Retiree
Ben Davis
A Good Prescription
The average American man
Walks about nine miles each day
m his work and recreation. The
average woman covers about ten
"^iles a day.
But retired people are not
average’ on this score, thinks
Sen Davis, who finished a 28-
year work career with Firestone
111 Gastonia last March.
Mr. Davis believes that folks
who’ve “graduated from the
3larm clock” and a regular job
to age past-60, ought to guard
Against excessive lounging
around.
Rocking chairs are for young
folks, he’ d agree.
“Sitting around too much will
Work many disadvantages to the
retired person,” he concludes.
But getting out and doing
things will add zest and interest
to living and help keep you
physically able.”
For life spice and physical ac
tivity, walking is a good pre
scription, says retiree Davis.
“A few days after I finished
my work years at Firestone, I
decided I’d walk to town from
my house on Ransom Street. On
that first trip I pooped out and
had to rest along the way.
“But gradually I conditioned
myself to the distance and now
walk it with little effort. ... Do
it almost every day and walk
other places too. Besides the
physical benefit, I meet interest
ing people and see interesting
things along the way, because
I’m not in such a fidget to get
somewhere.”
Savings Make Your Job
Free
Enterprise
If industry created a new job
^®r you today, how much do
think it would cost to set
^ou up for that first day of
Work? At least $18,000 new capi
tal investment—a staggering $18
billion per year in the United
States. And at least another $20
'million a year will be needed to
'Maintain the plants and ma
chinery for 67 million present
jobs.
The money—where is it com
ing from? The same sources of
capital that have provided it in
the past—savings in the form
of retained earnings of corpora
tions (the corporate profits put
aside for expansion), and the
personal savings of the Ameri
can people—your savings.
Since a large proportion of the
capital needed must come from
the invested savings of indivi
duals, it is only through this
voluntary cooperation between
HP KJ (C
EffSlw
Twenty-seven drivers of fork-
lift trucks at the Gastonia plant
completed a training course in
operation and maintenance of
their vehicles in February. Op
erators from the warehouse, me
chanical department and supply
attended study sessions led by
an outside instructor.
the American worker and in
dustry that we are able to en
joy our American way of life.
Savings put to work are the
lifestream of competitive enter
prise—as important to our way
of life as is our own blood to our
physical existence.
This being so, every person
Studies included preparation
of take-home material, projected
pictures on operating procedures,
completion of a questionnaire,
and sessions of “do-and-don’t”
March, 1964 Page 3
with some money owes it to
himself to invest in America
through savings accounts, in
surance, homes, farms, corporate
stocks and bonds and govern
ment securities.
The strength of a growing
America lies in personal freedom
to work, save and invest. Money
at work means men at work.
TRUCK
DRIVERS'
COURSE
Two opera
tors take their
trucks
through wind
ing layout to
test driver
skill.
for efficient and safe trucking.
Running an obstacle course
completed the training program.
Bangkok Plant
—From page 1
passenger, truck and some trac
tor and off-highway tires, along
with tubes.
Besides the Bangkok plant
there are three others in Asia,
eight in Europe, four in South
America, two in Canada and
others in South Africa, Mexico,
and New Zealand in Firestone’s
complex of foreign tire-manu-
facturing facilities. The com
pany also operates nine tire
plants in the United States.
"Without earning leisure, most of us can have it, and it
become harmful to a vast majority of us..."
Fat Caveman Healthy, Fat Modern Man—No
Overweight is a problem with millions
Americans, as most of us know. There
‘s much written on the subject and many
^iets published in reputable magazines,
^his article tries to express some thoughts
the causes of our weakness for over-
^ating and suggest something to do to
'deduce fat.
The cave man who was able to put
a good layer of fat before winter was
^'^re likely to survive than the skinny
In Europe and Asia the plump, bux-
maiden “made the better wife”. For
Generations thinness went along with
^isease and short life, while plumpness or
^^6shiness was associated with health,
^^fength, vigor, and long life.
^lesh and fat once virtues • When
human race had to endure semi-
^tarvation each winter or when infectious
^^eases took their toll, a little reserve
Allergy and stored food supply was at a
^^emium.
, ^ut these conditions have changed. We
ample food to last through the
^^i^ter and antibiotics to fight infection.
^0 more need for storing fat in odd places
^nder the skin.
^at is bad because it taxes the heart,
oppose a middle-age man straps a 35-
^^Und knapsack on his back all day. He’ll
learn his heart is working unneces-
^^rily what your heart is doing
you are 35 pounds overweight,
j Excess fat taxes blood vessels and
# Since fat is part of your body,
, has to be supplied with oxygen. Your
®art and lungs must supply this oxygen
‘trough several miles of extra blood ves-
for each pound of fat. If you are 10
^^'inds overweight you are asking your
®^rt, lungs and vessels to do lots of
work.
^at clogs blood vessels and makes
^okes and heart attacks more likely,”
^^’ve heard. Not that simple, but true
enough
to merit consideration. Insurance
l^^n^panies consider a fat person a poorer
^^rance risk than a slender one. Physi-
^^ans
would rather do surgery on a thin
let
son than a fat one. Coaches and ath-
directors hesitate to train a fat per-
because the risks are greater.
