The Myth of Healthier Times
Challenging the idea that American's diet today is worse off than in our grandparents' time.
As we start a new year, many people turn to new goals rededicating themselves to getting in shape, losing a few pounds, and eating more healthy foods. It’s at times like this that it’s easy to look to the past and think, “Our great-grandparents ate so much better back in the ‘good old days’ than we do now, didn't they? They cooked from scratch, butchered their own animals, and they had gardens and stuff, right?” Well…. I would actually have to disagree with that whole premise!
First off, I’m not going to get into the food science creations of modern times (like artificial sugar or Twinkies), because obviously, those weren’t around in my grandparents’ generation when they were growing up (1920s-40s). I’m going to be talking about American’s eating habits surrounding standard American foods and traditions.
The Dangers of Nostalgia
Last year, I saw a post on Instagram claiming that, essentially, our grandmothers ate nutrient-dense foods and were better off. They didn’t drink almond or soy milks. They didn’t need to take fish oils (or vitamins is what they were implying), and they didn’t cut carbs from their diet. What this person was doing was attacking the modern fitness industry and all the false claims that were wrecking people’s health. They were also criticizing the dropping of whole food groups (like grains), cutting ridiculous amounts of calories, and working out to the point of exhaustion in the pursuit of that elusive perfect figure. This was their soap box. I get it. They had their own agenda with their post.
But that’s not what got me fired up.
What got me fired up was this assumption about “our grandmother’s diets” back in the good ol’ days. I don’t know who her grandma was, but general statements like that aren’t helpful or accurate! What they ate is so subjective based on your family’s background and cultural heritage. Was your grandma a wealthy socialite? How about a poor share cropper? The daughter of a country doctor? Maybe she was the wife of the local minister. Or the daughter of a farmer owning two-hundred acres? Twenty acres? Maybe they lived in the mountains and scratched out a living from the rocky soil. Or worked in a mine in a poor mining town. Or in a factory in the city. Where they lived and worked and their social standing had so much to do with how “healthy” they were. And even then it didn’t determine the wisest of choices or the best knowledge about nutrition.
What this boils down to is a dangerous type of nostalgia surrounding a rosy, misty past that people have conjured up in their minds based on some set of criteria based on things they’ve read or watched. (Don’t get me started on Little House on the Prairie.) When you really dig into history, you often find that it is not rosy or healthy at all.
They had terrible fad diets.
Vitamins and “health drinks” were all the rage and had been for some time. Where do you think Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, and root beer got their start?
Food quality is one thing, but knowledge of nutrition and implementing it are completely separate things. Not many people knew what balanced nutrition was.
Soy milk existed. It was called “vegetable milk” in newspapers that I’ve found and was mostly intended for people who couldn’t drink cow milk. *gasp* Yes! Lactose intolerance existed back then too!
Americans had a serious problem with sugar. They were just as addicted to it then as we are now.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Victory Kitchen Podcast Substack to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.