Healthy Lifestyles in Oregon

Oregon is popular for many reasons such as coffee, beautiful scenery, fresh salmon and of course Tillamook cheese! However, lately Oregon has taken center stage for promoting healthy lifestyles. Portland was ranked #2 in 2006 by Self Magazine on their “Top 10 healthiest cities for women” article. In 2004 Portland was nick named “Bike Town U.S.A.” by Bike Town Magazine and it was also ranked #3 for healthiest city for pets by showcatsonline.com in 2003. Across the board, Oregon is setting a national standard for healthy living and exercise.

In 1971 Oregon passes the “bike bill” which was the first of its kind anywhere in the country. By passing this law, Oregon took a giant step toward healthy living. In 2001 3.8% of people were biking to work at least three days per week to according to Oregon.gov. Other fitness activities have also increased over the years. The Nike Hood to Coast Relay Marathon is the largest relay race in North America. It began in 1982 with eight teams. By 1999 it reached capacity of 1,000 teams. If the weather is bad or if running or biking isn’t really your thing, there are plenty of hiking trails, gyms, countless dog parks, ski lodges and hunting seasons where all activity levels and weather conditions are welcome.

Portland had one of the highest percentages of organic food buyers in 2007 (27%) which only just trailed San Francisco (35%) and Seattle (37%) according to Vegetarianorganicblog.com. Seeing this demand, grocery stores met with a supply of organic products, a health food section and stocking Trans fat free items. As early as ten years ago, many grocery stores either did not offer items such as tofu or soy and if they did, the cost was excessive. Now with the increased interest in these products, stores have answered with sales in these items. Grocery retailers are not the only ones seeing the growing health trend, restaurants see the benefit to healthier choices as well.

Restaurants around Oregon have also seen a change to menu items. Popular restaurants like Applebee’s are now offering a Weight Watcher menu with point values listed directly on the menus. Red Robin offers meatless or turkey meat options for their hamburgers which makes dinning out less of a hassle for those trying to maintain a healthy diet.

If a healthy lifestyle is something you desire but don’t think you can do on your own, help is on every corner, literally. In Salem alone there are five Weight Watcher sites, a Jenny Craig and a LA Weight loss center all within a five mile radius. This is not including all the private organizations such as Salem Weight Management Center. All of these companies have one thing in common, they all want to build a better, healthier, and happier you.

Being outside and having healthy foods at the tips of your fingers is not something every state can brag about, the elite states such as Oregon can claim to be a “health nut” state. Oregon’s healthy lifestyle trend is not likely to change anytime soon. Get out and enjoy the bragging rights, every healthy Oregonian has earned them!