Being Healthy is Not Just a Trend

For a long time I think the majority of the population considered "being healthy" a fad.

Low fat, no fat, low carbs, etc., were looked at as short-lived games for folks trying to create some kind of counter culture. Then it was Yoga, Pilates, McDonald's Apple Dippers and Whole Foods stores. What? We are all supposed to run or bike or at least walk for 30 minutes 3 times a week?? But, at some point the trend grows from a small group of different-thinkers and just engulfs the majority because the undeniable truth of it completely overwhelms us.

Smoking is one of those things that I think happened exactly like that. Smoking was cool for about 2000 years. Well, at least in modern times, actors and politicians and your parents smoked. And then some people started whispering that smoking might kill you. But that was probably just some hippies out in California, right? But then people were protesting that restaurants separate smoking sections or that smokers should refrain from lighting up directly outside a building's entrance in every state. Of course there was tons of guffawing from both sides--some folks felt like non-smokers should just get over it, and then multiplying statistics about second hand smoke and deaths from lung cancer surfaced. At some point...we all just agreed that smoking wasn't good for us--that it wasn't just a health nut trend to quit. Its just plain smart.

Rita Rubin blogs about these truths everyday on the USA Today Health blog "A Better Life". This is the place where you can get straightforward news from a journalist who knows whats up in the world of health and who actually writes about topics of general interest (HIV, The Tomato scare, alcoholic energy drinks and birth control to name a few from the last week or so).

Getting healthy and knowing about health issues isn't trendy--its mandatory. Keep up the good work Rita.