While it may seem like the new trendy exercise, yoga came about over 5,000 years ago. Since then, it has evolved into many different unique forms of exercise and meditation.

Though it is possible to develop a food allergy later in life (my father had his first allergic reaction to shellfish when he was 21) food allergies among adults aren’t all that common, and when they do occur, it is typically related to genetics — meaning if no one in your family is allergic to a food, you are less likely to be. Between 2 and 4 percent of adults are allergic to some food — usually dairy, fish, soy, wheat or nuts.

In my last column, I took a hard look at how our food system is failing our children and how this is contributing to our problem with childhood obesity in America. Tomorrow night, ABC will premiere chef Jamie Oliver’s new television series “Food Revolution.” Throughout the series, Oliver will work to combat this issue in the town of Huntington, W.Va., which was recently named the unhealthiest city in America. I can’t yet speak to the impact his efforts will have, but I support the show for bringing attention to a problem so often overlooked. Oliver chose an avenue where he can best combat it, which is through cooking and food education.

In my last column, I looked at the shortfalls of Michelle Obama’s new “Let’s Move” campaign to end childhood obesity and the problems it poses regarding body image issues. This week I’m going to use the campaign as a springboard into what I feel is an even more dire issue: what lies at the heart of the obesity problem ­— our broken food system.

We use the words “health” and “weight” too often in this country as if they are one and the same. But what happens when we come to rely too much on weight as the be-all-end-all of health matters, and, more specifically, how dangerous is an overemphasis on weight to our overall health and ability to form a healthy body image?

On a scale of one to 10, how happy are you? Ever wonder if maybe you aren’t as happy as you could be?

Perhaps we can see Thanksgiving as a recharge point — time to reset how we think and interact on a daily basis

The temperatures are dropping. The sky is starting to get dark at 4 p.m. Our glowing summer skin has faded away. And many of us are missing the sun and longing for our tan to return.

It often seems the older we get, the busier we get, and it’s easy to put exercising on the back burner when this happens. Understandably, several people have written in asking about ways to balance work and school schedules to make time for exercise.

It’s hard to cover this topic well in one column, because it really is an individual decision. What works for one person may not work for someone else — we all have different schedules and exercise tastes. What is most important is to find what you like and go with that. If you get sick of it or find it’s no longer enjoyable or motivating, start doing something different.

Physical activity should be just as…

Our country is caught in quite the health care crisis. In 2007, The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimated that 27 percent of Americans under the age of 65 are uninsured — a total of nearly 54 million people. They estimate the number has gone up since then, following the rise of the unemployment rate.

We all got that “Emergency Preparedness” talk four or five times on the first day of class — the speech about what we’re going to do if we all get the swine flu. It’s a hot-button issue in the news right now. Some people think it’s all hype; others are scared to shake hands for fear of getting germs.

My first-hand struggles and missteps have given me a lot of insight. I’ve learned that being healthy is a lot simpler than it is made out to be, as long as you use some common sense. If something sounds dumb, like drinking only lemons, cayenne pepper and maple syrup for a week, it probably is—and it’s probably bad for your health.