Yikes over Hurricane Ike

I admit I have very little time for TV watching. I'm terribly under-informed about local news and national politics. Rest assured, I read all the time. I'll keep up with international news farely regularly. Mostly, I'm a health geek and read exclusively that area. All of this to say that I've made many efforts to watch the news the last few days to see the path of Hurricane Ike. A few days ago, the news said it was headed straight for us. I'm NOT an alarmist by any means, but the news was making me wonder if I should be in this case. They kept reminding - Go fill up your gas tank, buy the needed groceries, stock up on batteries, eek, ah, panic, and franticly prepare. It's headed straight for us! Everyone was expecting the worst and preparing for it. I waited 25 minutes in a long line just to get gas. This morning I went to pick up some needed groceries (I would have gone with or without a hurricane) and the aisles where picked over and shelves bare. Now, the path has changed and we're set to get rain and winds. Nothing on the level that was expected before. No need for panic, just a bad rain storm. Yet everyone has a filled gas tank, plenty of bottled water, batteries to light up a stadium, and bread to feed an army. For what?

Okay, you want to know what I've been thinking this whole time since the hurricane preparedness started, "If people will prepare for the catastrophe of a storm, why will they not prepare for the catastrophe of a major health crisis? Which, in many cases, is much worse, more intrusive, more life-changing, more expensive, more inconvenient, and more depressing. " I'm not down-playing the need to prepare for a hurricane, I'm simply making the point that there are MANY hurricane-like events in life that have to do with our health, and we do little if anything to prevent them or prepare for them. I'll be the first to tell you obesity can kill you! Poor eating habits can kill you! Lack of exercise can kill you! Lack of consumption of fruits and vegetables can kill you! Being constantly stressed out can kill you! That may seem extreme, but all of those poor lifestyle choices can lead to degenerative diseases and ultimately death by those diseases and conditions. I so wish that we knew exactly where, when, to what intensity, etc. that a hurricane will hit. But, we just don't know for sure. We can only go by "models" and the knowledge and experience of meterologists and past research. Well, we've actually more research and knowledge about your health and it's demise than we do about weather. Based on what experts know about obesity, lack of exercise, stress, fruits and veggies, and other poor lifestyle choices, you should be doing SOMETHING to prepare for a possible health storm. What are you doing to prepare or prevent? Or are you just going to take your chances and play the odds? Just so you know, the odds are really against you....