1950's Betty Crocker Cookbook-- SO FUNNY!!!!

OK so at the beginning of this 1954 Betty Crocker Cookbook is a "nutrition guideline"... I settled in for a good laugh and would you believe...

"One quarter of daily calories should come from butter."

BUTTER?! What the heck??

I am still laughing!

Does it also say to greet your husband at the door - looking pretty with the kids all washed up and happy...and that you should never tell  your poor hard working husband if you had a bad day....they don't need to hear it???  LOL - I read that once in a Home Economics text book from the same era!! 

Well, when you think about it, that's 25% of calories from fat, same as the current recommendation.  Back then fresh butter was thought to be very wholesome.  The alternative was lard, white shortening, like Crisco or Spry, or margerine.  Americans didn't know about olive oil, and Wesson oil was the only vegetable oil sold.  I'm trying to think back to 1954, when I was 12 years old, and I don't even remember that in the kitchen.  Our family used a lot of olive oil (we're Italian) and lard as well as butter.  I was really skinny back then (undernourished they said) so my mother was always putting cream on my cereal to fatten me up.  I mostly remember we had a big can of imported olive oil and none of my friends had that in their kitchens.

My 94 year old mother had a good laugh at the doctor who asked her if her parents had high cholesterol.  She just stared at the doctor until he realized what he was asking.  Nobody ever heard of cholesterol until at least the 1960's

Makes me wonder what the nutritionists will be saying 50 yrs from now.

I wonder what our biggest nutritional "YIKES!" will be....???  

I can already read message board posts fifty years from now...

"Back in 2007 when cars actually traveled on the ground, it was thought that drinking a lot of water was good for you!"

"Early on in this century, people walked for exercise! Little did they know that just slapping themselves in the face was the equivalent of walking twenty miles."

"In 2007 they thought fruit and vegetables were healthy."

I also have cookbooks from the 40's-50's and it does give exact descriptions of the proper way to pack your husbands lunch.

There is a proper way to pack the husbands lunch and the children's lunches.

Its crazy too what they have for the lunches.

Two sandwiches- big ones though. Soup. Carrots. Fruit. And some kind of desert like a piece of pie & chips. & milk.

ETA: Reminds me of a Life magazine from the 40's that had Dr's testimonies saying that smoking cigs was good for your lungs because it toughened them up.. Nuts.

As I've said before, I grew up in the 50s.  I was a constant worry to my mother because I questioned all the rigid roles expected of women. 

In the kitchen, we had mostly Italian cooking, but "American" style cooking was extra special.  Things like meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas were a real treat.  I remember my first solo dish was instant pudding - I was so proud.  The new packaged and canned foods were all the rage.

I remember a neighbor asking my mother about her home made spaghetti.  The next time she made it, I was sent over with a dish for them.  The next day, their daughter returned the clean dish and my mother asked her how they liked it.  She said it was very good, but she liked Franco American better.

Franco American -- oh, the blasphemy!  Though in desperation I have eaten Chef boyardee.  The shame, the shame. . . OK, I'm over it.

Here's a couple other lines from the future:

Back in 2007, they didn't know whole wheat and whole grains caused brain cancer.

Can you imagine a world without Pluvet?  Those poor people back in 2007 had to make do with "Splenda."

Oh!  And I forgot to mention bacon grease!  Absolutely everybody had a can of bacon grease to cook with.  Emeril would have been in heaven.

What I find so weird is that people ate a lot more fattening stuff in the 50's, but when you watch "Leave It To Beaver" and "The Brady Bunch" or even remember back to that time, everyone was so skinny! Now everyone's on a diet but obesity is such an epidemic. I guess the secret is locking your kids out of the house on Saturdays... :-D

But marconi, we didn't.  Yes we unknowingly added bad fats, but portions were much smaller.  We didn't keep soda in the house - it was just for special occassions.  My friends and I would sometimes buy a cold bottle of coke at the corner store (for a nickle!), but that was an 8 ounce bottle.  Dessert was maybe a dish of jello or a small dish of ice cream.  Cake and pie were for Sunday dinner.  A lot of things about our diets then are not considered healthy now - white bread, gravy, butter on vegetables, and so on, but we simply didn't have those super size meals.

Also, we walked more.  Families were considered well off if they had one car.  That car was used by the bread winner to get to work, then for family excursions on weekends.  We walked to the grocery store and carried our purchases home.  We took the bus into town to shop.  We had phys ed every day, grade school through high school.  We also had a long mid morning and mid afternoon recess in grade school.  Our school day was shorter.  We didn't have as much homework (yet we were better educated) We played outside when we  got home.  In nice weather we ran and played from the time we got home until supper, then outside again until dark.  There were no Barbie dolls, no cult of thinness, no super models to warp our body image.

So life was very different then, and maybe healthy in it's own way.  Then along came the first fast food burgers, soft ice cream stands, bigger and bigger soft drinks, bigger and bigger burgers, and excess of every kind.  That's when people started to become obese.

