5 things we wish we could still do

As I remember it, the 1950s were a healthier time. Sure, we didn’t have all the vaccines we have now or powerful and easy-to-get medications to manage our daily ailments, but we also didn’t

have to worry about pollution and chemicals in our foods and environment that daily challenge our wellbeing.  According to EarthSky.org, it was somewhere in the 1950s when our human

population and its impact on the earth began to overwhelm us. For 11,700 years before that, we were living in a healthy epoch, an age of humanity. But right after we started testing nuclear

weapons in the 1940s and mass utilizing plastic, power stations, and artificial fertilizers, with their high levels of nitrogen and phosphate, we moved into a new phase, one that is

challenging our idyllic way of life. If you listen to the doomsayers, you might think we’re in for it. I have got to believe there’s a solution to every problem. But I am nostalgic for my

youth when we could do things that we can’t do anymore. Here are five of those forgotten pleasures. 1. EAT HEALTHY WITHOUT HAVING TO BUY EXPENSIVE “ORGANIC” FOODS Diets in the 1950s were

healthier than today. People ate more vegetables and milk and less fat and sugar. We also valued seasonal produce and our food was unprocessed.  My mom and I used to go to the butcher, the

produce market, the bakery, and the fish store (they were all on the same block), taking purchases home in paper bags — not because they were biodegradable but because that’s all there was.

_You can subscribe here to AARP Experience Counts, a free e-newsletter published twice a month. If you have feedback or a story idea then please contact us here._ I remember being dazzled by

the arrival and convenience of supermarkets and loved those disposable plastic bags with little handles. Who knew those supermarkets meant our food would be processed and preserved with

harmful chemicals and those bags would wind up choking our oceans? 2. DRINK FROM ALMOST ANY MOUNTAIN STREAM AND SWIM IN ALMOST ANY POND, LAKE OR RIVER WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT WHAT WAS IN IT

My parents took me every weekend in the summer to Arrow Park, only 50 miles from New York City, which had a small lake that was pristinely clean and unpolluted. I visited it about 10 years

ago and it was covered with algae and un-swimmable. Most small — and many large — bodies of water are struggling to survive today due to rising temperatures and pollution. 3. EAT A

HOME-COOKED FAMILY DINNER EVERY NIGHT My parents would take me out for a fast-food burger on the way home from the lake. Even though they could afford it, that was the only time we went out

to eat, except for very special occasions. Fast food was a treat back then but really, my mom made better burgers at home.   Of course, junk food has been available for decades. Twinkies,

Oreos, Crackerjacks, potato chips and candy have been around since the 1930s, but our parents always distributed them as an occasional treat not a steady diet. Junk food and fast-food

portions were also small. It’s no coincidence that the obesity epidemic coincided with a fast-food restaurant on every corner, supersized portions and the demise of the family dinner.