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For decades now, poor health has been shown to tie to low income. The reasons most often cited for this is that those with more money are typically better educated, exercise more, know more about nutrition and can afford higher quality food.
This may be true. But I began to wonder – what about Odessa – the black maid that helped my wealthier Phoenix relatives in the early 1950’s? She was in a lower income bracket, but lived well into her early nineties.
And what about Mike, who worked as a cowboy throughout his life? Even into his 90’s he was active driving lunch to feed the hands during desert cattle round-ups. He took good care of his family, but not on a surgeon’s salary.
What did these two do differently than the less healthy “poor” of today? They lived like those with less money lived historically: they did manual labor, were mostly outside, walked a lot and sat little. They grew veggies and had a few hens in the backyard. They ate real, unprocessed food in diets their cultures developed over time.
Consider Odessa. She cooked, did some child care, and most of the cleaning and laundry. She was on her feet pretty much all day long. She lifted and carried, bent and stooped, pushed and pulled. She not only hung clothes in the sun, she actually did the wash outside with a ringer washer.
She ate traditional foods that included eggs, butter, beans and plenty of greens. Various meats were added when possible, including pork and pork lard. The entire chicken, roast or ham was used, finishing with bone stock and meat broths. A “poor man’s” diet one would think, but the word is out, and you can now buy bone-broth in Manhattan for close to $15 a cup.
Mike had a similar life of outside work, real food and daily contact with nature. He was not on Facebook, and did not spend hours in front of a TV. Refined sugars and pastries were consumed rarely, and cravings for these health-robbers were low because he stayed away from them. Mike slept when it was dark and was up and at it when the sun brought a new day.
Now, what about the rest of us? We are continually brainwashed to believe “taking it easy” is the ultimate sign of success, and that physical work is something to be avoided at all costs. That around the clock use of computers, TV’s and tablet’s is not a problem. That saturated fat is evil and man-altered vegetable oils are safe. Butter is bad, margarine is better. The sun is not safe, and sunscreens are. All of this is has been proven to be FALSE.
It is no wonder then that rates of depression are through the roof and health stats are in the cellar. We sometimes see parents in their 80’s out-live their baby-boomer children who die early due to the wrong-headed lifestyles being promoted. This should drive us all to re-define success and what it means to be “rich”.
The common chair came from the peasants desiring a seat similar to the kings. Now we find sitting is killing us and eating like a king is making us health paupers. Let’s turn away from the desperate media frenzy, recognize it is all a sales job, then go for a walk and laugh it off.
John Huntington is a local business owner in Oracle. He is a chiropractor with many years in the community. He writes a health related article in Pinal Nugget.
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