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Lifestyle changes that can reduce your risk of getting certain cancers are the focus of this month’s Give It Up for Gut Cancer campaign.
Hundreds of Kiwis are giving up alcohol, sugar or a sedentary lifestyle (the couch) in March, while raising money for the Gut Cancer Foundation (GCF).
One of the faces of the campaign is Stanmore Bay Leisure Centre Never2Old instructor Aviv Jones.
She has posted exercise videos on the campaign’s website and Facebook page to encourage people to get moving and says she is hopeful that the new habits formed may last longer than March.
“It takes three to four weeks to create a habit, so we hope those changes may become more permanent for people,” she says.
Aviv lost her best friend Esther to pancreatic cancer five years ago and is passionate about this cause.
As well as the videos, Aviv has chosen to give up sugar in March.
Gut cancers affect the digestive system, including the oesophagus, stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas and bowel. So it makes sense that there is a strong link between them and things like obesity, alcohol consumption and sedentary behaviour.
“They are some of the cancers that people don’t talk about as much,” Aviv says. “Yet they often have poor outcomes and are hugely on the rise.”
This is the second year that the GCF is running this campaign – they hope it will be come an annual fundraiser.
It is still possible to donate to this cause: www.giveitup.nz
Info: www.gutcancer.org.nz/gut-cancers/
