It is almost mid-year already, and your New Year’s Resolutions for 2018 long forgotten, but it is never a bad thing or too late to take stock of where you are at, with regards to important life goals, possibly the most significant of these being your health goals. After all, the old saying is true, “Health is Wealth”.
CANSA agrees with the World Cancer Research Fund’s findings indicating that if you work towards the three goals below, you will reduce your cancer risk by a third:
- Eat Smart (a wholesome, balanced diet, including what you drink)
- Maintain a healthy body weight (SA has the highest occurrence of obesity in sub-Saharan Africa, including children and teens)
- Be physically active (World Health Organisation has determined that 47 % of SA adults have insufficient levels of physical activity)
Not only will you lower your risk for several cancers, but also your risk for other non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc. Read media release: English | Afrikaans
April 2018: Lorraine Govender (CANSA’s National Advocacy Co-ordinator), was interviewed by Adri Kotze (Africa Editor Centre for Health Journalism – Mail & Guardian).
CANSA was asked to respond to the Cancer Research UK’s latest research, published earlier this year, regarding lifestyle factors which could contribute to an increased cancer risk, and comment on how this pertains to South Africans. Read more…
Slideshow – How to Live a Balanced Lifestyle
Infographic – Tips to Reduce Your Cancer Risk
What YOU Can Do:
1. Life is hectic – avoid making last minute trips to the local ‘fast food’ outlet, by preparing meals in advance where possible. Cook a double portion healthy, balanced meal, eat one and freeze the other.
2. Reduce your portion sizes – eat three healthy meals a day – don’t starve yourself and wolf down an enormous portion later.
3. If you didn’t prepare it right, salt will NOT make the meal taste better, only salty! Use alternate herbs to add flavour food, limiting salt to 1 tsp per day (per person…)
4. Bring ingredients home that won’t tempt you to eat unhealthily. Choose healthy snack options instead, to still the hunger pangs. If you don’t put it in the shopping cart, you’re not likely to start…
5. Avoid food high in fat, sugar and low in fibre. Eat less red meat (beef, lamb, pork), replacing it with fish, poultry, beans, lentils and soya products, and avoid processed meats (ham, bacon, salami, etc).
6. Do aim to eat at least 2 ½ cups of veggies / fruit per day, adding wholegrains and pulses where possible
7. Plan lunch boxes for school and work instead of buying meals at the tuckshop or canteen – find super lunch box tips here in our CANSA Smart Lunch Box Planner, which includes recipes…
8. What you drink counts too – avoid sugary drinks such as fizzy sodas and alcohol. Drink unsweetened, pure fruit juice (diluted). Increased sugar intake is linked to obesity and alcohol consumption increases your cancer risk.
9. Teach kids to prepare healthy, balanced meals from the start (instead of giving your toddler a sugary biscuit, opt for a carrot stick…)
10. Encourage your children to play physical games: hop scotch; skipping; take them to the park, or play areas designed to get them moving and strengthening their muscles. Make exercise a family affair…
11. Get up, choose to move, use the stairs, stretch, join neighbourhood sport groups or ones that encourage physical activity. You can also find out more about our
CANSA Active programme – be active and healthy – having some Feel Good Fun, while raising awareness and funds for CANSA and the fight against cancer in SA.
12. Limit your screen time, or time on digital devices which encourages less physical activity.
What Your COMMUNITY Can Do:
Community efforts are essential in creating an environment that encourages healthy food choices and physical activity. Community members can make their voices heard in the following ways:
1. Lobby for healthier food options offered at schools, educational institutions, or in the workplace
2. Encourage and empower community members to grow their own fruit and vegetables
3. Community members or service providers can donate healthier food options to organisations supporting poorer community members
4. Lobby for safe places where community members can walk, run, ride their bicycle, etc
5. Encourage events that provide the opportunity to be physically active or start or support a club which does so
6. Provide opportunities for recreation that do not revolve around sedentary, passive behaviour
7. Community members or service providers can donate play equipment encouraging the development of motor skills, or help local schools (play schools through high schools) to improve sports facilities
It’s ALWAYS time to take stock of your health.
Invest in your health now by living a balanced lifestyle.
It is almost mid-year already, and your New Year’s Resolutions for 2018 long forgotten, but it is never a bad thing or too late to take stock of where you are at, with regards to important life goals, possibly the most significant of these being your health goals. After all, the old saying is true, “Health is Wealth”.
CANSA agrees with the World Cancer Research Fund’s findings indicating that if you work towards the three goals below, you will reduce your cancer risk by a third:
- Eat Smart (a wholesome, balanced diet, including what you drink)
- Maintain a healthy body weight (SA has the highest occurrence of obesity in sub-Saharan Africa, including children and teens)
- Be physically active (World Health Organisation has determined that 47 % of SA adults have insufficient levels of physical activity)
Not only will you lower your risk for several cancers, but also your risk for other non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc. Read media release: English | Afrikaans
April 2018: Lorraine Govender (CANSA’s National Advocacy Co-ordinator), was interviewed by Adri Kotze (Africa Editor Centre for Health Journalism – Mail & Guardian).
