Originally Posted by
David Bierbaum
My other little pet habit now, is never use "electric" or "automatic" when manual gets the job done. When in the car, I park quickly, at the back of the lot, and walk. When I need to open a can, I use a hand-crank can opener from the 1960's. I trim the edges with hand clippers rather than a weed-whacker. I'm eschewing (hope I spelled that correctly) much of the "labor saving" convenience of the modern world, because the convenience was killing me!
(and as insult to injury, it was costing me energy money, to pay for the privilege of killing myself!)
This is so true.
I use my Mother as an example. About 5 years ago when she was in her early 70's, she was part of a study where the measured weight, BMI, bone density, and a bunch of other stuff. She was off the charts for her age group, measuring well above the average. She said it is because when she worked, she had a job where she was on her feet all day walking & lifting. When she is working in the kitchen, she hardly ever uses a hand mixer, she uses a wooden spoon or a whisk. She does her dishes by hand. Weather permitting, she hangs her laundry outside. She has a big garden. She use to do all the yard work, but this year she hired a company to do it, but even then, it was not because she could not do it, it is because she is spending more & more time caring for my Dad who has Alzheimer's. The human body was made to be a hunter/gatherer, moving all day, and we have gotten so far away from that.