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  • From: "Paul A. Bock" <bockpa AT plesh.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 13:26:55 -0500

I agree with you Bill, I am one of those sit at a desk 40 hours a week, sit
in a car for probably an extra 12-15 hours a week kind of people. The most
fit I have ever been was with physical jobs while I was in college. Two
summers working for a residential tree service hauling brush for 60 hours a
week is good for the body. Back then I didn't eat a whole lot and it didn't
seem to matter what I ate, the work burned up everything and built muscle.
Now I have been in the sedentary situation for a couple years. I started a
part time firewood business just to get some exercise. And now I am
thinking of getting into working oxen, instead of sitting on a tractor. For
the most part I eat what the grocery store offers. Then something amazing
happened recently. We bought a piece of land and I was clearing out a whole
lot of sumac trees and I didn't want to have erosion problems so I threw
down some rye seed that I had previously had only used for a cover crop, 12"
inches high in the garden and I would rototill it in. Well I got distracted
last summer and then I noticed that the rye actually grew and was growing
grain heads. This was amazing. I eventually harvested these heads and hand
threshed out the grain. This was only a small area maybe 20 feet by 20 feet
where the rye grew. I was so impressed by this grain that I discovered a
book on raising small grains. After reading it, I decided just to try a
handful of the threshed grain. Whole rye, plain as that. It was similar to
eating sunflower seeds. You kind of chewed a little then let your saliva
soften it a bit, then chew some more. Every once in a while I would do
this. And I noticed that this little handful of grain, maybe three
tablespoons, completely satisfied me during the day. I would still eat
lunch, but I wasn't starving for lunch at 11:00. And if I was late getting
home I wasn't starving for Dinner, either. And I just felt like I had more
energy. I can only think that the whole grain grown on soil that was mostly
"forest"ish before hand is what is satisfying me. This was such an amazing
experience. for what it's worth...

Paul Bock
Stone Gully


-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Bill
Shoemaker
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 12:46 PM
To: Market Farming
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Peter Jennings on Farm, Food, and Obesity


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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