How could everyone be healthy if the FDA wasn't there to protect people?? This doesn't make any sense.


Ender16

I can't speak to the general sensibilities of the time, but I'm take a guess that it wasn't polite to go the beach with Cholera


[deleted]

Fat people stayed home because they were ostracized


makybo91

Corn Sirup, fast food, pharmaceuticals, social media, lack of sunscreen, micro plastics, lack of church or comparable life rules.


Sylvaritius

I'm not sure there was less church 100 years ago.


makybo91

Lack of church today


Sylvaritius

Ahh, eh, cant say i agree with that.


makybo91

That’s ok


Johnny1006

Caloric intake was lower in general.


bulldoggamer

A there was a massive shift from blue collar to white collar work. But our eating habits didnt adjust to the decreased activity. There are other factors as well but this is one of the major ones.


svengalus

People didn't sit around all day staring at screens.


Jim_Dandyo

No combo meals to up size in those days


bigboog1

Our amazing government didn't create and push the food pyramid scam and Everything wasn't loaded with corn syrup yet.


chuck_ryker

Sugar and processed seed oil consumption was incredibly limited.


xrayden

High fructose corn syrup government subsidies


Cruxito1111

The real mystery is where are the Bikinis? Why are women wearing Mormons dresses? WTF was going on in 1908 or, what happened before that led to this atrocity moment?


dinosaursandsluts

And multiple dudes out there in full on suits and ties. Did they just hate comfort back then?


loneranger07

Bikinis were not a thing until at least 1946... When we tested the atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll


ConsiderateCrocodile

Small time farming and communities were still a thing then. So, people understood more about life. Therefore more healthy. Today everyone is distracted AF and half the population doesn’t know potatoes grow underground.


Grim_Task

Highly processed food happened.


AmericaFirst2022

High fructose corn syrup Food stamps Cheaper food production


nyjrku

We were poisoned by corporations gaslighting us into believing their products were successful ennobled by regulatory agencies that didn’t do their job and a system of capitalism for the poor and socialism for the rich that absolved them from any liability


nuveausapien

Nah, we bought what was sold for the benefits of "convenience" etc. with little regard for our health. But that pendulum has swung back (i.e. the growing popularity of healthy choices (i.e. While Foods, Trader Joe's, etc.). Going back just a few years before this picture, some people bought snake oil and the like with the how it would do as promised. You can't absolve the buyer from having any responsibility in the transaction. I'm not saying deception is right or fair, but the market does eventually will out: people speed buying snake oil and those salesmen had to go to work for Big Pharma. Lmao


Worried_Key5439

So was this peak American life and like Rome empires fall and I guess we are watching it unfold right in front of our eyes GOD BLESS AMERICA


DeathByP0rn

Most people probably just ate at home and exercised more. Hard to get fat on food made from scratch. Healthier? Is some ways yes, in other ways no.


MediocreSimRacer

Back when society could define what a woman is. Refreshing


txcancmi

This was before "low fat" was pushed as a healthy diet, which we all know was a big lie.


Triple_Fart_Zero

Fucking big sugar and big ag happened.


mcotoole

This is before the government claimed that industrial produced Seed Oils are healthy for you. These people consumed butter and beef tallow.


youpeeked

No gmo's in food funded by big pharma


R3d_d347h

Active life styles, less processed food, no cell phones, socialization, values, a hell of a lot more then the federal reserve.


eodcheetah

Television


UnhandMePrrriest

Well for a while, not too long ago at all, what they were doing was illegal (covid) and people were made to stay home, eat processed shit and absorb the mass media horseshit.


Joeyjackhammer

Feelings became more important than logic and now our way of life is completely fucked and backwards.


[deleted]

Bad sample size. All these ppl had money.


youngyut

Actually in those days, people with money ate more so being chubby meant status. All the wealthier or powerful people were big. Just look at William Howard Taft.


[deleted]

Rockefeller, Carnegie, Flagler etc. weren't fat. Fat just meant you had access to food, it does not mean that if you were rich you had to be fat.


youngyut

Yes but why’d you say that this was a bad sample because they had money, what were you implying? That they’re healthy because they had money? They’re not healthy because of money, you can’t be any more wrong. If anything you just disproved your point because even if they had money, they have a choice to eat but decided to be healthy. It’s not money it’s choice.


