Environmental and Health Benefi ts of Hunting Lifestyles and Diets 123hard work’. Only when there were heavy snow storms or days of continuous rain-
fall did activity diminish in Jean-Pierre’s camps (see also, Ambler, 1996; Pratt,
2002).
Hunting days would typically begin at daybreak so that Innu could maximize
the hours of daylight while hunting. This could mean 12–15 hours of walking a
day, which during the spring and summer would require 19–25MJ of energy
expenditure, and up to 38–48MJ in winter. Another typical day might involve 6
hours of cutting trees and hauling wood for fuel – with an expenditure of 17.5MJ.
Innu today recognize what such activity does to them physically. Jean-Pierre Ashini
says, ‘I eat a lot in the country, but I burn it off. Even though I am eating fatty
foods, I am still 20–30 lbs lighter than when I live in the village’.
Some Innu recall acts of extraordinary physical endurance and capacity. Jean-
Pierre Ashini recalls carrying a whole caribou of some 160kg weight some 2.5km
back to camp. Dominic Pokue, interviewed in 2003, remembers as a young man
canoeing 65km in two days, and travelling 110km in five days to reach camp at
Minaipi Lake. Sometimes travel to the camp could involve walking both day and
night, often carrying or dragging heavy loads. When men were hunting, they could
travel very long distances, often spending 1–2 days away from the camp until they
were successful in the hunt. Mary May Rich (interviewed in 2003) says women
were active all day until they went to bed – chopping wood, collecting boughs,
preparing foods. She did not consider this hard work, but an integral part of life
and her identity. She said, ‘I miss life in the country. It hurts to be in the village
now.’
It is clear that physical activity in the country involves energy expenditure in
excess of the normal recognized maximum intake for adult women and men
(8–10MJ day–1). A typical day in the village might only involve expenditure of
0.8–2.1MJ on physical activity (not counting sitting, lying, etc.). By contrast, a
typical day in the country might involve expenditure of 12.5–50MJ, depending on
time of year and activities. Consumption of food calories would therefore rarely
exceed energy expenditure. In the village, however, intake greatly exceeds expendi-
ture. For those Innu without jobs, a typical day may involve no more physical
activity than an hour of walking from house to house or to the local store. Some
children with bicycles may be more active and new sports facilities in the villages
now occupy the time of some Innu children. Despite this, without access to the
country, the Innu have little or no regular physical activity to fill the vacuum cre-
ated by lack of hunting, trapping and gathering. It is, therefore, inevitable that
energy input from food, even around recommended maximum intakes, will exceed
expenditure. As we have shown, the situation is considerably worsened by the
adoption of modern diets dense in fats and calories.