January 5, 2005

You can quit in ‘06

American Cancer Society offers their own New Year’s resolutions

It’s time for that annual self-improvement ritual, preparing your list of New Year’s resolutions. High atop nearly everyone’s list is the desire to lead a healthier life in the coming year. The American Cancer Society can help improve your odds with tips on healthy eating, becoming more active, quitting smoking, and getting regular checkups that can greatly reduce the risk of developing cancer and help people detect cancer early, when it’s most treatable.

Here is a list of the Society’s New Year’s resolutions for a fresh start toward better health in 2006:

- If you’re a smoker, quit. No one has to quit alone. Call 1-877-YES-QUIT (1-877-937-7848) to obtain information on a program run by the American Cancer Society or be referred to a state-run program. There’s no one right way to quit, but there are some key factors in quitting smoking successfully: Make the decision to quit; set a quit date and choose a quit plan; learn how to deal with the withdrawal symptoms and create a maintenance program.

- Adopt a more physically active lifestyle. For adults that means engaging in at least moderate activity for 30 minutes or more on five or more days of the week and for children and adolescents it means 60 minutes per day of moderate-to vigorous physical activity at least five days a week.

- Maintain a healthful weight throughout life.

- If you drink alcoholic beverages, limit consumption. Alcohol increases the risk of several cancers. Men who drink alcohol should limit their intake to no more than 2 drinks per day, and women to one drink per day. Regular consumption of even a few drinks per week is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in women, so women at high risk of the disease may want to consider not drinking any alcohol.

- Eat a variety of healthful foods, with an emphasis on plant sources. Include five or more servings of a variety of vegetables and fruits in your diet each day, choose whole grains rather than processed (refined) grains and sugars and limit your consumption of red meat and processed meat.

- Talk with your doctor about a regular schedule for cancer screening tests based on your age and personal risk factors. These tests include mammograms and clinical breast exams for breast cancer; fecal occult blood test (FOBT), sigmoidoscopy, and colonoscopy for colon cancer; PSA test for prostate cancer; and the Pap test for cervical cancer.

- Take the Great American Health Check. A great way to get started on a healthier lifestyle resolution is to answer a few easy questions through the Great American Health Check Web, an easy, confidential, online health assessment tool offered by the American Cancer Society and available at www.cancer.org/healthcheck. Questions focus on gender, age, height, weight, family history of cancer, dietary habits, physical activity levels, alcohol and tobacco use. Users receive a personalized cancer prevention action plan that lists the cancer screening tests they need to consider, along with healthy lifestyle recommendations.

- You can also join the ACS Action NetworkSM and work as a grassroots advocate to enact public policies to help smokers quit, such as insurance coverage for tobacco cessation programs and smoke-free workplaces laws.

Research shows that smoke-free workplaces laws encourage smokers to quit as well as protect nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke—a known health hazard. To learn more about becoming an advocate, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.

The Society’s toll-free number 1-800-ACS-2345 and Web site www.cancer.org are also great resources for information on cancer prevention, early detection and treatment.