Posted on 01/02/2011 3:16:05 PM PST by neverdem
4 AM - Thanks! ;-)
When I tell people that I walk 7-10 miles a day, I might as well be telling them that I climb Mt. Washington every morning before breakfast. But it is really no big deal. I get up in the morning and take my dog for a one-hour walk in my neighborhood which comes to about four miles right there. I get the rest of the miles by taking a lunchtime walk and then a 45-minute walk after dinner (about 3 miles).
In my father's generation, this routine would be called a vacation!
I keep thinking of going back to raw....
“Look at TV from the 60’s or 70’s and see how slim the people were and that was because they didn’t eat hugh portions and were more physically active.”
Ain’t gotta look at no TV; I was there.
People did not eat significantly less—perhaps even more—and were not significantly more active. The most exercise many people got was bar-hopping on Friday night.
Billy Lee Pies did a land rush business. Shakey’s was crowded most every night. We drank beer by the pitcher—two quarts for a dollar and a quarter. When people went out to eat, they wanted a *whole* plate of food: chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes, gravy (grease and flour) slathered over the whole thing, maybe some peas, and lots of dinner rolls with butter. Iced tea with plenty of sugar, and then dessert. Generally pie, cake, or ice cream, or any two of them.
Breakfast? Biscuits and gravy, fried eggs, bacon, sausage, sweet rolls, pancakes...that’s for me; what are you having?
And it didn’t make us fat.
I was skinny as a rail until I was 20 or 21, then bam! Something changed. I couldn’t reduce my intake enough to lose weight. I had to run at least 18 to 24 miles per week, ***and*** reduce my intake of food to preposterous levels to lose weight at keep it off. Neither reduction of intake nor exercise alone sufficed—and there’s something fundamentally wrong with that. There has to be a third—or third, fourth, and fifth—element at work there.
And anybody who can’t see that is just a big poopy head.
I did nothing but for a long time, but since my husband died I do a combo, they seem to do well on a combo of both. We used to make our own treats, but now there is such a large selection of grain-free treats available.. I give them the Duck jerky, the dehydrated yams, stuff like that.. the yams are great because they take them longer to chew and gives their jaws a good workout.
15 minute miles is a pretty good clip. Good on ya.
“When I tell people that I walk 7-10 miles a day”
Walking did not suffice to keep weight off, as I mentioned in my note above.
“what we call “heroic measures” today, with respect to exercise, would have been considered leisure in previous generations.”
I think perhaps many people have an exaggerated picture of the amount of exercise urban people got in the fifties and sixties.
Adults did not run. Adults did not ride bicycles. Adults did not walk extreme distances, except in extreme need. Adults did not go to the gym.
Adults drove their automobiles. It was a symbol of adulthood. If you’d told the average working man that he should ride a bicyle to work, he’d have thought you were crazy.
And we weren’t fat.
Nova or Nature had a show where they studied why certain native Americans in the southwest had weight problems.
Turns out, their genes themselves are oriented towards a certain time of year - the time when the fruit comes on the cacti. (I think it was cacti)
Fruit is a very quick source of energy in lean times. In not-so-lean times, the body is geared to convert as much extra sugar as it can get it’s hands on into fat.
AHA used to advise low fat, high protein. It works well, too.
“I’m not referring to the 1950s and 1960s”
My point is that we ate a lot and exercised but little in the 1950s and 1960s, but obesity was still rare.
We found out our cat is allergic to chicken.
“You’re confusing the term cliche with scientific fact. Obesity results from an imbalance between energy consumed in foods and energy burned by metabolic processes and physical activity.”
Gad, when that cloud of smug meets the cloud of smug over South Park, we’ll all die.
I’ve seen recipes for adding a habanero pepper to vodka for a little heat.
What a great smile!
She is a hoot and a half and quite popular on flickr. :)
Define "exercise." Back in the 50s, 60s and even much of the 70s, people lived much more active lives. Maybe most people weren't at the club pumping iron, but they weren't as sedentary. Most kids in my neighborhood were forced out during the day to go play. We rode our bikes, built forts, played war, and played tag, football and baseball. Now many kids are either watching TV or playing video games.
At school, you were ran around during morning and afternoon recess, before or after lunch, and during gym class. Now, some elementary schools are removing gym class. During recess, kids are banned from a lot of the games we used to play out of concern over "safety."
It's not just the activity level. Compare the fast food portions from then to what's offered now. At my house, McDondalds was a "treat" and they didn't offer "super size" or "jumbo." Besides the fast food, we've got all kinds of junk food, readily available in portions that would never be considered before.
He must have only eat like 2 chips.
I’m an A, and I lost 50 lbs on Atkins and felt great, looked great, labs were great. (then I got pregnant LOL!) Theory disproved. Next!
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