I think there's not a whole lot of difference between practicing healthy habits for general wellness and practicing healthy habits for the prevention of breast cancer. Just check out the points made in this article about warding off the nasty disease that this year will strike about 178,000 American women.

The suggestions seem pretty familiar, don't they? That's because they're generally good for the body. And so it's simple, really. Just live a clean life, shoot for good health, and you'll have a fairly good shot at warding off all sorts of unwanted illness, like breast cancer.

In a nutshell, here's what tops this article's list of healthy habits:

• Maintain a healthy weight. A 2005 study showed women who gained weight after a breast cancer diagnosis had an increased risk of recurrence. Other studies show overweight women have a greater chance of a first-time breast cancer diagnosis. And countless studies indicate excess weight is bad for the heart, cholesterol, bones, joints, and more. Body Mass Index (BMI), although not a perfect measure, can help you chart your healthy weight.

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Yeah, that's right, some good news on the smoking front. The number of smokers in Washington has been dropping steadily since 1999 and has reached an all-time low (so far, anyway) of 17%.

So that's the good news. The bad news is that of those 17% remaining smokers most are lower-income less-educated adults, and although they are interested in quitting they seem to be having a harder time doing it than the rest of the population.

But Washington seems to be on the right track, currently sitting with the 5th lowest smoking rate in the country. There's talk of routing funds towards giving the low-income population some help to quit smoking, in addition to their already successful approaches of an indoor smoking ban and increased tobacco taxes.

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