the poverty diet

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Well, here it is: confirmation that the 21st century "lifestyle" is perverse, unhealthy and unnatural.

There has been a scientific experiment which counted how many steps, per day, a community of Amish walked. Average male: 18,000. Average female: 14,000. It works out to approxemately 1,000 steps per mile. They wore pedometers.

Their diet is "pre-WW2 rural:" lots of carbs, plenty of refined sugar, and ample proteins and produce. No restrictions on cakes, pies, gravies, etc. I didn't see any stats. re: calorie counts.

But these folk are physically active all day long. Even on Sunday, their "day of rest," they clocked about 10,000 steps.

I have said, for decades now, that humans are not supposed to sit on chairs and in cars all day. I mean, folks get life-threatening blood clots from sitting on air craft for long periods! What more proof do we need?

I used to live near a Jazzercise store front. I always shook my head in wonder at the minivans and SUVs pulling up in the parking lot. Out bounced women, clad in brightly-colored leotards and sweat bands, exercise mats and towels under their arms. They were paying someone to stand in front of them, in a virtually-empty room, and shout at them over disco music as they bounced.

If they'd just walked to the shopping mall and back, they'd have had more exercise than the hour for which they'd paid!

I never understood gyms, either. I have hated the smell of locker rooms since my first day of Jr. High school. Why anybody would pay to humiliate themselves in front of other people baffles me. And it's apparantly so boring, people require head phones and televisions to accomplish it.

Hang a transistor radio on the handle bar of a jogging stroller. Hitch up your dog's leash. Walk the back alleys of your neighborhood, picking trash.

My gosh, it satisfies the craving to shop. You're hunting for "finds," deciding what to take and what to leave.

And talk about bargains! That lady who said I dress so nicely has no idea that everything she's seen me wear came out of the trash! And I wear silk, wool, pure cotton. I wear hand-embroidered, beaded, batiked, hand-woven, etc. clothing: stuff I could never afford to buy!

Now I know how to measure how far I walk, anyway: 1,000 steps per mile. I'm not going to buy a pedometer, of course; I'll just count as I'm walking. See? buy a machine to do the work for you, rather than even COUNTING for yourself! Lord, have mercy!

Imagine if all that money -- wasted on gasoline, exercise clothing and equipment, gymn fees, parking fees, car insurance, car payments, car maintainance, etc. -- imagine if all that money was going to public transit, rather than individual solutionism! Imagine how much more quiet our streets! Imagine how much cleaner our air! Imagine parks in place of parking lots! Imagine reduced insurance rates and health care costs from reduced traffic accidents! Imagine healthier kids! Imagine the stress reduction!

I'm always amazed when able-bodied people are amazed at how far I walk to this and that. I don't really walk far. I used to walk a minimum of ten miles per day. Now, I'm lucky to walk 4 or so miles per week.

Maybe what America needs is a Poverty Diet. You can't afford a car, so you walk, bike and bus. You can't afford fast food or fancy restaurants, so you learn to cook for yourself. You can't afford many store-bought groceries, so you raise a garden and, if you're lucky, some poultry. You can't afford shopping sprees, so you recycle and keep stuff out of the landfills. You don't have "discretionary" income, so you learn to amuse yourself with free entertainment.

If them dang Amish just weren't so darn sexist, homophobic and up tight, I'd move in tomorrow! I always liked those Utopian communities!