About a year ago I was somewhere out on the web and found a blog article started by a woman who for a month or so lived a 1950s lifestyle. She was very studious about it too. She would only use the technology available to the average 1950s household, not what was technologically available to only a few. She thought at first it wouldn't make a big difference, because most of the typical appliances and conveniences were available back then, such as refrigerators and tvs. However, the difference from then to now is that those items were still more luxuries, when today they are constantly used. For instance, since the average household only had one car, her husband drove to work, and she did everything by public transportation and walking. Chores were done of course, but they were done with more manual labor involved. They cut down on the tv severely, including the kids to what people in the 50s watched.
One of the results of the experiment she reported is how much weight she lost and how much more healthy she felt. She says this was due to the fact that a 1950s lifestyle had more physical exercise, disguised as just daily life. They also ate healthier, as people then cooked meals from scratch rather than prepackaged foods today with lots of fattening fillers.