I once heard a talk by Jean Mayer, nutritionist and former president of Tufts. He contrasted the 19th century sedentary life with today's sendentary life. In the 19th century, a clerk in an office might chop wood for a half hour, walk three miles to work, work standing at a desk all day, walk three miles home and then chop wood for another half hour as well as do other physically demanding chores. Remember this was a "sedentary" worker. Compare that to today's office worker. And these people also had both a high fat and high carb diet.

I grew up in New York City and my subjective observation unbacked by any research is that New Yorkers who are less dependent on autos than most other urban dwellers and do a lot more walking are also less overweight that others.

And let's not forget that those evil anscestors who first refined grain also worked hard all day at very physically demanding tasks.

I think we have to judge a diet against the level of physical activity. I think that if we were lumberjacks--who typically burn 4000_plus calories per day--we could pretty much eat whatever we wanted.

Brian Robinson, the first person to walk the Pacific Coast Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail in the same year. Consumed about 5,000 to 6,000 miles per day. His diet? Snickers, Milky Ways, and cream pies--and not an ounce of fat on the guy.