just a little curious

[big brown horse]

O.k. My Mom and Dad both pushing 80 years old...I was the baby of 4 born when they were 40 years old.

They were raised in Wisconsin...margarine was illeagal and the milk products were all whole. Everyone had a yard sized garden, and "fresh" sauerkraut was on all the plates. Plus, aside from chicken, both pork and beef consumed back then by my now vegetarian parents. Both sides of my family were all lean and trim before, during and after the Great Depression. My parents are the picture of health even today.

*My parents are vegetarians b/c of the nasty additives that the store bought meats are now given. (Not much in the way of organic came to that small town.)

 

[davaroo]

Okay, Im starting to get the "why" of eating the food you grow yourself....

No more Fritos for me (crosses fingers behind back).

 

[big brown horse]

Okay, Im starting to get the "why" of eating the food you grow yourself....

No more Fritos for me (crosses fingers behind back).

Oh davaroo!!

If you buy the organic blue corn chips, they taste exactly the same and don't have Gen. Modified corn in them! (I love fritos too!!! But this is a great alternative.)

You want to live long enough to enjoy all the money you are harvesting don't you?

(Albertsons has two bags for $4 on sale right now!)

 

[Farmfresh]

the old timers ate in moderation. They didn't eat much, and often very little, by our standards.

Plus they worked very hard. It is a full time job to feed oneself, the old fashioned way. They didn't have the agri-biz industrial complex we know. Im firmly convinced that they didnt invent the internet back then - because they didnt have time for such diversions.

I don't know what happened at YOUR house but if my grandma's meals were anything to go by they at a TON of food and a lot of it VERY rich.

I TOTALLY agree about the work thing however. They walked everywhere. They dug holes, WALKED and sweated and held in the ground a horse drawn plow, shocked grain by hand, threshed by hand and even mowed their yards using a scythe. Their calorie requirements were huge!

We sitters behind a computer need to closely monitor OUR calories ... or am I the only one here that is fat?

 

[FarmerDenise]

Both my parents grew up during the war in Germany and in Poland. Food is very precious to them. They often went without or very little. It seems my mother's parents were a bit better at "aquiring" food than my father's parents.
My father remembers his mom's pea soup and describes it such: "A bowl of hot water with three tiny eyes of fat and two peas."

My mother on the other hand tells of her disappointment after "aquiring" several cans of what was supposed to be meat, it turned out to be only fat.

When we immigrated to the U.S., my mother and grandmother ended up gaining a bit of weight for a while. We were kind of stuck eating much of the american diet and combining it with foods we were familiar with. Then when we moved to the country, we were able to grow more of our own food, and my mother, grandmother and grandfather relearned how to make a lot of stuff themselves.
We all walked everywhere. We habitually went for after-dinner-walks. My parents still do. Even if the weather is bad. This is besides all the walking and physical work being done all day. We went for bicycle rides and drove to special places in order to go for a walk. Every Sunday we went for an extra long walk, sometimes packing a picnic. The only person in my family who is significantly over weight is my sister. She was always sickly as a child and a finicky eater.
I gained weight when I worked at a stressfull office job for a few years, but once I got layed off I lost all that weight pretty quickly.
Sometimes I wonder just how many miles I do walk in a given day.
I figure I need to eat rich food, or I'll fade away. I don't eat much, I am usually too busy.
And it is difficult to eat and type, the keyboard gets too greasy

 

[elijahboy]

right now im only 5'4" and i weigh a whopping 150 pounds = the most in 10 years
but i drink beer and smoke cigs
i'm hoping once i move to the country i wont feel the need of either of those
if i cant accomplish that from gardening and chicken keeping then i will try some laser therapy but will count on the physical and emotional load of a chickens and a garden to help me conquer that cause i have 3 kids and i dont want either to do what i do

 

[Farmfresh]

Both my parents grew up during the war in Germany and in Poland. Food is very precious to them. They often went without or very little.

That whole War mentality is very hard to lose. My grandma always dated every can as she put it into the pantry, saved everything she could by patching and mending, re-heated and re-worked any leftovers into new meals so that not a drop was wasted. Great footsteps to follow in.

The difference in your parents and my grandparents is LOCATION during those war years. While Europe was in near famine - my grandparents both lived on productive family farms in the safe United States mid-west. Grandma's family farm raised beef and pork and my grandpa's family farm raised a variety of animals, but specialized in peaches and other fruits. Since they raised their own food and sold food for a living there was ALWAYS plenty to be had. They never had any money... but they always ate very well.

My dad on the other hand was one of ten children raised on a truck (country word meaning vegetable foods) farm during the depression. They were POOR and while they always had plenty of food the monotony of what he ate was amazing. He tells of MONTHS at a time where food - breakfast, lunch and dinner - was bean soup and cornbread. His dad ran a fur trap line in the winter, so sometimes they had coon meat or possum or ground hog to liven things up a bit. In summer they foraged a LOT just to have enough food for everyone to eat. He can still spy a morel mushroom faster than anyone I know!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I TOTALLY agree about the work thing however. They walked everywhere. They dug holes, WALKED and sweated and held in the ground a horse drawn plow, shocked grain by hand, threshed by hand and even mowed their yards using a scythe. Their calorie requirements were huge!

We sitters behind a computer need to closely monitor OUR calories ... or am I the only one here that is fat?

Well, I for one need to lose maybe 15 pounds or level off my weight with muscle increase. I'd be happy with the after baby gut being gone :/ I lost about 10lbs just by cutting down on my starches & sugars. I'm back on track for the rest of it with a recommitment to weight training & aerobic (thanks free!)

Anyways, back to subject matter
Here is a story about an Amish community that was equiped with pedometers. The men walked between 6-8 miles on average every day (thats allowing for a difference in stride length). Wow... Makes me feel like I'm lazy...

 

[MorelCabin]

The fact is, if you eat enough fibre you don't have to worry about your fats.