CANSA was asked to respond to the Cancer Research UK’s latest research, published earlier this year, regarding lifestyle factors which could contribute to an increased cancer risk, and comment on how this pertains to South Africans. Read more…
Slideshow – How to Live a Balanced Lifestyle
Infographic – Tips to Reduce Your Cancer Risk
What YOU Can Do:
1. Life is hectic – avoid making last minute trips to the local ‘fast food’ outlet, by preparing meals in advance where possible. Cook a double portion healthy, balanced meal, eat one and freeze the other.
2. Reduce your portion sizes – eat three healthy meals a day – don’t starve yourself and wolf down an enormous portion later.
3. If you didn’t prepare it right, salt will NOT make the meal taste better, only salty! Use alternate herbs to add flavour food, limiting salt to 1 tsp per day (per person…)
4. Bring ingredients home that won’t tempt you to eat unhealthily. Choose healthy snack options instead, to still the hunger pangs. If you don’t put it in the shopping cart, you’re not likely to start…
5. Avoid food high in fat, sugar and low in fibre. Eat less red meat (beef, lamb, pork), replacing it with fish, poultry, beans, lentils and soya products, and avoid processed meats (ham, bacon, salami, etc).
6. Do aim to eat at least 2 ½ cups of veggies / fruit per day, adding wholegrains and pulses where possible
7. Plan lunch boxes for school and work instead of buying meals at the tuckshop or canteen – find super lunch box tips here in our CANSA Smart Lunch Box Planner, which includes recipes…
8. What you drink counts too – avoid sugary drinks such as fizzy sodas and alcohol. Drink unsweetened, pure fruit juice (diluted). Increased sugar intake is linked to obesity and alcohol consumption increases your cancer risk.
9. Teach kids to prepare healthy, balanced meals from the start (instead of giving your toddler a sugary biscuit, opt for a carrot stick…)
10. Encourage your children to play physical games: hop scotch; skipping; take them to the park, or play areas designed to get them moving and strengthening their muscles. Make exercise a family affair…
11. Get up, choose to move, use the stairs, stretch, join neighbourhood sport groups or ones that encourage physical activity. You can also find out more about our
CANSA Active programme – be active and healthy – having some Feel Good Fun, while raising awareness and funds for CANSA and the fight against cancer in SA.
12. Limit your screen time, or time on digital devices which encourages less physical activity.
What Your COMMUNITY Can Do:
Community efforts are essential in creating an environment that encourages healthy food choices and physical activity. Community members can make their voices heard in the following ways:
1. Lobby for healthier food options offered at schools, educational institutions, or in the workplace
2. Encourage and empower community members to grow their own fruit and vegetables
3. Community members or service providers can donate healthier food options to organisations supporting poorer community members
4. Lobby for safe places where community members can walk, run, ride their bicycle, etc
5. Encourage events that provide the opportunity to be physically active or start or support a club which does so
6. Provide opportunities for recreation that do not revolve around sedentary, passive behaviour
7. Community members or service providers can donate play equipment encouraging the development of motor skills, or help local schools (play schools through high schools) to improve sports facilities
It’s ALWAYS time to take stock of your health.
Invest in your health now by living a balanced lifestyle.
May 1: Today is the 20th annual World Asthma Day, an event held each May to raise awareness of Asthma worldwide. World Asthma Day is organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma, or GINA (www.ginasthma.org), a World Health Organization collaborative and 501(c)3 organization founded in 1993.
According to WHO estimates, 235 million people suffer from asthma, which can cause wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and coughing. Although asthma cannot be cured, it is possible to control asthma to reduce and prevent asthma attacks, also called episodes.1 In the United States, approximately half of people with asthma had at least one asthma attack in 2012. More children (55%) than adults (49%) had an attack.
Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children. Asthma is not just a public health problem for high income countries: it occurs in all countries regardless of level of development. Over 80% of asthma deaths occurs in low and lower-middle income countries. Asthma is under-diagnosed and under-treated, creating a substantial burden to individuals and families and possibly restricting individuals’ activities for a lifetime.
Asthma attacks cause adults to miss work and children to miss school. These dangerous and sometimes life-threatening episodes reduce the quality of life for people with asthma. The good news is that we can raise awareness about asthma and how it can be controlled. People with asthma can prevent asthma attacks if they learn how to avoid asthma triggers like tobacco smoke, mold, outdoor air pollution, and colds and flu. Asthma episodes can also be prevented by using inhaled corticosteroids and other prescribed daily long-term control medicines correctly.
This year’s World Asthma Day theme is “NEVER TOO EARLY, NEVER TOO LATE. It’s always the right time to address airways disease.”” The theme provides a call to action for both patients and healthcare providers worldwide to evaluate symptoms regardless of the timepoint in one’s life they may occur and take actions to ensure that the asthma is controlled.
World Asthma Day was first held in 1998, and has grown each year to become one of the most important Asthma events globally. On World Asthma Day, hundreds of awareness-raising activities will take place in countries all over the world. Further information about GINA and World Asthma Day can be found at GINA’s website: www.ginasthma.org. Documents detailing GINA’s global strategy for diagnosis, management, and prevention of COPD are also available at www.ginasthma.org.
