Thoughts On Health

There is lots of talk about health care in Washington and how to make it a affordable and even universal to all. One of the things that has been pushed in the past several years is prevention. Public services announcements flock the airwaves with the dangers of cigarettes, the importance of exercise, and others. Many private sector groups have jumped on the bandwagon offering fitness plans to employees, schools have taken out sugar and soda pop from lunch menus and so on. One can argue that this is a good thing and may curb health expenses down the line and may save the country millions of dollars down the line, who knows?

Of course there are those who feel so strongly about it that they vigorously wish to find ways to mandate lots of health measures feeling the public may not be wise enough for their own good, so their are creative ways to coerce Jane and John Doe to "do the right thing." These can include banning "unhealthy" products or levying substantial taxes on things that ultimately may lead to heart disease, cancer, or other who knows what.

This got me to thinking about Jesus and how a relationship with him would be a most healthy thing for people. I know from experience that believing in Him and being a part of a church would make people healthier both physically and spiritually. I guess like a parent would do with his child, I could find those on my streets who know nothing about the love of Jesus and have no interesting in hearing me tell them about Him, maybe I could just round them up, make them come to church and bible studies with me, have them subject to all the benefits of the medicine that Christianity can bring, and in time they would feel better and their countenance and health would be demonstrably better. Of course I would have to force them and state laws may not allow me to do that, but hey wouldn't it be a good idea?

Most know that we don't do things that way in a free society. We may inform, encourage, try to persuade others to do things we sincerely believe will help them, but at the end of the day we let them make their own decision. But though most probably aren't cool with Big Brother type of stuff from those conducting public policy, many are fine with information being passed on that may pinch a nerve or two or some folks and how they live. Hence, people who smoke and are overweight often take a hit in our culture.

This brings me to an observation that I've discovered thanks to the new book, "Outliers," by Malcolm Gladwell. He became aware of a place in Pennsylvania called Roseto. The small town originated back in the mid 1800's when a group of Italians from Roseto, Italy arrived in the new world America and made a home of their own. A physician discovered that people who lived in the town of 2200 hardly ever had heart disease, they were considerably lower than the national average. In fact after looking back over the 100+ years of the town's history researchers discovered very few health problems with the people of Roseto. No suicides, little depression, little crime, few cases of ulcers, cancer, alcoholism, all in all the people were remarkably healthy and most died of old age.

What is the reason for this and how can this perhaps be used for public information so that others can learn what makes these people so different? Well, much of what was learned has to be discouraging to those invested in the health community and the information being spread to help the population become healthier. The people in Roseto cooked not with Olive oil but rather with lard which made their diet about 40 percent saturated fat. There was very little exercise going on with the folks in the town, in fact the majority of the folks were obese. It was also observed that many of the people smoke cigarettes. Researchers discovered time and time again that the people living in the town had a lifestyle that should have made them very unhealthy.

But was their lifestyle unhealthy? Researches decided to carefully observe the people of the town and see how they lived. Each day the folks spent time engaging with their neighbors; hanging out on the porch, having meals together, doing things with their children together. The people of the town who made the most money never flaunted it or bought extravagant things, and commonly they would help out those who had less. The town had 22 civic organizations which is a remarkable number for a town that size. The people all worshiped at the same church and they all retained their native Italian language. Marriages were intact, divorces unheard of. And it was common to see 3 generations living under one roof. Researchers wondered if maybe community and relationships played perhaps more a role in health than anyone ever imagined.

I'm giving out this information. Process it as you wish. I doubt you will hear much about a lifesyle like this over the public airwaves as a form of prevention to help alleviate public health costs. We don't want to judge people and tell them that divorce might be a bad thing, or that maybe we shouldn't move far away from our parents once we get a spouse and career, or tell people later when parents get old that it may be better to have them move in with us than be sent off to a nursing home, or to tell people to try out a church even if they may not be into it at first. No we can't do that because it is judgmental and it might hurt somebody's feelings. Funny how we don't mind singling out the smoker or the chunky housewife and their one or two bad habits, but we are uncomfortable looking at a person's life as a whole. I guess this hits too close to home.