Final Blog SOC 490

What can U.S. take from Italians as far as health promotion? I think both systems could take a lot from each other to improve on either side. Looking specifically at the United States I think there are a few important key points that the U.S. could take from the Italians. The Italian health care system is not perfect but a lot of things that they have a lot of different things that they implement that would be really helpful if it were implicated in our society.

I think it would really be nice to have an emphasis on getting kids active in the States. I remember during one of our classes in Rome there was a period where they would take all the kids out to be active by participating in competitive sport. I know in the U.S. there is recess and gym but there is no extensive period of exercise like there is in Italy for their kids. The diets are also very different and I think the diet is healthier in Italy than in the United States. One thing I have noticed is Italians have a lot more home cooked food with groceries bought from local markets than in the United State. Which again I think is a lot healthier than the food that we eat. We eat so much fast food and foods that are pre-made that come in cans and it is very unhealthy. Here in Italy everything is made at home and if it’s not from home more than likely it was still made from fresh ingredients. With most of the stores being home run businesses you really get better quality food then what you get at most places in the United States.

The general Italian life style is a lot more active I think than the average Americans. In United States the only time we really work out is planned work outs. We’ll go to the gym for an hour or two then go home and relax. I have yet to even see a gym in Italy; they don’t really have the workout style that we do. They just walk everywhere or they ride their bikes and overall they Italians are just so much more active. I mean the other day I seen a lady dressed in work clothes and high heels riding a bike up a huge hill, which I think is insane. You definitely would not see anyone in the States doing that. Not saying the way we work out is not good but I think if people were more active in their everyday lives like Italians and we weren’t sitting around so much everybody would be in so much better shape.

Our health care is starting to move in the direction of the Italians which I think is really good. The Italians have a much more group minded health care system and that’s what we are moving too. I think that the health care system is a lot like a sports team. The health of the country is a lot better when everyone takes care of each other and picks each other up. But it doesn’t work if you have one superstar and the rest of your team is awful or doing poorly. In other words you have few people that have the money to afford the expensive health care while everybody else just suffers without it. These are things I think the United States could pick up from Italy.