I’m a medical doctor, but I stopped doing that in 2003.

I’ve had a lifelong interest in personal fitness.  One of the things that impressed me, and disturbed me, when I was practicing medicine was that my patients did not understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle, and they didn’t know how to live a healthy lifestyle.

After I retired (“burned-out”) from medical practice, I created the Fitness Rocks podcast (www.fitnessrocks.org) to address the issue of public unawareness about how to live a healthy lifestyle.  I produced that podcast for over three years.

But, Fitness Rocks was too narrow.  It focused on the personal health habits of nutrition and exercise, which are important, but there’s more to think about in the quest for optimal health and fitness.

Bulging biceps and six-pack abs won’t protect you from polluted drinking water and breathing dirty air.  Global warming poses a huge threat to human health, and all life on Earth.  It became clear to me that there was more to talk about than just the medical research on nutrition and exercise.  I needed to expand my range of topics.

I began posting a few podcast episodes about global warming and how evolutionary biology can help us understand our modern epidemics of obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases.  Not everybody in my listening audience was happy about these new topics. In fairness, I understand that the name Fitness Rocks implies a limited subject range, and most people would not include evolution or the environment in their definition of fitness-related issues.  I disagree with these people – how can I be healthy and fit in a polluted, unhealthy environment?  But, I get it, people seeking podcasts about fitness are not expecting to hear about climate change.

A fitness program is not about immortality.  We will all die.  I used to think that the goal of a fitness program was to remain as healthy as possible for as long as possible, which allows for a fulfilling life.  I still think this is basically true, but now I recognize that we have an obligation to leave an environment that allows future generations of people, and other living organisms, to also live fulfilling lives.  A clean and healthy environment is good for us, and for all life that comes here after we leave.  It’s our responsibility to give the next generation the same chance at health and happiness that we had when we arrived.

So, in 2010 Fitness Rocks will evolve into Science2Health, a podcast with an expanded range of topics about all things that impact our health, and the health of our planet – because these issues are connected.

Monte Ladner

Cape Cod

December, 2009