[xeno]Julios
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[b said:Quote[/b] ]Forget the Atkins diet. Try the Amish diet.
New research shows that Old Order Amish -- a religious group who shun technology -- have an obesity rate of only 4 per cent despite a meat and potatoes (and pie) diet.
Their secret: physical activity in the form of hard work and walking. Lots of walking.
The study, published in this month's edition of the journal Medicine & Science & Exercise, found that Amish men walk an average of 18,425 steps daily, and women an average of 14,196 steps.
One man logged an incredible 51,000 steps in a single day while plowing fields behind a team of horses.
In studies done in mainstream Canadian and U.S. society, adults tend to log about 2,000 to 3,000 steps.
"The Amish are lean because they easily do six times more physical activity than people living in the modern society that surrounds them," said David Bassett, a professor of exercise science at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and lead author of the research.
He said the study was conducted to get a sense of how modern technology has altered physical activity levels.
The Amish living in a small southern Ontario community were ideal subjects because their lifestyle is virtually the same as it was 150 years ago.
"The Amish consciously think about the impact that technology could have on their daily lives," Dr. Bassett said. "That's something all of us should do. It doesn't mean we have to turn back the clock and live like farmers. But it does tell us we should make a much more conscious effort to be active if we want to be healthy."
The study, which was conducted by equipping 98 adults with pedometers and having them answer questionnaires, revealed that the Amish men perform 10 hours a week of vigorous physical activity (tossing bales of hay, shovelling, digging and plowing), 43 hours of moderate activity (gardening, feeding animals) and 12 hours of walking. Women perform 3½ hours of vigorous physical activity, 39 hours of moderate activity and six hours of walking weekly.
While the research did not include a nutritional component, Dr. Barrett quoted earlier studies showing the Amish diet chiefly consists of meat, potatoes, gravy, cakes, pies and eggs; they also eat fresh fruit and vegetables with every meal. They ingest about 3,600 calories daily, 50 per cent more than the general population.
Yet, despite a diet rich in fat and refined sugar and high in calories, the Amish have extremely low rates of heart disease and cancer.
Various health authorities in Canada and the United States recommend that adults do 30 to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity daily, a modest goal that most North Americans do not achieve.
In Canada, almost half of adults are overweight, including 15 per cent who are obese. In the United States, three-fifths of adults are overweight and 30 per cent are obese.
Among the Amish in the study, 25 per cent of men were overweight and none were obese. Among the women, 27 per cent were overweight, including almost 9 per cent who were obese.
Michael Sharratt, the dean of applied health sciences at the University of Waterloo, said that the general population can take an important lesson from the new research: that it is essential to incorporate physical activity into daily living.
"We've taken a culture of physical activity and created a culture of sedentary living," he said.
"It's no wonder we have an obesity epidemic."
The Amish are a Protestant group that originated in Switzerland but came to North America in 1727. Their beliefs and lifestyle emphasize humility, nonviolence and traditional values and their rules ban the use of gasoline-powered transportation, electricity and other modern conveniences.
