Reaganomics. MTV Power dresses and shoulders. The 1980’s were strong, proud, and surprisingly healthy at the dinner table.
This is according to Jodi Velazquez, an author, television co-friend and mother on a mission, whose new book “knows the enemy: preventing weight gain, diabetes and illness” is the case of reviving vintage nutrition.
The post sat with Velazquez for more information on what a daughter taught diabetes, where the current food culture went wrong and how to feed your family as in 1985.
Finger spikes and food fights
When Velazquez’s first child was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of only 19, she and her husband left the hospital with a bag full of medical supplies, and had no idea what the future had.
What followed was a fall in survival. Velazquez suddenly remained in service 24 hours, and chopped his child’s finger every two hours to check blood sugar levels.
“This is where I really got my education, because I could see what each food did and what did the exercise and lack of exercise,” he said.
When her daughter turned 10, Velazquez had registered almost 30,000 fingers and administered 8,700 insulin features, trying to protect her son from a food culture built on sugar, temptation and processed junk.
But this was not always the case.
Supersized and sedentary
In his new book, Velazquez highlights several factors that he believes have contributed to the growing waist of the United States.
40 years ago: people ate less, and when they did, they were usually local points that served fresh and balanced foods.
“What is scared is that if you were born after 1990, you were born in a saturated world of fast food and oversized portions.”
Jodi Velazquez
“In the 70’s and 80’s, we didn’t eat fast food every day or every week,” he said. “Our diets were more consistent.”
Go ahead to this day and investigations show that many Americans no longer say goodbye to the stoves at home. Our concept of “the experience of the dining room” has also gone from family restaurants located in fast, cheap and ultra processed foods.
Just look at the numbers. Velazquez says that there are now more than 25,000 fast food chains in the United States, an impressive increase of 1,000% since 1970.
The Sun McDonald has exploded from 1,000 restaurants in 1968 to more than 14,000 current. Starbucks, meanwhile, has added more than 10,000 new stores since 1982, he writes.
But it is not only the number of fast food places that has changed, but it is what is in the menu.
Take soda, for example: In the 1950’s, a typical soft drink was 6.5 ounces and 85 calories. In 2014, this surpassed 20 ounces and 250 calories, almost triple the size and, triple the sugar, says Velazquez.
Why the Bloat? Demand of guilt consumers and fierce competition between fast food chains.
“Everyone wants to have the new thing, the tastiest thing, the craziest thing, the biggest thing and the people fall,” said Velazquez. “I think it’s marketing.”
The current fast food frenzy also means that our eating habits are inconsistent compared to the most rationalized diets of the past.
“If you eat a six -inch burger with chips in a fast food place one day and the next day you have spaghetti and meatballs at home, it is a very different variation of fat, sugar and salt,” said Velazquez.
For diabetics, this means erratic levels of blood sugar. For the rest of us, it leads to summits and valleys at our energy levels.
Parents, Velazquez, fought even more these days to keep track of what is in their children’s body. Consider the rewards of the classroom, birthday treats and extra -curricular sweets during the square or daycare, only some sugary temptations that accumulate throughout the day.
“If you are a parent and your child has no problem as allergies or diabetes, there may be no need to say,” he said. “So it means parents don’t even know that their children receive all these calories away from home.”
Worse, the concept of three square meals a day is becoming a thing of the past.
“We now have the availability of eating everywhere,” said Velazquez. “I think many people are grazing all day, they are packaged and processed here and there.”
But Velazquez emphasizes that the time between meals is essential for our bodies.
“Breakfast, lunch and dinner gives time to the pancreas for a break. Give insulin time to work,” said Velazquez. “You may have two or three hours between meals and I think it is a lost concept for many people.”
Despite consuming lower quality foods in larger portions more often, we move less than ever. Studies show a significant decrease in physical activity in recent decades, driven by factors such as the rise of table jobs, automobile comfort and modern technology.
As a whole, these factors have lit a national crisis, with about 260 million Americans who were expected to have overweight or obese by 2050. This puts them at risk a greater risk of the list of safeges of severe chronic diseases, including heart disease and stroke.
“What is scared is that if you were born after 1990, you were born in a saturated world of fast food and oversized portions,” said Velazquez.
“There is now a rise in young people who have diabetes and these people have nothing to return,” he added. “They don’t have these basic and good nutritional habits.”
Looking back for a healthier future
Aging of a diabetic child in the 21st century was not easy for Velazquez. He required trial and error, diligent monitoring, extensive investigation and even some negotiation with his daughter.
But the effort he fruned: Today, Marlo is a healthy and prosperous 26 -year -old young man.
The lessons Velazquez learned while managing his daughter’s diabetes modified the focus of the whole home on the food. Now, these views are passed to others.
How to eat like the 80’s in 2025
Returning to the basics of “vintage nutrition” is the essential basis for making sustainable and practical practical changes in your daily diet, Velazquez explained.
“To feed your family as if it were 1980, it means only to avoid those foods rich in fat and unhealthy fat there, to be active, to have a consistency in the diet and only breakfast, lunch and dinner, with perhaps a very small refreshment,” he said.
Many of these changes begin at home.
“When I go out, it seems that in excess because the portions are larger,” said Velazquez. “When I cook for myself, I have more energy and I feel better. I eat well and do not eat much of sugar and foods rich in fat. I can control the amount of salt in my meals.”
“It should not be cheeky, like the meals of the hospital, but it should not be sprayed and descended and abused,” he continued. “I think this is where we crossed the line.”
To help families remember the basic principles of vintage nutrition, Velazquez created a simple acronym: he follows the abcts.
- A: Avoid unhealthy, high fat and high sugar foods.
- B: Be active and avoid being sedentary, especially after meals.
- C: Consistency in your food options.
- T: Timer.
He also has a clear message to parents: “He always drives for example. If you are excessively, your children will do the same.”
In his book, Velazquez emphasizes the value of making children move, teaching them how foods affect their body and invite them to the kitchen to learn these first -hand lessons.
He also encourages parents to rethink how they talk about weight with their children.
“Small subtle reminders are excellent, such as explaining them here and there to try to maintain weight in a good range because it is healthier for your body, not the way they look,” he said.
#healthier #eat #80s #abc #rule
Image Source : nypost.com