The semester has come to a close. I have learned more in these few months about people, life, and culture than I have in my 20 years of being alive. I have come to learn that diet is the foundation of all human health. A person cannot have a healthy immune system without having the proper nutrients. You cannot possibly be in shape or even start trying to be without eating properly. Eating the right things is the most important starting point for anyone trying to become as healthy as possible. While health is defined differently all over the world, the ultimate goal for all humans is perfect health. I have also come to learn that all societies have their own issues combatting specific health issues as well as things that make them “healthier” than another. The main problem with American health is the amount of fat and sugar that each person consumes often resulting in either cardiovascular disease or type II diabetes. That is not so much the issue in Europe, although cardiovascular disease is becoming a big problem in certain European countries including France. Like I have said in previous posts, the bigger issue in European diets is the bread and alcohol intake. Every single morning for breakfast my host family would have bread, butter, and more bread. Some wine was had at every dinner, and often times at lunch as well. France has the 6th highest amount of alcohol consumption in the world while America is 32nd (http://faculty.ccri.edu/panaccione/AAfall10Pr/Alcohol_Consumption-french_culture_project_(1).ppt). Young people in France drink SO much. I have made a lot of French friends in Angers who like to teach American students about their culture. Our excursions have also taught us quite a bit about French drinking culture…
Feeding us alcohol on our excursion to the winery
I am not a huge drinker, but I am also not opposed to it. I can enjoy a few drinks with friends sometimes, but I could not keep up with the amount that these people drank. Regardless of if it was a Saturday night or a Tuesday evening before a long day of Wednesday classes, they could always be found at a bar. I understand that this is a cultural thing, but it seems really unhealthy to drink every single night. It also cannot be good for your grades… The difference between the drinking age in the U.S. and France does make a difference, though. While people are younger when they start binge drinking in France, I have learned that this tends to die out by the time American students are legally allowed to start drinking. There is the concern about drunk driving in America which does not have the same level of concern here on Europe which I think is because not many young people have drivers licenses, and it’s easy to walk or take public transit after a night out. Drunk driving accidents are still a problem in France though. Drunk driving causes half of all road accidents in France (http://faculty.ccri.edu/panaccione/AAfall10Pr/Alcohol_Consumption-french_culture_project_(1).ppt).
Europe has much stricter rules on what can and cannot go into foods. In Europe, if a company uses genetically modified organisms in their food products, they automatically become liable for any and whatever environmental harm the GMO causes if it ends up spreading into non-genetically modified organism-effected (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/france.php). France has a law that requires any GMOs that someone wants to use have to first be researched and go through trials that assure that there will not be any negative environmental effects or health risks if the GMO is used on foods going on sale. It also requires that any piece of land being used for agriculture that will incorporate the use of genetically modified organisms must be reported and documented by the government. This has caused a lot of uproar about the law because if this kind of information is made public, anti-GMO protestors are able to get access to it and use it against big companies if they so choose (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/france.php). The pressure that the EU puts on agriculturists about GMOs really does make a difference. Back home in America, if someone pulled a fig off of a random tree and told me to eat it right there I would probably think they were crazy. Not here. That has happened multiple times and I know I do not have to worry about being chemically poisoned. My host family got basically everything they ate straight out of the ground or off of a tree and ate it right there. Tomatoes, pumpkins, apples, figs, you name it. None of it was even touched by chemicals. That was pretty awesome.
I personally think this is good because any information that could be useful as far as keeping people healthy should be made public. If there is something in the food that people are eating that could potentially cause health problems, the people eating said products deserve to know. People are more willing to eat the produce around them. The grocery store in Amsterdam actually had a juice maker in the middle of the store where you got an orange off of the shelf and put it straight in the juicer and voila, you have a bottle of orange juice.
Orange juice maker in the middle of the store in Amsterdam
The guy definitely caught me taking that picture and looked at me like I was crazy. Welcome to tourist life.
The fact that GMO’s are actually highly monitored in Europe makes America look really bad in my opinion. It almost makes it seem like while Europe actually cares what goes into their citizens, America just cares about the money that comes out of theirs.
Americans have such a bad stereotype of being overweight and of eating burgers and french fries paired with an oversized soda for every meal. I have always known that Americans have the stereotype, but I did not realize how seriously people take it in other countries. I actually had a person in my host family tell their friend (right in front of me I might add… Mind you I understand everything people say in French…) that I was American but not to be confused by the fact that I was not overweight. Unfortunately, America tends to capitalize on this stereotype. A few of us had a conversation not too long ago about how embarrassing the stereotype is and how it comes from shows on TLC and other channels that basically glorify being overweight in order to make money. It’s almost as if food companies have this secret contract with the media to continue to feed America horrible foods to keep them big so the media can then take advantage and capitalize on the misfortune of these effects. Obviously (hopefully) this is not true, but from the way the cycle seems to work it may as well be.
Over the summer, I documented basically everything that I ate on the Fitbit app. While I think it’s important to watch what you eat, I don’t know that having the ability to document exactly what you eat down to the amount of activity necessary to burn off what you just ate is a good thing. This excessive need for young people, girls specifically, to keep track of calories and look perfect all the time really messes with mental health. All types of health are linked together in a way. If you are not mentally healthy, then you can’t be physically healthy because you will most likely not want to get out and exercise or take the time out of your day to cook good, healthy meals. If you do not have the motivation to get out and be active and healthy, your physical health will go down the toilet. It is, unfortunately, a vicious cycle, but all aspects of health are indeed linked and need to be given the proper amount of attention. France does a good job of recognizing all health problems, or at least that is what I have gathered in my three months of living there. As far as mental health goes, France acknowledges that there are genuine mental health diseases that people need time to recover from. Specifically, as talked about in the Medical Anthropology, “triste” and “fatigue touts le temps” are called “culture-bound syndromes” that literally mean a person is extremely tired (Wiley and Allen 347). Acknowledging that exhaustion is a very critical thing on the body is important because humans need rest to live properly. European culture is generally more relaxed. Anyone can pick up on that by just walking through any little (or big) European town. Even in Angers, people take a few hours out of their workday every single day to go home, prepare a meal for lunch, and, if you are like my host family, take a nap before going back to work. This seems strange to an American, but if you think about it, it is actually really smart. A break in the middle of the day allows for the rest of the day to be much more productive.
There is a huge problem with weight, either too large or too small, in the United States. These problems are also becoming really common in Europe as well. As fast food places and unhealthy food becomes more popular across the world, so do weight problems. The fact that there is a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Angers is a bit funny, but more so concerning. American companies that cause obesity to climb have made their way into more and more countries and because of that, it is becoming more socially acceptable to eat bad food. I meet with a woman who works at the hospital every Tuesday evening in Angers to help her with her English and she was telling me that she and her colleagues are all very concerned about the sudden increase in obesity in northern France. France is still amongst one of the lowest for obesity prevalence, but it has been and will continue to increase (http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/obesityandtheeconomicsofpreventionfitnotfat-francekeyfacts.htm).
Basically, what I have gained from this semester is that every single country has its own problems and strong parts regarding health. I do not think there is one specific way to be “healthy” because each culture has its own ideas as to what that means, and each culture seems to be successful in its own way.
http://faculty.ccri.edu/panaccione/AAfall10Pr/Alcohol_Consumption-french_culture_project_(1).ppt
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/france.php
http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/obesityandtheeconomicsofpreventionfitnotfat-francekeyfacts.htm
Wiley, Andrea S., and John S. Allen. Medical Anthropology: A Biocultural Approach. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.