Down(sizing) on the Farm

We say something so frequently around our place that it would be a motto, if only it didn’t sound so much more like the barking of a drill sergeant:  “Don’t tell me can’t!”  We do not believe in “can’t”.

Our primary income at present is a regular ol’ day job with a largish company which, among other things, provides for our health insurance.  In keeping with a national trend, our coverage is dependent upon undergoing biometric screening, and again as part of the zeitgeist, we will receive discounts on our premiums should we reach certain metrical goals, such as a body mass index (BMI) rated below 30, which is the standard definition of obesity.

We have heard numerous complaints about all the scores which will be used, including blood pressure below 130/90 (which is borderline hypertensive!), or about blood sugar levels, or about being nicotine free, but none of the complaints has been as loud as the complaints about the use of BMI to determine who gets a discount and who doesn’t.

A colleague recently exclaimed over lunch “Have you ever even seen what your ‘so-called ideal weight’ is?  Nobody can reach that!  It can’t be done!”

Hmmmm…..

Now, Myrtle Maintenance Personnel have been fighting our bulging waistlines for quite some time, just like most Americans.  And we have had infrequent successes coupled with a staggering number of setbacks, just like most other moms and dads throughout this great land of ours.  Our track record, in short, is no better than anyone else’s.

But don’t you tell us it can’t be done.

In fact, a very brief review of the relevant statistics will show that not only can it be done, it was being done by practically everybody until just very, very recently.

The Centers for Disease Control reviewed state health department statistics compiled every year since 1985, and while it took some time for all 50 states to get on board, everyone is now taking this issue seriously enough to study it.  The findings are staggering:

“In 1990, among states participating in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 10 states had a prevalence of obesity less than 10% and no states had prevalence equal to or greater than 15%.  By 1998, no state had prevalence less than 10%, seven states had a prevalence of obesity between 20-24%, and no state had prevalence equal to or greater than 25%.   In 2008, only one state (Colorado) had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Thirty-two states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; six of these states (Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%.”

In just 20 years, we have gone from having a relatively small proportion of our population destined for hip and knee replacements, coronary bypass surgery, and early death from complications due to hypertension and diabetes, to having anywhere from 20-30% of our population disabled by our own corpulence.

There is a tremendous desire, when reviewing these statistics, to get on a soap box or a high horse, and flay the sorry hides of all those lazy, disgusting overeating underachievers.  The problem, of course, is that we and practically everyone we know would have to be included in that group, which would make for a highly ineffective bout of hypocritical preaching, not to mention making us extremely unpopular at parties.

A spate of recent studies, too, suggest that there is more going on than meets the eye.  For starters, obesity can rightly be described as epidemic, for a variety of reasons.  The most obvious is purely statistical – the fact that between 1/4th and 1/3rd of our population is clinically obese qualifies this condition as epidemic.  More than that, though, the disease is catching.  If you are related to someone who is chronically overweight, you are more likely to be overweight yourself.

Worse still, if you know someone who is overweight, you are more likely to be overweight yourself.  And the capo di tutti capi is this:  if someone you know knows someone who is overweight, you are more likely to be overweight yourself.

Clearly, there is more to obesity than simply a breakdown in the willpower of individual fat and lazy slobs.  Oh, sure, there are people who are obese because they don’t have any gumption… but come on, get real.  Are you really going to sit there on your bean bag chair munching your Cheetos and tell us that the reason close to 1/3rd of our nation is obese is because they don’t try very hard?  That stretches credulity.

We at Myrtle’s suspect that there are several factors involved, and a loss of will is not one of them.  However, an improved sense of determination can be part of the solution.  What needs to change?  We really believe the answer lay in thinking about what things have changed in the 25 years since everything started going haywire.

• Supersize me.  Portion sizes are much, much bigger now than at any point in human history.  The average American consumes over 800 more calories per day than they did in the 1970s.  That is too much.  We need to reduce portion sizes.
• Sleep.  A recent study suggests that a person who has not received enough nighttime rest will eat a Big Mac's worth of extra calories the following day above and beyond their already too calorie rich standard, just to try to give themselves an energy boost.
• Get up and move.  As our economy has shifted from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, “going to work” has meant, more often than not, going to a cubicle and sitting down all day.  We don't walk nearly as much as we used to just in the course of everyday living.
• Get the good stuff.  The nutritional value of practically everything we eat is less now than it used to be.  This is the natural consequence of soil depletion – fewer nutrients in our soils means fewer nutrients in our fruits and vegetables – which we are not eating enough of as it is.
  
• You want some food with that high fructose corn syrup?  Check out the ingredient list of everything in your kitchen.  No, wait, don't.  It will just scare you.  Getting the good stuff should include getting organic whole foods, not just for the increased nutritional content, but also to keep yourself from consuming the addictive sugars which agribusiness has been stuffing down our throats.

One pound of human flesh represents roughly 3,500 calories, give or take.  This is not exactly a precise kind of science, but if you visualize a pound that way, it gives you a great place to start in figuring out how to get rid of all those extra pounds – you need to run a calorie deficit of about 500 calories per day throughout the week to lose a pound a week.  That means eating less and exercising more.

It's that simple.  It's just a math problem, and not even a hard one, at that.

The trick is putting it into practice.  We have been lackadaisical about that around these parts, just like everybody else.  Not any longer – somebody told us can't.  We don't take kindly to those words.  We don't take kindly to them at all.

Our exercise will come in the form of digging and digging.  And then digging some more.  Our diet will consist of locally and organically grown fruits and vegetables, supplemented by oily fishes and lean meats.  All of these good whole foods will be served in small portion sizes, and washed down with copious quantities of distilled water.  And a year from now, Myrtle Maintenance Personnel will each have a BMI in the 25-27% range.  We have spoken; it will happen.

Happy dieting!  And happy farming!  (For us, these concepts go hand in hand.)