Many people believe carbs or larger portion sizes are to blame for the obesity epidemic in the U.S. today. But actually in the ’50s the average diet consisted of 55-percent carbs, and today, the average diet consists of just around 45-percent carbs. So what’s weighing us down? Our diets are made up of around 40-percent fat. In the ’50s that number was just around 32 percent.
Source: Mirror.co.uk
People in the ’50s didn’t try to be vegan so much as they were forced to be vegan. Due to the food rationing following World War II, people were limited to very little in the way of dairy, eggs, meat and even sugar. As a result, they had what today we would call a lot of vegan meals, and were slimmer.
Source: Mirror.co.uk
There weren’t supermarkets in the U.S. until the ’60s It was all corner markets and tiny grocery stores with fresh fare. People weren’t living off the frozen food aisle and there was no such thing as ready-made meals that are so quick and easy to heat up — and pack on the calories without any effort.
Source: Groceteria.com
You can pay for a maid and a gym membership, or cut both of those and exercise like a ’50s housewife. Certainly we don’t condone any of the enforced-gender ideas that come with the idea of a ’50s housewife, however, because they didn’t have a lot of the electric devices we have today, they did a lot of manual cleaning, burning many more calories. Save a little water and do your dishes by hand instead of machine. Dust and mop instead of using a Swiffer. You’ll find you’re sweating.
Source: Mirror.co.uk
You might see gardening as a hobby—and maybe one you have no interest in—but it’s also a money saver and figure saver. In the ’50s most homes had at least a small vegetable garden. The less you’re running to the store to buy spinach, the less you’re tempted by the other foods at the store.
Source: Mirror.co.uk
You might complain that bars in your area close at 1:30 a.m., but in the ’50s they closed even earlier — sometimes at 10 p.m. — which meant long nights of binge drinking may not have been as much of an option, and you had to get more creative about ways to socialize.
Source: Reddit.com
In the ’50s and ’60s, cottage cheese was the go-to snack for dieters. And it still should be! (So long as you don’t have dairy restrictions.) One cup has just 163 calories, of which only 20 are from fat, and a whopping 28 grams of filling protein.
Source: Cnn.com
Most meals in the ’50s were accompanied by baked potatoes or mashed potatoes. Potatoes are a seriously underrated food. A baking potato has seven grams of protein, seven grams of fiber, and can have less than 300 calories. If you pair it with just a little lean protein and vegetables, it’s a nutritious base for your meal compared to pasta or even quinoa.
Source: Cnn.com
Popcorn was another popular snack for dieters in the ’50s — but the air-popped variety you make at home rather than the butter-smothered boxed kind. A huge bowl of plain popcorn can have just a couple hundred calories, but because it takes so much time to consume, it tricks your brain into believing you’re full.
Source: Cnn.com
Like we said, if you need to have a snack, grab some air popped popcorn. But if you can avoid snacks, do so. Today, there is an entire grocery isle called “snacks” and we’re taught to have snacks to hold us over between meals, but in the ’50s snacking wasn’t even common. The important thing was having filling meals so you didn’t feel like snacking in between.
