As standards of living and nutrition have improved, the average Briton has got taller at the rate of three-quarters of an inch each generation. The official Health of the Nation figures show that 30% of men aged under 25 are now over six feet tall. If the current trend continues, the average British man's height will be 6ft within a couple of generations and the average woman will be nudging 5ft 7in.
As standards of living and nutrition have improved, the average Briton has got taller at the rate of three-quarters of an inch each generation.
The official Health of the Nation figures show that 30% of men aged under 25 are now over six feet tall. If the current trend continues, the average British man's height will be 6ft within a couple of generations and the average woman will be nudging 5ft 7in.
I'm not saying substances are not also involved, though. When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
it's got to be the added protein in a much meatier diet, but is bigger (taller) always healthier?
i wonder if upped cancer rates are a collateral effect of too much this.
improved nutrition has definitely had salutary effects too, don't get me wrong...
rickets can really spoil a future, just like the so-called 'diseases of civilisation', ie those that are not dependent on 3rd world sanitary or dietary disaster zones, but indeed flourish where there is a surplus of goods.
heart disease, diabetes, obesity etc, as opposed to yer malaria, tb, etc.
which, if i think about it, is a historical blip due to oil's concentrated energy. this led to bigger plants too, but again, does the fact that there is more food, or bigger plants, really signify more than short-term advantage?
there could be a metaphor for the whole paradigm embedded herein, it seems.
i even see it in italy. the old boy who sold me this property was in his eighties, about 5 ft tall, but he was spry and vigorous as a man half his age, wizened, sure, from a lifetime starting around 7 years old pulling weeds in the tobacco fields or something similar, signed the contract with an illiterate X, while his son who co-signed was overweight and had serious heart problems causing him to retire early, though he was quite a bit taller too, and could read and write.
in catapulting ourselves out of poverty, it seems like we zoomed right by the moderation station and right on out into the other extreme...
when i started vegetarianism in '69, the shock and horror from my parents' crowd was very strange to me, till i understood i was in some way betraying their concepts, even insulting them by my choices, even though that was ridiculous!
now of course, people are a lot more open and understanding about these things, but it sure was no pique-nique back then. talk about swimming against the current!
well worth it though... The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. Chinese Proverb.
In general I find it frustrating at times, how little most people realise how much food affects their health. Even more disappointing that many people in the medical field also ingore it and some don't even want to know. About three years ago a medical student told me about his frustration about having to learn all that useless stuff like vitamines and minerals etc., because he wanted to become a REAL medical doctor. Or an gastroentrologist who told his patient with crohns disease that he can eat and dring what ever he likes, even alcohol, as food does not affect the intestines. :-(
i hear the same response, who'd have thought grains, beans and veggies could fill you up, and leave you feeling light at the same time?
mt son-in-law has taken a shine to tempeh while visiting here, and now wants it all the time, my daughter tells me.
not surprised, as tempeh has a really subtle texture and taste, and so many peeps (outside indonesia) have never encountered it.
me, i lervs it, terminal yum- The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. Chinese Proverb.
her grandma was amazed that after two dates, she would say 'enough, that's so sweet'.
no antibiotics the whole childhood... any infections easily treated with simples. The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. Chinese Proverb.
