SOC 490 Blog #8: What can the U.S. take from Italy regarding Health Promotion?

   When a person asks me what are some negative aspects of the U.S. health care system, a number of topics surface. First off, the American diet is completely and utterly terrible. 68.5% of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, along with 31.8% of adolescents being significantly overweight or obese. The United States also utilizes any form of transportation to get to their destination. They do not walk or exercise as much as they should. In addition, the popularity of fast food within the States is unbelievable. The U.S. has a McDonalds every other corner, a Burger King just on the next stop, a Taco Bell blaring its signs in your face. About 610,000 Americans die from Heart Disease every year, which is approximately one in every four deaths. This is a very real problem that needs to be fixed. How can the U.S. radically change the way it approaches healthy living? The answer is to look to the Italians.

   In regards to health promotion, the U.S. can look to the Mediterranean diet as a principal factor in promoting adequate health among the Italians. The Mediterranean diet consists of eating primarily plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts. It replaces butter with healthy fats, using herbs and spices to flavor foods, minimal red meat, primarily eating fish and poultry a few times a week, and drinking both red and white wine in moderation. This plan has directly been linked to reduce risk of heart disease, and encourage longevity.

   In America, drivers are driving more miles and sitting in more traffic than ever before. It’s almost a foreign concept to Americans to either bike or walk to their destinations. Granted, in the world of today it is substantially difficult to reach anywhere by walking, since technology has advanced so far. However, the Italians also live in an advanced world and even they exercise on average more than Americans. They walk everywhere to get to their objectives. They are also strongly influenced by their image. To the Italians, it is almost necessary to emphasize aesthetics. With aesthetics comes a healthy body, which obviously contributes, to the image.

   It should not be a shocker that Americans consume too much fast food. A     recent statistic came out that Americans spend 10% of their disposable income on fast food every year. Moreover, 20% of all American meals are consumed within the car. Italians do not consume near as much fast food as compared to Americans. Consequently, they reap the benefits.  The rise in consumption of fast food within the United States has led to extraordinary high obesity rates, and other health related issues. It’s a sickness that plagues our country. It should stand to reason why fast food is so toxic to the human body is because these foods are more or less unrecognizable to the genes within our cells. Our body does not really know how to process these food particles so it instead stores it as fat. Americans need to stray away from fast food and possibly become advocates for reforming how food in our country is prepared. To build from this, Italians typically after meals, principally dinner, engage in the passagiata, which is a leisurely stroll through town. This helps in further digestion of the food. Furthermore, when Italians are eating their food they are not concerned with the quantity of which they are eating. They eat with their stomachs and not their eyes, and are concerned predominantly with the quality of their food.

   The discussion of alcohol in relation to health promotion between the U.S. and Italy can also not be avoided. Within Italy wine and beer are consumed within modest boundaries. In modern day, Italy remains the largest producer of wine in the entire world. They also have a lower legal drinking age than the United States (16 in Italy vs. 21 within the United States). Some might say that this means that alcoholism is much more rampant within Italy. This is simply not so. In addition, binge drinking is not particularly actively seen in Italy. Since alcohol enters into their culture at such an early age drinking is not really seen as a novelty. It’s simply seen as part of living. In the United States, since the drinking age is so much higher many young people pursue overindulgence of alcohol as a way of rebellion. This directly affects the health of the nation. The United States should consider this argument and really contemplate the way our country approaches alcohol. We should take a lesson from the Italians.

            The United States truly has a lot to learn in the realm of health promotion. If there is one thing that I have learned in my eight weeks here in Rome, it is to be open to change. A country does not change in a week, or even several months. It is time to look to other countries and apply what works for them in a slightly altered way to ones own country. In Gaudium et Spes, it states that, “Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father, "that all may be one. . . as we are one" (John 17:21-22) opened up vistas closed to human reason, for He implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the unity of God's sons in truth and charity” (Gaudium et Spes,       part 1 chapter 2). This quote implies that we are all God’s sons and daughters and we all have a certain unity with each other. We all deserve to tell the truth to one another and help each other in as many ways as we can. In this instance, it applies to the United States and Italy with health promotion. The U.S. and Italy can go the distance together.