There was not a fast food restaurant at every corner. Or so much processed frozen meals.
First time as a kid in the 70's I had a TV dinner I was so excited OH Boy something different! That enthusiasm changed with the first bite. The image on the box did not in any way meet reality.

Made me appreciate my mothers skills and got me interested in cooking. I still have, and reference from her 1952 Fanny Farmer cookbook.

And keep active, still bike ride and hike. My work keeps me on my feet besides when I have to design something.

Not any more.

Plus, back then, food was made of... well... food.

We'd go home to eat lunch then play until dusk and go home again. Kids these days spend way too much screen time alone and not nearly enough active play outside in the neighborhood.

They have made parents so terrified of letting their kids out of their sight that they are ordered to stay inside their fenced-in backyard (which in most cases may not even exist for anyone close to an urban center), or their room. There is plenty of evidence that our society is safer than it was two decades ago, and yet those same industries are still trying to scare you into paying them money for what is a very rare occurrence.

These oligarchs have been doing this for almost 60 years. We still do not seem capable of understanding that they are selling something. Not something that will necessarily change anything (hell, in most cases, it doesn't), but they are still going to convince you that you HAVE TO HAVE IT! We know this is happening every single day.

(I remember getting into trouble once because it had gotten dark and I had not come home at that time. My mother was telling me that something bad could have happened. I asked, "What?" She got very mad indeed. Because she knew there was nothing to fear where we were living at the time. (It was about not obeying their directive. It had nothing to do with any 'danger'. ) It was a small collection of houses on a 'U' shaped dirt road out in the country. We knew almost everyone in the entire area, and everyone had kids. Most of us ran around together anyway. Like mobs of eight to twelve of us at any given time. (Whenever we went to someone's house, we literally took it over because there were so many of us.) We were never alone.

Just what is going to happen? Well, one can worry about very remote possibilities, or one can understand that most of the fear that she was letting affect her was contrived. On purpose. To sell something that we did not need. To be directed into a certain mindset and a certain acceptance of their devious methodology.

But, we fall for it every time. Facts be damned, we love being led by the wallet.

My BMI is currently 32 - which puts me in the Obese category. My hip-to-waist ratio was under 0.9 - which is a low health risk.

I run 15-18 miles a week and, when the weather is good, will ride my bike another 50 miles per week. My average resting heart rate is 50. My blood pressure is excellent as are my cholesterol and glucose levels.

I am far from alone and wouldn't consider myself an outlier. If you have any sort of muscle mass, you will be considered Obese on the BMI scale.

It's increasingly probable.