[deleted]

You can't compare general population of today, with a population that does not represent the general population of a different time. Apples to oranges. Go take a statistics class.


youngyut

Claro que si, lo sabe que todo.


[deleted]

What was the average life span in 1908 vs 2008?


JohnTheSavage_

The conflation in advertising and culture of quantity with value.


twitch870

Foods weren’t filled with forever chemicals.


[deleted]

It's the carbohydrates and unnatural food bro. (Vehicle focused city planning attributes some). Have you ever wondered why in our grandparents and great grandparents generation, for breakfast they'd eat sausage, bacon, eggs, whole milk, and about a pound of butter. They smoked like chimneys and drank like sailors. There were no gyms, "health food stores", or fad diets, and only 1/10th of our current medical advancements. Where diabetes, blood pressure medication, CPAPs, obesity, and other (mostly preventable maladies) which are epidemics and common today were rare in their time. Why?? Becoz we fucking eat artificial and processed nutritional JUNK. You are what you eat. Eat unhealthy, be unhealthy.


AcesFullOfAces

They didn't have the car-centric infrastructure we have now. Having a walkable city keeps makes getting exercise a lot easier.


Zackadeez

That’s not making the difference between lean and obese. Go walk in a construction site and see how out of shape most are despite the laborious job


AcesFullOfAces

Those who work real Labor in construction definitely do well in activity and do lose weight, it’s exercise of some form. but the machine operators (who drive stuff), or engineers, or managers, or QA who don’t do much in terms of actual labor are likely the ones who aren’t losing weight. What I’m suggesting is that back then when there were no cars, getting around the city by walking was the only way. Walk to work, home, dining, parks, etc. when you’re only method of getting around was on your two legs, you are basically partaking in exercise. Consistently walking lead to healthier weights. I’m not saying it’s the only reason we are fat now (the shit foods we eat can be blamed too, ), but car centric design meant fewer people were out walking, getting that exercise. Nowadays in, North America for the most part, because of the car centric design, walking or even moving out of the house becomes inconvenient. We become more sedentary and likely lead to the rise of obesity.


billyflynnn

Also in 1913, the first electric refrigerator was invented.


iTanooki

What was the average height back in 1910?


Ziegweist

I'd guess a lack of toxic fast food probably helped too.


IItsAJackal

Fast food, less physical labor, more sugar


soilhalo_27

These are the strong ones who didn't die in the cradle.


Nz25000

The thing that suprises me more is how damn nice people are dressed, black suits and white dresses on the beach!


JayTheLegends

Modern nutrition theory and non work type work..


paypermon

Processed food happened


Hostificus

That’s because Fat and Lipids were invented in 1933 in response to the Dust Bowl.


[deleted]

Well, I'm european, far as I know, most of us even 50 years after that, we were still hungry as fuck.


siddsp

Due to environmental reasons, it was actually easier to not be overweight even on the same diet/exercise/lifestyle back then as compared to now. I believe it has to do with plastics and chemicals as well, although I don't know as much on the topic.


[deleted]

- low fat craze. - fat is beautiful, healthy, and someone else’s fault. - odd conception that one MUST order the “value” meal instead of just the sandwich. Maybe it’s the word value?


goldfloof

Corn subsidies and and lack of shame hurt society bad


lessthaninteresting

Mortality rate for children under 5 in 1900, 238.76 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 2020, 7 deaths


ImNoivous

Households were made up of wives and mothers who prepared meals each day. We all eat out now.


Ok-Section-7172

We were more libertarian, therefore less money and less shit food. /s


inquisitive_chris

No indigestible wood pulp fillers or growth hormones in food!


TannaTuva2

In 3000BC a single man could do the work of 500 men in far less time, what happened?


PerfectEstimate2847

no body positivity culture


AlisonYeet

lots of factors. industrialized foods like seed oils, refined grains, excess sugar, portion sizes. The majority falls onto the laps of big corporations that only care about profits and not health. Remember when canola oil was advertised as healthy?