Interestingly also, the number of calories a person had daily was higher in 1940 even with rationed food than it is today. The difference was fewer people owned a car, there wasn't any central heating, sweets and chocolates weren't in ready supply, or easy affordable, laundry used up calories, cleaning used up calories and even sleeping uses up calories and people slept generally longer in the old days. Our life style has changed all over.
I think our weight loss is due to people being encouraged to eat junky foods (the amount of other 30 year olds I know who wouldn't know silverside from ribs is amazing) girls don't know how to plan a weeks meals, budget them accordingly, they certianly don't know what they are looking at in a fish mongers/butchers etc etc and the chemicals in foods and preservatives can only lead to poor health. maybe the govt should do something about encouraging farmers to grow organic and clawing back the funding from non-organic growers ad ready meal manufacturers. Taxing the overweight is not sensible; it's utter nonesense.
btw, we also eat puddings at every meal time too: rice pudding, crumbles, trifle etc etc so it must be quality not quantity.