Is simplicity a healthy approach to life? Just look at the Amish.
In America, the simple and clean-living Amish community lives longer than the general population, which has been experiencing a drop in life expectancy in recent years, despite spending record amounts of cash on health care.
The Amish experience fewer chronic conditions that have plagued the consumer-oriented population since it became more dependent on Big Ag and Big Food.
Amish children are rarely diagnosed with obesity, cancer, diabetes, or autism, while in the larger society, all these afflictions are tragically common.
Unfortunately, Big Health sees chronic conditions not as something to prevent and cure, but as markets to be exploited for profit.
The Amish are healthier despite not having easy access to modern health care in their rural settings.
In fact, these traditional, self-reliant folks may not want to access what the modern system has to offer. Vaccines and expensive dental treatments are two such examples.
Perhaps they are healthier because of their avoidance of the entire sickness care industry.
Or it might be due to their emphasis on maintaining traditional lives of clean living, hard work, and strong community support.
Either way, I believe that the Amish provide evidence that the more simply and traditionally one lives, the healthier they will be.
Tell us what you think in a comment below. Is the simple life the way to health, or is it possible to live a modern, consumer-oriented lifestyle dependent on profit-seeking enterprises and still be healthy?
We have a lot of Amish and Mennonite in our area and I have learned so much from them. I read last week "When you realize that the two most profitable businesses are war and illness, it is easy to understand what is going on." So true.
ReplyDeleteThat quote tells us everything we need to know. Nobody votes for that.
Delete- Gregg
I am rereading an old paperback Vermont Folklife and it's so simple really... we can use honey and apple cider vinegar for everything. Also, I have a map of how the Amish are spreading across the states. That is good.
ReplyDeleteHey - I have apple cider vinegar and honey. Looking into that.
Delete- Gregg
Not to take away anything from the broader point you're trying to make. But there is some nuance to the Amish life expectancy stat.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that while it is true that Amish health in old age tends to be better than the average population, their life expectancy has a genetic component as well.
It seems like they've sort of peaked out at 70, where as plenty of societies (especially in South East and East Asia) have beat that in general.
Ref : https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/20/the-amish-health-care-system/
Yes, thank you for adding that. Probably those would be 70 good years. Thank you for leaving the link as well. I would encourage anyone wanting to read further on this topic to take a look. Really interesting.
Delete- Gregg
From the link above -
Delete''The Amish outperform the English on every measured health outcome. 65% of Amish rate their health as excellent or very good, compared to 58% of English. Diabetes rates are 2% vs. 8%, heart attack rates are 1% vs. 6%, high blood pressure is 11% vs. 31%. Amish people go to the hospital about a quarter as often as English people, and this difference is consistent across various categories of illness.
If they’re healthier, why is Amish life expectancy lower? Possibly they are less interested in prolonging life than we are.''