Nutrition, Health Care, Life expectancy in America

Would you consider America to be a healthy country? Most people would say yes, and most would point to our excellent health care as the prime reason for this. But if that were true, why do studies repeatedly show that America actually lags behind most of the "modern" countries of the world. In fact, the newest longevity study shows clearly that American rank 37th in longevity agasint other countries.  Couple this with the fact that American spending on health care is #1, and you arrive at an interesting conclusion.

Being 37th in longevity on average (and some counties being much much worse than that) points to a fact that overall Americans are NOT healthier than most of our companion countries and cultures. When you consider the much higher health care spending, and the fact that most health care spending in America is to correct damage from degenerative disease, you arrive at a possible conclusion that there is in fact a relationship. However, it is more that American advances in health care are "artificially" boosting longevity up to 3th place when if you leveled health care spending, we would fall much much lower. It is health care advances that allow us to exist with the conditions that cause naturally short lifespans.

Why is this? well, I would offer that a primary reason for America's short lifespans and poor health is primarily our beliefs, actions, and attitudes around food and nutrition. We have devalued our food supply, praised those that value profit over nutrition, and in general made the most important commodity we have (food) a purely price sensitive affair. If we saw food itself as "medicine" that would make us healthy, we would shun the thought that it is ok to buy cheap food, processed psuedo-foods, and fast foods. We would shun industrial factory food production and start valuing the traditional small farm operations that create nutrient dense foods.

The reality is that food (nutrition) is the primary factor in disease prevention and treatment, but America as a whole has forgotten that. We view food as a pleasure center, not a life giving substance. We value taste and presentation over content.  We laugh at true free range pastured eggs being healthier than factory produced soy and corn fed egg products. Our recipes are full of psuedo foods that have been taken apart and recombined to please the pallet instead of feed the body.

So, it is sad but totally expected that America has to spend the most of any country on health care just to stay 37th in longevity.

This is  one of the motivations at Little Sprouts to dedicate our lives to learning how to produce good food again. It is a mission that many are embarking on, and many more will benefit from. I encourage you to consider finding your local organic sustainable farm and support them all that you can. Turn your food dollars into health centers for your family by buying food based on nutritional content, not price and looks.