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  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: <bockpa AT plesh.com>, "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Peter Jennings on Farm, Food, and Obesity
  • Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2003 08:26:02 -0600

Paul

Your experience eating grain rye reminds me of when I was a kid. My best
friend's dad raised wheat. He'd always have some in storage. We'd go to the
wagon or strorage bin with wheat in it, grab a handful and start chewing.
Not only did it have a great nutty flavor, but the gluten in it would
activate. After eating enough of it, we'd have "wheat gum", which we could
chew just like chewing gum. Probably a little healthier than the chewing gum
too.

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul A. Bock <bockpa AT plesh.com>
To: 'Market Farming' <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Friday, December 05, 2003 12:25 PM
Subject: RE: [Market-farming] Peter Jennings on Farm, Food, and Obesity


>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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