All that eating takes up a LOT of time, too.
This is an extreme case but it crystalized a thought that has been niggling in the back of my head about the fuel crisis and the hype about the need to switch to walking or bicycling as preferred modes of weening our westernized selves off of carbon fuels. With the price of food escalating as fast as the price of oil, might we just be trading one unsustainable form of transport for another? and in the process reducing the size of our personal worlds? (I know that there are myriad of tangential problems and arguments which I’m not addressing.)
Considering the obesity and overweight rates in the States, I think that walking and bicycling to work and to run errands can be achieved with little or no extra intake of calories.
My comment was not intended to apply only or even mainly to the USA where it may be a minimum of 5 to 15 miles or more each way to the nearest food store and many people commute 20 to 80 miles each way to work. Exceptions to these numbers are mostly in a few eastern cities.
Well, that amount of calories would do well for a family of 5 or 6 on a daily basis here in Burundi …
On a similar note – as to the amount eaten – I’ve just received word from the Oriental Institute of a wonderful website that provides great information on the original Olymics [in Greece] Here are a few quotes on nutrition of competitors at the time; lots of protein, no sweets, and huge amounts of food washed down with wine, seemed to be the order of olympian day – web site below:
Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae X 412 d-f
The athlete Theagenes devoured a bull on his own, as Poseidippos says in his epigrams: “On an assembly I once ate a Maeonian ox, for my ancestrial Thasos could not have furnished a meal for Theagenes. Whatever I ate, I kept asking for more. For this reason I stand in bronze, holding forth my hand.”
According to Theodorus of Hierapolis, in his book about competitions, Milon of Kroton used to eat twenty pounds of meat and as many of bread and he drank three jars of wine. In Olympia he lifted a four-year-old bull on his shoulders and carried it around the stadion. Afterwards he cut it in pieces and ate in on his own in a single day.
pictetus III, 15 – Epictetus (circa 55-135 AD) tells how you should live if you want to become a great champion:
“You have to be disciplined, eat under compulsion, stay away from cookies, you are obliged to train on fixed hours, in the heat and in the cold. You cannot drink cold water or wine when it occurs to you. You have to hand yourself over completely to your coach like to a doctor.”
This great site has been developed by a couple of classical historians at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in Belgium; see:
Well, yes Olympian athletes may need to consume Olympian portions of food and it takes time to do that.
But if we look at normal people, “Well, that amount of calories would do well for a family of 5 or 6 on a daily basis here in Burundi …”
Let’s factor in intense exercise or physically activity in the realm of mere mortals. (btw, I’ve never read of anyone proposing that people walk or bicycle 20-80 miles each way or even 5-15 miles. It wouldn’t surprise me if their are fringe suggestions, I’m talking “mainstream”. The mantra is “walk or ride a bike when you can”. The idea being that each person decides whats reasonable).
I’m 5’4″, 38 and exercise intensely 5-7 times a week, 2-4 times I week I exercise twice a day. My daily caloric intake is about 2000-2200 calories per day. I can easily walk for miles, run, jump rope, indoor row or ride a bike for extended periods of time)
A woman my age, same height, but weighs 163 (the average weight and height for an American woman) needs 1800 calories per day to maintain her weight based on an inactive lifestyle.
I can make up the 200-400 additional calories I need compared to an overweight sedentary woman by simply eating a modest to generous bowl of granola cereal with milk.
That is a great site Diana. I learned a lot. I was a bit surprised they didn’t mention the sacrifice at the start of the games. A hundred oxen slaughtered, their bones burnt and added to an ever-growing pile on the altar, and then a feast for everyone. My mind boggles at the logistics of this religious act.
All that eating takes up a LOT of time, too.
This is an extreme case but it crystalized a thought that has been niggling in the back of my head about the fuel crisis and the hype about the need to switch to walking or bicycling as preferred modes of weening our westernized selves off of carbon fuels. With the price of food escalating as fast as the price of oil, might we just be trading one unsustainable form of transport for another? and in the process reducing the size of our personal worlds? (I know that there are myriad of tangential problems and arguments which I’m not addressing.)
Considering the obesity and overweight rates in the States, I think that walking and bicycling to work and to run errands can be achieved with little or no extra intake of calories.
That’s true Ji-Young. But I also think Kay is dead right about the time to consume all this. Lots of food history connections I want to follow up.
My comment was not intended to apply only or even mainly to the USA where it may be a minimum of 5 to 15 miles or more each way to the nearest food store and many people commute 20 to 80 miles each way to work. Exceptions to these numbers are mostly in a few eastern cities.
Well, that amount of calories would do well for a family of 5 or 6 on a daily basis here in Burundi …
On a similar note – as to the amount eaten – I’ve just received word from the Oriental Institute of a wonderful website that provides great information on the original Olymics [in Greece] Here are a few quotes on nutrition of competitors at the time; lots of protein, no sweets, and huge amounts of food washed down with wine, seemed to be the order of olympian day – web site below:
Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae X 412 d-f
The athlete Theagenes devoured a bull on his own, as Poseidippos says in his epigrams: “On an assembly I once ate a Maeonian ox, for my ancestrial Thasos could not have furnished a meal for Theagenes. Whatever I ate, I kept asking for more. For this reason I stand in bronze, holding forth my hand.”
According to Theodorus of Hierapolis, in his book about competitions, Milon of Kroton used to eat twenty pounds of meat and as many of bread and he drank three jars of wine. In Olympia he lifted a four-year-old bull on his shoulders and carried it around the stadion. Afterwards he cut it in pieces and ate in on his own in a single day.
pictetus III, 15 – Epictetus (circa 55-135 AD) tells how you should live if you want to become a great champion:
“You have to be disciplined, eat under compulsion, stay away from cookies, you are obliged to train on fixed hours, in the heat and in the cold. You cannot drink cold water or wine when it occurs to you. You have to hand yourself over completely to your coach like to a doctor.”
This great site has been developed by a couple of classical historians at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in Belgium; see:
http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/index.html
Well, yes Olympian athletes may need to consume Olympian portions of food and it takes time to do that.
But if we look at normal people, “Well, that amount of calories would do well for a family of 5 or 6 on a daily basis here in Burundi …”
Let’s factor in intense exercise or physically activity in the realm of mere mortals. (btw, I’ve never read of anyone proposing that people walk or bicycle 20-80 miles each way or even 5-15 miles. It wouldn’t surprise me if their are fringe suggestions, I’m talking “mainstream”. The mantra is “walk or ride a bike when you can”. The idea being that each person decides whats reasonable).
I’m 5’4″, 38 and exercise intensely 5-7 times a week, 2-4 times I week I exercise twice a day. My daily caloric intake is about 2000-2200 calories per day. I can easily walk for miles, run, jump rope, indoor row or ride a bike for extended periods of time)
A woman my age, same height, but weighs 163 (the average weight and height for an American woman) needs 1800 calories per day to maintain her weight based on an inactive lifestyle.
I can make up the 200-400 additional calories I need compared to an overweight sedentary woman by simply eating a modest to generous bowl of granola cereal with milk.
That is a great site Diana. I learned a lot. I was a bit surprised they didn’t mention the sacrifice at the start of the games. A hundred oxen slaughtered, their bones burnt and added to an ever-growing pile on the altar, and then a feast for everyone. My mind boggles at the logistics of this religious act.