Oregonians are not getting fatter, because we already are fat! Only some of us bike, hike, climb, run, row, . . . most of us just sit!

Let's not be too smug! We are nowhere near the top of the list of the least fattest.

Ya, not getting any fatter is not saying much. When I moved here from the east in 1979, I was impressed with the relatively good fitness of Oregonians. In the last ten years, I notice no difference in the chub factor between here and there.

Too much over processed fast food and too much sitting on out butts - like I am now - is making us fat and flaccid. If it wasn't for all the toxics in our bodies, we'd be prime eating for the carnivorous aliens from outer space.

Oh for heaven's sake. What passes for science these days!

The so-called science of correlation is lazy, stupid, and mostly a waste of time. Let's review a case -

A researcher found out that there was a strong correlation between people who eat several hot dogs a month and brain cancer. So it was concluded that hot dog eating caused brain cancer. What's wrong with that? It just is and isn't true. Those that eat more hot dogs generally have a lower income and a "life style" that is less healthy. Hot dog eating is then really part of a broader issue that includes living in polluted urban environments, working low paying jobs where toxic substancesd are found, living in older housing where lead and mercury are found, etc. Do hot dogs cause brain cancer? Of course not. Does eating hot dogs correlate with cancer - yes, but it is entirely misleading to throw in causation. It is actually just as "correct" to say that the correlation means that brain cancer causes hot dog eating.

So, we come to bike riding and fat. Oregon has a high rate of bike ridership, especially in Eugene and Portland, but elsewhere too. Oregon is rated as the bottom of the new chart on increasing obesity. Are these facts connected? Only in that Oregon is a State with over 90,000 square miles and a lot happens here. I see lots of fat people here, and some of them ride bikes. Is Oregon really a healthier state? I doubt it.

Oregon is also one of the hungriest States in the Country. We have more people per capita here not getting enough food than just about anywhere else. Perhaps real poverty is at the root of our "less fat".

Perhaps if everyone that has a bike would sell it and donate the money to a local food bank we could feed the hungry in the State for a couple weeks. -- Well, I don't really recommend that - but this is the crazy path you take when you give meaning to correlations without really considering what they mean.

Actually, a correlation could be made between the high rate of bike ownership and the high rate of hunger in Oregon. - - - Now wouldn't that be interesting.

It is all about calories taken in and calories expended. A neighbor cut limbs off his tree, then cut them up into fireplace lengths so we could use them and he wouldn't have to dispose of them elsewhere. He also built us a wood carrier (with cement blocks underneath) to make stacking the wood easier. I just finished hours of stacking wood.

I am not saying that everyone should stack wood for exercise. But a year and a half ago during the big snowstorm a friend sent me a statistic heard on the Weather Channel "15 minutes shoveling snow is like 15 minutes at a health club--does that make you feel better?". Stacking wood seems to me to be the same sort of exercise.

I am never much for generalizations about "all Oregonians" but it also seems that besides being involved in more outdoor activities than many other places I have lived, we also have more neighbors bringing us produce--from a garden or part of a large quantity they bought at a farmers market.

In college, I had a bike and not a car. I am sure I was a healthier college student because of that and built leg strength which has last me for many years. But not everyone has a bike or a place to ride. And when I think about riding along a road to a highway if that was the only way to get from point A to point B, and doing so without a helmet....