'Well' Explores The Social And Political Underpinnings Of Health
In a new book, physician Sandro Galea calls for a change in how we talk about health in America. The real drivers of wellness, he argues, are not personal choice, but our history, policies and values.
The typical American conversation about health focuses on personal choice as a key driver — the foods we choose to eat, the number of steps we log each day, the doctors we visit and the medicines we take. But epidemiologist Sandro Galea says that way of thinking is the wrong way.
In his new book, Well: What We Need To Talk About When We Talk About Health, the dean of Boston University School of Public Health says not only does the belief in the power of personal choice fail to fix America's health crisis, it also diverts us from real issues underlying our nation's poor health.
"We can choose the food we eat, but our options are limited by what we can afford
