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Did you know people were healthier during World War II because of rationing? 1940s eating included a lot more fruits and vegetables.1940s Eating Wasn't Just Meat and Potatoes ModernRetroWoman.com Blog Image

No other factor is and then conducive to good health as wise eating. If you adopt to gratify your lower appetite, that is unfortunate; but if yous call back that health and its consequent success are more worth having, you can very hands arrange your life then as to have them ~ Grenville Kleiser

Dear Friends,

Whenever someone finds out my love for vintage cookbooks and cooking, they invariably make a comment related to Jello or mayonnaise.  They want to know about the grossest Jello and mayo concoction I've e'er eaten (I tend to shy away from such food combinations, much to their disappointment).

I'll readily admit that there was an abundance of meat, potatoes, Jello, and mayo found on mid-century tables but my vintage cookbooks tell me that those weren't the only things being eaten.  In fact, homemakers who followed dietary recommendations were feeding their families very healthy meals.

It Wasn't All Meat, Potatoes, Jello, and Mayonnaise

Did you know people were healthier during World War Two because of rationing?     I phone call it the Victory Garden Diet ™. Considering meat, fats, dairy, and sugars were in limited supply, 1940s eating included a lot more fruits and vegetables than nosotros eat in mod times.  Families were encouraged to found "Victory Gardens" and then that more food could exist used to feed soldiers.

In the Usa three of the Bones Seven food recommendations were for a diversity of raw and cooked green and yellowish vegetables, citrus fruit, and other fruits and vegetables.  I remember hearing somewhere that a dinner should have a starchy vegetable, a green salad, a cooked dark-green vegetable, and some fruit.  I don't know well-nigh you, simply eating all of those vegetables and the fruit wouldn't go out me with much of an ambition for anything else!

We've Lost Variety

One of the things I always find when I reread the lists of recommended fruits and vegetables is the wide variety from which to cull.  It as well saddens me a wee fleck considering almost of the fruits and vegetables are no longer bachelor at the grocery stores I frequent. The wide variety of constitute foods has been replaced by aisles of boxed or frozen frankenfoods with little to no nutritional value.

We've Lost Control of Portion Sizes

If yous ever have the opportunity, look at 1 of the early on editions of The Joy of Cooking and a modern edition.  I was very surprised when I noticed that recipes in my before edition would serve vi while the same recipe in my later edition –with the verbal same ingredient measurements–only served iv.  The recipe for Toll Firm chocolate chip cookies inverse the serving size from one teaspoon to one tablespoon.

I take a hamburger maker that was my grandmother'due south.  I think it is chosen a "burger press."  Anyway, I accept my ground beef, fill up the press, and turn the gizmo that releases the burger from the press.  Here is the kicker: Each burger is virtually four ounces, before cooking.  Compared to the ones I can buy from the butcher, these burgers seem tiny.  Nosotros don't fifty-fifty use buns anymore because seeing the seemingly modest patties in the bun reminds us as well much of the old "Where's the beefiness!" commercial.

But, you know what? That 4 ounce hamburger is double the size of a "regular" hamburger or cheeseburger at McDonald's.  I remember when the introduction of the Quarter Pounder hamburger in the early 1970s was such a big deal because information technology was so big.  Now, of course, fast food outlets sell half-pound or more than burgers.

1940s Eating In A Modern World

The lesson we can acquire from the vintage cookbooks and Basic 7 nutritional communication is that we accept to rethink our eating habits.  Nosotros need to cutting our portion sizes manner down. Nosotros demand to eat a lot less meat and sugar.  And we need to swallow a lot more fruit and vegetables.

And, if we desire to exist a bit smug, we tin can point out that our mid-century mentors were encouraging united states of america to consume the way the mod nutritional experts are telling us to do.

Sure there was meat, potatoes, Jello, mayonnaise, and desserts, but, in practice, if we are to believe our mentors, wise 1940s eating included a whole lot of fruits and vegetables, too.

How do yous make certain you eat your "Five a Day" of fruits and vegetables?  Share your strategies in the comment section.

To your fabulous Technicolor wellness,

Dr. Julie-Ann

Image credit: Victory Garden poster, 1943, courtesy of James Vaughan on Flickr.com

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