No, they aren't. The article makes no mention of obesity, and does not discuss the Amish's healthier lifestyle. Unless I'm missing something here? Do please be specific if I am.
I'm seeing a single relevant sentence:
> As far as I can tell, most of the secret is spending your whole life outside doing strenuous agricultural labor, plus being at a tech level two centuries too early for fast food.
If that's what counts for improving health, why doesn't the article discuss that, rather than discussing only healthcare? (That's not to downplay the important issues the article raises, of course.)
I think my point stands here. There's an unfortunate trend to treat the healthcare system as the answer to health problems, and to dismiss the enormously important lifestyle questions. Compare the opening paragraph of the article with what the article goes on to discuss:
> Amish people spend only a fifth as much as you do on health care, and their health is fine. What can we learn from them?
An article that explores what we can learn from the Amish regarding health, should spend more than a sentence on diet.
Of course you point does stand, and diet and obesity are important topics to discuss, and perhaps scot should have gone into (a lot) more detail. But that is not to say that every article should focus on those, it seems to me that having articles focussing on these issued as well is not a problem.
Like you said, more than a sentence should be spent on diet.
Perhaps you and I wouldn't be having this discussion if at the top Scot had given a disclaimer that he's only focussing on this one side of the situation and neglecting the other side for the purposes of discussion.
I'm seeing a single relevant sentence:
> As far as I can tell, most of the secret is spending your whole life outside doing strenuous agricultural labor, plus being at a tech level two centuries too early for fast food.
If that's what counts for improving health, why doesn't the article discuss that, rather than discussing only healthcare? (That's not to downplay the important issues the article raises, of course.)
I think my point stands here. There's an unfortunate trend to treat the healthcare system as the answer to health problems, and to dismiss the enormously important lifestyle questions. Compare the opening paragraph of the article with what the article goes on to discuss:
> Amish people spend only a fifth as much as you do on health care, and their health is fine. What can we learn from them?
An article that explores what we can learn from the Amish regarding health, should spend more than a sentence on diet.