Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

Last week was the beginning of my attempts to achieve my SMART goal. The goal, which stated that I will eat/drink no more than 1 serving (2 oz cheese, 1 cup milk, 1 yogurt, etc) of dairy once a week, proved to be about as difficult as I thought it would be. Yeah, it was pretty tough. I might have slipped a couple of times here and there, mostly with cheese. For the most part I did really well and used salt, hot sauce, salsa and spices to provide more flavor in my attempts to avoid cheese. This made me feel a lot healthier but was difficult to keep up for very long, especially when eating with other people.

mmmm cheese

Luckily, I've devised a method to prevent this from happening again- For each time I eat dairy when I'm not supposed to, I will put one dollar in a "no-dairy jar". Hopefully this will give me some more motivation not to slip up.

I'd really like to continue this SMART goal and see the changes in my health as time goes on. Hopefully with the help of my friends and my trusty no-dairy jar I will make progress towards achieving my goal.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

Healthy People Goal: Reduce the number of new cancer cases as well as the illness, disability, and death caused by cancer (Focus area 3. Cancer).

Objective 3-1: Reduce the overall cancer death rate.
(There are no sub-objectives for Objective 3-1)

According to the Progress Quotient Chart for objective Objective 3-1, there has been a 17% improvement towards the objective. Considering this objective is by far the most all-encompassing objective in Focus area 3, this improvement is exceptional. Several of the other objectives did have higher improvement rates and some have already been met (Reducing incidence of prostate cancer deaths, for example). Overall it seems there has been improvement towards meeting most objectives in focus area 3- reducing the number of new cancer cases.

Progress: The progress made towards objective 3-1 can be largely attributed to tobacco control efforts made during the 1980's and 90's. Increased screening for colorectal, cervical, and breast cancer also accounted for progress towards meeting objective 3-1.

Disparities: Unfortunately there were some disparities regarding the extent to which this objective was met across various populations. In terms of race and ethnicity, the overall cancer rate was reduced the most for those of Asian, native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander descent while black non-hispanics were the farthest from this rate by 100% or more. Females with at least some college education also saw the highest rates of improvement compared to Males (who differed by up to 50%) and those who only completed some high school or graduated high school alone (up to 99% difference). No information was available regarding income or disability disparities for objective 3-1.

Opportunities/Challenges: There wasn't much information provided regarding challenges to obtaining objective 3-1. Opportunities however, seem to rely on the collaboration of Federal agencies, State and local health departments, primary care providers, large employers and health care companies. Uniting these different agencies and increasing collaboration will create more opportunities to decrease disparities and provide the needed support for cancer prevention. Attaining objective 3-1 also depends upon progress in many other focus areas as well (Access to Quality Health Services, Education and Community-based Programs, Health Communication, etc).

Emerging Issues: The biggest issue regarding objective 3-1 is related to determining which methods of cancer prevention are the most successful. Monitoring the effects of different interventions on reduction of death rates related to cancer will assist in pinpointing which methods deserve the most attention in upcoming years in the ongoing battle against cancer related illness death and disability.

THOMAS
H.R. 1927- Assuring and Improving Cancer Treatment Education and Cancer Symptom Management Act 2009.


Title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide comprehensive cancer patient treatment education under the Medicare Program and to provide for research to improve cancer symptom management.  


Sponsor: Rep Israel, Steve [NY-2] (introduced 4/2/2009)


Latest Major Action: 4/2/2009 referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned


Recommendation: Vote YES for H.R. 1927 Assuring and Improving Cancer Treatment Education and Cancer Symptom management act 2009. 


My Political Representatives:  Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken