Lifestyle practices constitute an important component of health promotion and disease prevention.  Formulating a comprehensive health agenda requires attention to health at the community and individual level.

The Health Council of South Florida, through its study of healthy lifestyle trends, brings attention to effective health promotion strategies, with special focus on evidence-based best practices.

Health measures include:

• overall health status,
• health screenings,
• modifiable health risks related to nutrition and physical activity,
• daily stress levels,
• racial and ethnic health disparities, and
• barriers to healthcare access, including primary care services and prescriptions. 

The Council encourages all health promotion initiatives to include outcome and impact evaluation to ensure that sustained individual behavioral change occurs and contributes to changes in established community health status indicators.