The old girdle is still comfortable •
Because of this, we are likely to disregard
slight or moderate weight excess. Or it
could be that we think we can just let
out the belt another notch. But look at
it this way:
For every 3V2 pounds of excess weight,
about 3 pounds of “lard” could be render
ed. The next time you are in a grocery
store, look at the cans of shortening and
see if you can figure how many 3-pound
buckets you are carrying around under
the skin. A sobering thought, though un
pleasant!
Since we usually know better, why do
we keep on eating and abusing our
health? We lack the will to lose weight.
We aren’t convinced of the seriousness of
the problem—think it applies to “some
body else”.
Why can’t we have the needed “push”
to lose weight? Certain habit patterns
from childhood are stronger than we
realize. We don’t notice some of these,
while others have been so ingrained they
have almost become eternal truths.
Still others are so much a part of our
national and racial heritage they could
almost be called “racial memory'’.
Let’s review some habits and customs
that affect our eating patterns and make
it hard to keep our weight under control:
; The long-standing feeling that fine
eating and leisure were signs of, the good
life, while little food and hard work were
signs of poverty. Despite much that has
recently been said about nobility of work
and the virtue of simple eating, we still
think of leisure and rich foods as goals to
achieve. Since these ideas go back many
generations, they form habits of thinking
which are hard to overcome.
; Wrong patterns from childhood.
“We don’t mind what it costs, we love to
see our children eat well,” many a parent
has said. The scrawny or thin child, or
the “picky” eater, was exhorted to eat
better. You and I were praised if we ate
well; fussed at or scolded when we “pick
ed at” the food.
It didn’t matter if we were lively or ac
tive, if we didn’t eat well or were slender,
we were considered sickly. Remember the
“Carnation Baby” ads in our parents’
generation? That roly-poly baby was pre
sented as the picture of health, but I’ll
warrant he was slow to walk because he
was so fat.
With this sort of promotion, no wonder
that our eating habits far exceed our eat
ing needs, resulting in an overfed genera
tion. Forbid that we pass it on to our
children!
; Another carry-over from the past,
which causes us to be overfed: The kinds
of food we eat. With labor-saving devices
—the auto, school buses, automation, tele
vision—we and our children do not get the
exercise we need. But our habits force us
to eat the high-energy foods that were
needed a generation ago when many of
our forebears did much more hard phy
sical work than we do.
Doughnuts, sweet foods, cereals, po
tatoes, heavy desserts, spaghetti, bread
and rolls all have high caloric content.
French frying and grease cooking are high
in calories. We like these things not be
cause they taste better than fruit, but be
cause they were the foods we were given
as treats and staples by our parents.
With so many fresh and frozen fruits
and vegetables available now, I hope we
can train our children away from those
high-calorie food patterns.
; Money in our life patterns. Here is
where the economy of starchy, fatty foods
also figures in our eating habits. Too bad
that as our nation grows wealthier, we
merely increase the intake of cheaper,
starchy foods, instead of shifting away
from them.
Previous generations had to work hard
er and so, needed higher-energy foods.
They yearned for leisure and “easy liv
ing”, so handed down to us the notion that
leisure was a goal to be sought.
Eating like Grandpa but living like our
selves • We must either eat much less,
or exercise and exert much more. Many
of us try to get the exercise we need, but
few of us really succeed. If physical work
is not required of us, we must make an
effort in our free time to find it. We do
this by swimming, calisthenics, sports, and
yard work. We may think we get plenty
of exercise in the summer, but needn’t
brag about it unless we get a like amount
in the winter.
As we get older we are apt to get
lazier, but our eating habits don’t usually
change.
Another bad thing is the “spurt exer
ciser”. Join a basketball or baseball team
and fool yourself. Unless you definitely
keep in shape, sudden bursts of activity
are worse than none.
How to proceed • Become more phy
sically active and lose some weight. If
there is a problem with blood pressure,
heart trouble, diabetes, or other degenera
tive diseases, see your physician. If none
of these problems exist, a person can
usually handle his own weight situation,
helped by these guides:
1. Stay away from crash or fad diets.
They may take off pounds quickly but not
sensibly. It’s much better to routinely cut
out some of the high-calorie foods. If
weight doesn’t begin to level off or start
down gradually, see your physician. Many
a fat person excuses himself by thinking
he has a glandular problem, but this is
rarely so,
2. Don’t go on crash exercise binges.
When you do, you overtax your body
temporarily and work more damage than
good. It is better to exercise mildly each
day, and routinely.
With our national heritage, family up
bringing, plentiful food and lots of leisure,
no wonder we are a nation of fat people!
We must make a real effoi't to cut down
on eating, increase our activity and de
velop a sensible pattern of life if we are
to share in the longevity that science has
made possible for us.
By
Dr. L. H. Ballou
Firestone Medical Director
"...Strange that the richest nation in the world suffers
from corpulence and is eating itself to an early grave. Our
storage bins, both personal and national, are filled to over
flowing, and we still suffer from malnutrition. We are eating
ourselves into poor health because of our abundance."