Inconvenient truth

[wagonmonkey]

I have been meaning to post this somewhere on this forum for a while, but either haven't had time, or get caught up in reading everyone elses posts

Anyways, in the local Saturday paper awhile ago there was an article by this name (the inconvenient truth). The jist of the article was that we are conveniencing ourselves into poor health and inactivity. The byline: modern time-savers may seem like godsends, but our waistlines would benefit from fewer shortcuts.

Things like riding lawn mowers, garage door openers, baby carrots that don't need peeling... it all adds up to lost opportunities to move. Losing these movements leads to excess calories, but also decreased range of motion. Most people are far shy of the 10000 steps benchmark that many have suggested for maintaining optimal health. People put on extra weight, leading to all sorts of medical problems. Then another article I read in Women's Health recently said that we are consuming more calories per day than we/or people our age did 30 years ago! No wonder obesity is such an issue!

We can't take it all back (I am not abandoning my garage door opener), but we can look at what we can reclaim. Not putting everything in easy reach in my kitchen. Parking further away in the parking lot, or getting off the bus a stop or two early. Climbing more stairs.

Made me also think of the parallels to the play on the title (I am imagining Al Gore's movie). All this convenience has a horrible price for the planet too. All the extra packaging and fuel consumed...

What can we do to reclaim this? I am not perfect and with a toddler and baby, hard for me to change much now, but this has really given me reason to think. I thought I would share it with all of you. With this new section, I thought there was no better time!

Anyone else have any thoughts?

[dara07]

i've actually being doing a bit of research into obesity recently (don't ask!) and it's all got to do with with sedentary lifestyle. People aren't physically exerting themselves any more. U've got to move it, to loose it! D

[Rachael1]

Originally Posted by wagonmonkey

Not putting everything in easy reach in my kitchen. Parking further away in the parking lot, or getting off the bus a stop or two early. Climbing more stairs.

Taking the batteries out of the TV remote (or turn the Tv off )... walk the journeys that will take up to only half an hour to walk... ankle weights... check AK while working in the kitchen ()... exercise by playing with the baby i.e. at armslength, lift them up and down - they'll like it, honest...take bubs for pre-lunch or afternoon walk, even just to the end of the street and back... put the kitchen bin away from the kettle and benches...

[noababy]

bumpity bump-thought with so many of us trying to lose weight, it makes a good point.