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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Peter Jennings on Farm, Food, and Obesity

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  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Peter Jennings on Farm, Food, and Obesity
  • Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2003 11:45:57 -0600

I've thought about this and it would be nice to twist things to farmers'
advantage but I think it's more complicated than just bad food out there.
I'm old enough and interested enough to know what life was like in the
1800's, before and after. Not only have food trends changed but activity
trends have changed significantly as well. When you drive into the city
during morning rush hour there's plenty of time to use your "X-Ray Vision"
to see all the desk-jockeys (count'em) arriving at work. They "work" at
their desks all day, getting up to go to the bathroom, send a fax, check out
the water cooler, etc. What kind of work is that? And with computer
terminals (I'm guilty) making us more efficient, we're getting
physiologically less efficient. I would suggest that lack of physical
activity plays into this as much as our eating habits and food choices. To
add to this concern, check out the new issue of Time Magazine. The cover
story is on diabetes, an epidemic linked to the obesity epidemic.

I don't eat any different than I did when I was a concrete finisher,
other than smaller portions, but I'm not anywhere near the physical
condition I was then, even though I'm much more physically conditioned than
many people I know due to the nature of my field work. I can't imagine what
would happen if I worked at a desk 8 hours a day, 40-50 hours a week, 50
weeks a year, year-after-year-after year. Could that be part of the problem?
Genetically, we're really not much different than our ancestors who were
foraging wheat, roots and berries and killing wild game while we roamed as
nomads. But we live much more "convenient lives". At what price? (I'm not
suggesting radical lifestyle changes,...yet.)

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center


>But we also have to take responsibility for our own actions.
>Culturally, don't we remember how to eat well - and just not want to?
>
>I know I could be lean and mean - but I do like my micro-brews and, um,
>er - eating well!






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