I shoulda been a farmer

Wilford Brimley, as Pop Fisher in The Natural, watches his New York Knights lose another one and laments, "I shoulda been a farmer."

The film takes place in 1939, when many – probably most – folks grew their own food. Agribusinesses developed in the mid-20th century, along with subdivisions, and fast-food restaurants.

Hmmm.

The 10th International Congress on Obesity is meeting in Sydney, Australia, this week. Philip James, International Obesity Taskforce chairman, said in his remarks that "existing farm policies, particularly agricultural subsidies in the European Union and U.S., had been damaging people's health for decades." You can read more here.

Who, other than agriculture lobbyists, would argue with this? Supply-and-demand governs economics. If the supply of high-fructose corn syrup-laced products diminished, or if the price was so high as to make those products an occasional treat instead of an everyday staple, wouldn't demand go down?

But of course the market feeds the demand. As long as consumers can buy a box of chewy apple-cinnamon bars for $1.29, they're not going to be waltzing down the produce aisle to pick up a bag of apples that cost more than three bucks.

Well, except for you and me.

The sun is peeking over the mountains to the east, and I think I'll be able to quit bitching about the treadmill. Me and my ass will be taking it outside again. Booyah! Yesterday I lifted weights, did 20 minutes on the rowing machine and did about a 40-minute yoga-based PushTV session. [I guess my rest days are not really rest days; they're just rest-from-running days.]

At the beginning of the summer, I won three months of Push DVDs from Renée, and finally took a look at the first one yesterday. As you regular readers know, I'm not much of a DVD-workout kinda girl, but it's good to have options for inclement weather, and I'm feeling the burn this morning. So I'd have to give it a thumbs-up for effective training. If you like classes or need guidance in proper technique – and who doesn't? – you might want to do a three-month trial.

Okay, I got a late start today, after staying up until midnight watching season-premieres of House and Nip/Tuck. Deliciously dark prime-time television ... better than chocolate!