How Americans USED TO EAT

 
Is it ever good to go "back to basics"?
Was there ANYTHING good about the way Americans used to eat during the 1950's?  We all know now that eating a ton of red meat, cooking/baking/eating with butter and lard, was a cholesterol disaster, BUT nowadays when we're so "enlightened" as to low-fat eating, we have more obesity and diabetes than ever?
On the Food Addiction support group discussion post, a woman who is struggling with starving then binging, brought up the question of whether or not it is desirable to eat 3 square meals a day? That idea has gone out of fashion.  We're being told to eat 6 smaller meals a day. This is "intelligent snacking".  But again, there's more obesity and diabetes than ever!
I would like your opinion.
Here is a copy of what I wrote on the discussion board.  I'm old enough to actually remember the 1950's.



 





Reply #1 - 05/06/10  9:12pm



I grew up during the 1950's. The norm then was to eat 3 meals a day. Our mothers never would have sent us to school without breakfast! We were given a small snack (often a tiny box of raisins) to eat during recess. Lunch was a sandwich and an apple. Dinner was meat, potatoes or rice, a vegetable, and in our house often fruit cocktail for dessert. The main thing wrong with the 50's was too much red meat, butter, and lard. In other words, "bad" saturated fat. We had never heard the word "cholesterol". But the 3 meal a day plan served us well. Unlike today, when people snack so frequently between meals, we didn't THINK and OBSESS about eating all day long. We ate at mealtime! (Seems like such a quaint concept now.) And despite the high saturated fat, childhood obesity and diabetes were NOT EPIDEMIC as they are now. Eating all day long, eating lots of sugar, etc. has been a weight and health disaster for this country, esp. its children. 3 meals a day doesn't have to mean 3 huge meals a day. But, yes, I do believe there is merit in a structured eating plan. Starving then binging isn't the way to go. I am in the process of trying to re-train my own eating to 3 moderate meals a day plus a small bedtime snack.