3 ms·

What if it's not diet. I read somewhere that Silicy has higher life expectancy although it's poor (probably worse healthcare) in comparison to North Italy. Ma

What if it's not diet. I read somewhere that Silicy has higher life expectancy although it's poor (probably worse healthcare) in comparison to North Italy. Maybe it's not diet but the family values? Maybe being family focused increases life expectancy despite having not superior diet.

mrfusion 8y ago
It could be as simple as they do more walking. Or walk after meals.
scottlocklin 8y ago
Stats on this kind of thing are certainly difficult. What if the med diet effect is from something like fasting?
- e40 8y ago
  I can tell you I've struggled with my diet for years. The thing that I finally hit upon was intermittent fasting, and it gave me back energy and weight loss at the same time. And, it doesn't feel like a diet. It is my new lifestyle.
melling 8y ago
They are studying women in the US on the diet. I suppose they could consider other factors: “A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health offers insights from a cohort study of women in the U.S. who reported consuming a Mediterranean-type diet. Researchers found a 25 percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease among study participants who consumed a diet rich in plants and olive oil and low in meats and sweets.”
iagooar 8y ago
What if it's the lifestyle? You certainly feel more relaxed when living in Italy or Spain, people seem to prioritize a simple life full of social interactions. Work is something one needs to do, but does not get obsessed with. Talking from my own experience.
entity345 8y ago
You are assuming that poorer means worse diet. That is simply not true at all in relation to having a healthy diet, and the opposite is perhaps true. In many places the traditional diet is healthy. Then, when people become richer they eat more, eat more meat, more fat, more sugar, more processed food, etc., and obesity and cardiovascular diseases shoot up.
- vahji 8y ago
  As a poor person who's always been surrounded by poor people, you are wrong. Poor and less educated people know nothing about nutrition and don't have the money to buy good food. When you don't have the money you are forced to fill up with cheap calories like bread, rice, pasta, sugar, etc.
  - magic_beans 8y ago
    In the US, absolutely. In other countries, not so much.
  - entity345 8y ago
    Nothing unhealthy with bread, rice, pasta... In Sicily, as that is the example given, people are poorer than the European average and significantly poorer than the American average. Yet they have a healthier diet. The issue of unhealthy diets in the US/Europe is not so much poverty but a culture of junk food and not knowing better.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    >Poor and less educated people know nothing about nutrition and don't have the money to buy good food. In societies with traditional agriculture and village culture, they don't have to "know about nutrition". Their traditional recipes and ways of eating are healthier, and cheaper. That's not an absolute rule, but that's exactly the case with Mediterranean diet for one. >When you don't have the money you are forced to fill up with cheap calories like bread, rice, pasta, sugar, etc. Some of which is fine. The healthier people in Japan eat a lot of rice, and bread is mighty fine too, as are noodles etc. Sugar and highly refined breads are recent inventions. They poor people in Italy pre-70s would hardly have much sugar in their meals except from natural sources (tomatoes etc, not refined). No fast-food and crappy supermarket tv-diner style food either. People cooked religiously. Also the poor masses in Italy etc were traditionally not destitute (e.g. developing world-like). Just poor. They could still afford basic meals, and had strong family support.
sparrc 8y ago
It might be that a 'poorer' diet can be better. Reason being that they use more raw foods rich in fiber rather than processed flour, sugar, oil, etc. See research on the Okinawan diet. People there had the some of the longest lifespans ever recorded and they ate mostly potatoes (albeit a very nutritious variety of purple sweet potato). Today Okinawa is rich, there are 3 KFCs on the island, and their lifespan has declined.
yardie 8y ago
Sicily’s main industry is agriculture. So it is poorer financially because most are employed as manual labor. Diet wise it’s very hard to eat poorly. Fresh food is abundant and eating processed, frozen foods is considered a luxury.

mrfusion 8y ago

It could be as simple as they do more walking. Or walk after meals.

scottlocklin 8y ago

Stats on this kind of thing are certainly difficult. What if the med diet effect is from something like fasting?

e40 8y ago
I can tell you I've struggled with my diet for years. The thing that I finally hit upon was intermittent fasting, and it gave me back energy and weight loss at the same time. And, it doesn't feel like a diet. It is my new lifestyle.

melling 8y ago

They are studying women in the US on the diet. I suppose they could consider other factors: “A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health offers insights from a cohort study of women in the U.S. who reported consuming a Mediterranean-type diet. Researchers found a 25 percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease among study participants who consumed a diet rich in plants and olive oil and low in meats and sweets.”

iagooar 8y ago

What if it's the lifestyle? You certainly feel more relaxed when living in Italy or Spain, people seem to prioritize a simple life full of social interactions. Work is something one needs to do, but does not get obsessed with. Talking from my own experience.

entity345 8y ago

You are assuming that poorer means worse diet. That is simply not true at all in relation to having a healthy diet, and the opposite is perhaps true. In many places the traditional diet is healthy. Then, when people become richer they eat more, eat more meat, more fat, more sugar, more processed food, etc., and obesity and cardiovascular diseases shoot up.

vahji 8y ago
As a poor person who's always been surrounded by poor people, you are wrong. Poor and less educated people know nothing about nutrition and don't have the money to buy good food. When you don't have the money you are forced to fill up with cheap calories like bread, rice, pasta, sugar, etc.
- magic_beans 8y ago
  In the US, absolutely. In other countries, not so much.
- entity345 8y ago
  Nothing unhealthy with bread, rice, pasta... In Sicily, as that is the example given, people are poorer than the European average and significantly poorer than the American average. Yet they have a healthier diet. The issue of unhealthy diets in the US/Europe is not so much poverty but a culture of junk food and not knowing better.
- coldtea 8y ago
  >Poor and less educated people know nothing about nutrition and don't have the money to buy good food. In societies with traditional agriculture and village culture, they don't have to "know about nutrition". Their traditional recipes and ways of eating are healthier, and cheaper. That's not an absolute rule, but that's exactly the case with Mediterranean diet for one. >When you don't have the money you are forced to fill up with cheap calories like bread, rice, pasta, sugar, etc. Some of which is fine. The healthier people in Japan eat a lot of rice, and bread is mighty fine too, as are noodles etc. Sugar and highly refined breads are recent inventions. They poor people in Italy pre-70s would hardly have much sugar in their meals except from natural sources (tomatoes etc, not refined). No fast-food and crappy supermarket tv-diner style food either. People cooked religiously. Also the poor masses in Italy etc were traditionally not destitute (e.g. developing world-like). Just poor. They could still afford basic meals, and had strong family support.

sparrc 8y ago

It might be that a 'poorer' diet can be better. Reason being that they use more raw foods rich in fiber rather than processed flour, sugar, oil, etc. See research on the Okinawan diet. People there had the some of the longest lifespans ever recorded and they ate mostly potatoes (albeit a very nutritious variety of purple sweet potato). Today Okinawa is rich, there are 3 KFCs on the island, and their lifespan has declined.

yardie 8y ago

Sicily’s main industry is agriculture. So it is poorer financially because most are employed as manual labor. Diet wise it’s very hard to eat poorly. Fresh food is abundant and eating processed, frozen foods is considered a luxury.