I've got verbal diarrhoea this morning!

29th July 2012

Don’t take life too seriously; you’ll never get out of it alive!

We had a lovely day yesterday, finally got mom out of the house we drove to Lynnes which is about 30 miles away, so mom enjoyed the scenery on the drive too.  She does make me laugh, we stopped at a  zebra crossing whilst an old lady went across, and mom says "Aah bless her, pap your horn really loud Bev scare the s**t out of her!” This is a 74 year old telling me to do this, what can I say!  In case you were wandering -  I didn’t, I’m a grown up ;-)

Listening to the radio in the car, the dj was talking about the opening ceremony of the Olympics and how for him it wasn’t about impressing other countries with how great we are, it was about reminding us how great we are, and I have to say I totally agreed, the Brits are way too quick to put their country down.  He then went on to say, “I feel like doing something very British today”, and me and mom thought that was a fab idea and of course being foodies that was the first thing that came to mind, typically British food – fish and chips, afternoon tea with scones and jam, so I stopped at the supermarket and picked up the scones etc. 

Lynne was making us proper chips for our lunch anyway, so later on mom had a scone with jam and cream, I didn’t I wasn’t hungry.  However today we shall be having a tea party later on, at moms request, I’m going to make cucumber, tuna, ham, coronation chicken sandwiches, quiche, jam tarts and there’s a couple of scones left, she can afford to indulge as she’s at her goal anyway.  She also wants ginger beer because that’s what they used to have when the sun shone as kids.

Food does play such an important part in our lives, so we have to not let it become the enemy and resent it.  The chips we had were home fried and after the meeting on portions the other week we did only have the 14pp worth, the fish was a Young’s in batter which I’ve looked on esource and it’s 10pp.  Most of the time you can find a way to still eat the things you fancy without doing too much damage, portion sizes are key to keeping it all under control!  One bag of crisps is fine, 4 bags not fine!  One scone okay, pack of four scones – not okay!

I missed it because I was driving but I’m quite proud to know that we have a Wednesfield lad in the Olympics, he’s on the gymnastics team and at the end of the first qualification round the thet are top & Wednesfield's Kristian Thomas is top of the individual table, how fab is that!

Just thinking about all this sport, with the Olympics being held in this country, a Brit winning the Tour de France, not forgetting the Diamond Jubilee I’d say national pride is possibly at an all-time high, but so unfortunately is our weight which is less of a reason to cheer!

So what’s changed, obviously we’re more affluent (despite the recession), convenience food doesn’t help, and of course going back to the Olympics we move much less!  I wasn’t anywhere near athletic yesterday, I wonder what percentage of my members where?  Last week we talked about the motivation to get active and I was motivated to move a bit yesterday my mates got a really bad back, so whilst I was at hers I did some ironing for her to save her a task.  Nothing worse for a bad back than ironing!

Being a housewife these days is nothing like back in the 50s, according to the National Sizing Survey, in 1950 the average woman’s vital statistics were 36, 24, 35. She was a size 12 and weighed around 9st 12 lb. These days Ms Average weighs 11st and has become a considerably rounder 38, 34, 40. The average UK dress size is now 16.

In 1966, when records of obesity began, only 1.2 per cent of men and 1.8 per cent of women had a BMI of more than 30, meaning they were classed as obese and so at higher risk of a host of illnesses, from diabetes to heart disease and cancers.

And now? A study published last week found that 90,000 lives are lost every year through inactivity; 63 per cent of us do no exercise. Statistics from the Department of Health show 62 per cent of adults are overweight – with a BMI of more than 25 – or obese.

Yet many experts believe we eat less: the National Food Survey of 1952 states that on average women consumed nearly 2,500 calories a day.  By 2000 this figure had dropped to 1,750. It’s estimated that we now consume 1,500 to 2000 calories a day. So where are we going wrong?

Perhaps a clue can be found in a survey published earlier this year by over-50s group Saga, which showed that a housewife in the Fifties burnt about 1,000 calories every day going about her tasks, compared with just 560 calories now.

‘Today’s women have to set aside time in their busy schedules for exercise,’ says Saga’s director-general, Dr Ros Altmann. ‘But this is just fire-fighting. In the Fifties, lack of technology meant a lot of daily physical activity was a necessity.’

With this in mind, Alice Smellie from the Daily Mail set about leading a gadget-free life of a Fifties housewife for a day to see if there really is a startling contrast with my everyday life. She measured how many calories she burned and how far she walked (to read the entire article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2176971/1950s-housewives-kept-slim-burning-calories-housework.html?ITO=1490).  As a Fifties housework doing all the housework and cooking herself she worked out she could consume more than 2,600 calories a day without putting on an ounce.  She burned off 1,200 calories a day being a 1950s housewife, she was walking 9,552 steps – a little less than four miles – and this burns 671 calories. The NHS recommends we should walk 10,000 steps a day and yet the average person manages only between 3,000 and 4,000.

Mmm, save money on the gym maybe and get active in the house, I might decide to make mine spotless!  But not today ;-)

Sorry the blogs a long one, its Sunday I have more time!    Enjoy your day whether you’re being active or not!

Just found this info online if you want a reason to do some of those housework tasks;

How many calories burned doing house work?

Calories burned per half-hour

Doing laundry 73

Making the bed 68
Cooking 85
Washing the dishes 78
Ironing 78
Dusting 85
Sweeping 112
Vacuuming 119
Scrubbing the floors 129
Rearranging furniture 204
Yard work 170
Washing windows 102
Washing the car 102
Gardening 136
Mowing the lawn 187
Raking 146
Shoveling snow 204
Carrying a small child (up to 15 lbs.) up and down stairs 289