(From the Cory Holly CHI Newsletter)  The simple truth is that our bodies are meant to move. Until recently, if you didn’t farm, fish, hunt or gather, you didn’t eat. You had to expend calories to get calories. That’s BALANCE.

Today we can simply order-in or drive through. Of course our original diet consisted of organic, unrefined whole food teeming with enzymes and micronutrients. That’s QUALITY.

Now what we call “food” is chemically produced, genetically modified, highly refined, packed with added salt, sugar and fat and extremely low in micronutrients. Most of it is sterile. Approximately 10,000 – 15,000 years ago, hunting and gathering societies gave way to the agrarians, agricultural societies where people cultivated the land, grew their own food and domesticated animals. Although many aspects of life changed during this period, energy demands remained high, with much of the work still done by human power. If you wanted to eat you had to work for the right…literally.

Physical energy was expended as a functional routine of life to sustain life.

The industrial period began during the mid-18th century and lasted to the end of World War II. This brief time span was characterized by a major shift in population from farms to cities, causing many changes in lifestyle. But, even though engines and electrical power were increasingly used to perform work, the great majority of individuals in industrialized societies still faced significant energy demands. When you work do you sweat from your brow?

More people walked to work, climbed stairs and rode their bicycles. The average job was more physically demanding than today. This explains in part, why the majority of the population was leaner. Ever watch any of the old black and white movies on TCM The visual evidence is obvious.

Since WWII, we have entered into an era of increasing technology. There has been a rapid increase in energy-saving devices, both in the home and in the workplace. Machines run by computers perform a significant amount of our work. Consequently, physical activity has become less and less common in industrialized countries, especially among the urban population. But there is another factor far more insidious that can be blamed for the state that we are in. It’s called complacency, a celebration of mediocrity.