Everyday Systems

I saw this article at the Well blog in The New York Times: Less Active at Work, Americans Have Packed on Pounds.

I've been saying this for years. It's exactly what happened to me. I'll have to agree with the 5th commenter who said something like "Duh." But we're not only less active at work, we're less active at home, too. It's not just that many have become couch potatoes, it's also that it takes less energy from us to do our daily work at home as well as at work. We need to build more movement into our daily lives; make life a little less convenient.

I was actually more entertained by the related article "Is Central Heating Making You Fat?"

As someone who lives in an uninsulated (until next week!!!) 1925 cottage, I can tell you that having a cold, cold house encourages sedentary behavior. That particular article proposes the idea that Americans started getting fat in the 1960s, and that with all the cultural changes going on at that time, the thing that made us fat was central heating.

What's next? "Does owning a Chihuahua make you fat?"

What astonishes me is that with so many convincing reasons why we're so fat we aren't even fatter than we are.

Reinhard

I can't help chuckle at how the rise in weight among North Americans is always treated as a "mystery" to be solved. People eat more than they used to, and move less ... yes, their weight gain is a most perplexing enigma.