I grew up with chips, pop, and cake as "birthday" food.  Candy was just for Halloween, and only on the school picnic days did I ever get a juice box.  Fairly 1950s.

But I have to wonder if growing up with relatively little junk had the opposite effect you'd expect.  When I had a regular babysitting gig at 15, the house was stocked with chocolate chip cookies, mac and cheese, and Pop Tarts.  I didn't get these things at home and ended up gaining almost 20 pounds that summer.  And that started a taste for junk that I still battle with.

Now I'm back to my roots, excet I kept the diet pop.

That's a really good point pompey.  Since we weren't aware that those foods can really pack on the pounds, we went for the tempting taste.  I can't remember ever thinking about calories or fat.  I was really skinny until I had my first baby at age 21.

Also look at TV, video games, computer ,we had to play outside, move our bodies...

LOL I love these "back in 2007" comments! Hilarious!

My dad has always hated Video games and Television. He says that they will be the death of out generation. I think hes pretty dead on.

Even looking back before Internet and before N64 and Playstation and SuperNintendo, I used to go outside and play constantly!  Sure I would go downstairs and play some Super Mario Bros or Tetris but thats about it. I was more interested in playing with friends and making forts and playing "Pretend".

Man, just looking back on that, and seeing some kids today just connected to everything. Listening to the iPod while Chatting online and playing some video game. Its not real. Its not doing anything for them. Sure its brain stimulating, but what about the body? Man I cant wait to have kids, and raise them to be active, strong, smart and healthy. My Boyfriend even goes on how healthy he feels since I started to cook for him! Its a good thing too! He was stuck in a house what always had diet coke everywhere and candy and chips! And TV's everywhere! And three computers! My goodness. No wonder his 15 and 13 year old brothers dont ever go out. I dont even think they have any friends. They just sit infront of the computers all day and night.

Its really sad.

(end of rant)

Heehee

Great history lesson. I'd love to hear more stories like this because so much has been lost in the fog of contemporary nutrition and diet information. It kills me to think in this culture of marketing manipulation, kids are growing up to think that candy-like yogurt dipped gobs of sugary fruit droplets and glistening chocolate chip studded, honey-glazed granola bars are a healthy breakfast option.

Yeah, it truly is sad. When I was a kid I was sooo active. I would walk/run to friends houses, we would run and play outside all the time, portions were smaller and things weren't as "supersized" as they are now. And now... instead of walking to a friend's house kids just talk online or text message and when they do get together they either eat or play computer/video games.

I'm 25 and I think my generation was the last to get any encouragement to "go outside and play!"  My mom even told me when I was a kid that I didn't have to stop reading but at least to do it outside (with sunblock.)  My best friend and I used to play outside all the time while her husband and his best friend were Nintendo-brats. 

Yet all of us are overweight/obese!  But at least my friend and I are less overweight than the boys.

I grew up in the 1970's with one parent (my dad) who was very overweight.  I was surrounded by junk food, and by and large, rejected it.  I am thin, and have always liked excercise.  The key is balance, and learning not to use food as a way to deal with emotion, boredom, anxiety etc.  Yes, large portions and constant access to junk food is a contributing factor, as is the decline of the family dinner  (one that is home made and not fast or frozen) eaten together.  Kids and the adults who raise them and serve as role models need to show coping skills and good judgement around food.  The family can spend a day raking leaves or throwing around a football...there are lots of ways to encourage physical activity.  Many hiking areas are free!

Original Post by clairelaine:

But marconi, we didn't.  Yes we unknowingly added bad fats, but portions were much smaller.  We didn't keep soda in the house - it was just for special occassions.  My friends and I would sometimes buy a cold bottle of coke at the corner store (for a nickle!), but that was an 8 ounce bottle.  Dessert was maybe a dish of jello or a small dish of ice cream.  Cake and pie were for Sunday dinner.  A lot of things about our diets then are not considered healthy now - white bread, gravy, butter on vegetables, and so on, but we simply didn't have those super size meals.

Also, we walked more.  Families were considered well off if they had one car.  That car was used by the bread winner to get to work, then for family excursions on weekends.  We walked to the grocery store and carried our purchases home.  We took the bus into town to shop.  We had phys ed every day, grade school through high school.  We also had a long mid morning and mid afternoon recess in grade school.  Our school day was shorter.  We didn't have as much homework (yet we were better educated) We played outside when we  got home.  In nice weather we ran and played from the time we got home until supper, then outside again until dark.  There were no Barbie dolls, no cult of thinness, no super models to warp our body image.

So life was very different then, and maybe healthy in it's own way.  Then along came the first fast food burgers, soft ice cream stands, bigger and bigger soft drinks, bigger and bigger burgers, and excess of every kind.  That's when people started to become obese.

You just described my childhood... and I was born in 1976.