Health and Hubris

The other day as I was writing about bad food served at the Kentucky State Fair, I found my resolve wavering on two counts. First, our State Fair food is not different from what is served at parallel events around the nation. Our featured menu items may be bad, but not uniquely so. The second reason for pausing is that to some people, my views about a sick-promoting diet may sound sanctimonious and smug. Health promotion zealots run the risk of being viewed as smarty pants who think they know it all. We may not be much fun at parties, picnics, and potlucks.

So how can health promotion facts be shared without alienating people? How do we get people to change their health habits when we have given the phrase “health habit’ anti-social baggage? Is it possible to be a role model and spokesperson for good health practice while still being welcome at ordinary social interaction and events? Do we sometimes cross a line in our health crusading, becoming someone people don’t want to have around?

I think relative risk matters here. Unless there is strong evidence that something will strongly influence health for most people, it is not worth imposing on people. There are very minor (low relative risk) risk factors and major (high relative risk) risk factors. It is hard enough to bring about change with the major risk factors, such as smoking or driving without a seatbelt. Why waste resources and social capital promoting change for something that doesn’t really matter much? I remember being told as a child to not eat in between meals. Snacking can contribute to overweight, but otherwise is really not clearly a harmful thing, I’ve known people who followed health information religiously, making it a matter of daily discipline. Unfortunately, their diets and health habits were so extreme it made it very difficult to interact with other people not so inclined. A lot of their rigor was trivial from a health science point of view.

Another consideration is readiness.  You may have learned about the latest new thing in health knowledge, and want to share it with everyone you know.  However, the information will not be meaningful for everyone.  Most people are not sitting around waiting for your wisdom.  Sometimes inquiring about a person's interest will be a useful guide to their readiness to learn and benefit.

Often health promoting ideas are disseminated through media campaigns, and typically with government or private nonprofit funding. The fact that a given health concept has attracted funding from a legitimate agency without commercial conflicts, usually means that the concept has been vetted for accuracy, and has risen to the top of the health promotion market place. Usually this funding will major in majors, not minors. People will still take it or leave information given in this way, but usually don’t feel personally criticized. The media method of promoting health ideas is the least threatening because it is abstract at the individual level. It is only with individual interactions where health claims can make people uncomfortable. A measure of humility and sensitivity is important, unless you have a very close relationship with a person.

It is important to also not have a strongly assertive urgency about our health promotion modeling. Change doesn’t always have to be radical, over night, and usually it isn’t. Being a long-term mentor to support a developing bent toward better health is much more promising and well received than trying to be a benevolent dictator or a scold.

Obviously people find meaning in many things. Some see purpose and inspiration in something that seems fanatical and dubious to others. It is wise to remember that good health is driven by a few things we can change and many things we can’t. Rather than driving yourself trying to be a perfect health promoter for others or yourself, a more promising approach is to follow the big health ideas and then be joyful in what life brings day to day.