Put your health first – Choose You

The American Cancer Society wants to shine a spotlight on a sobering statistic: one in three women will get cancer in her lifetime! I’ve lost two family members just in the past year. My aunt to colorectal cancer, and my grandpa to pancreatic cancer… and my grandma is dying of peritoneal cancer. Cancer sucks.

BUT did you know that about half of all cancer deaths could be prevented if people maintained a healthy weight through diet and regular exercise; avoided tobacco products; and got recommended cancer screening tests? As busy moms know, it’s not always easy to incorporate these healthy behaviors into a busy lifestyle! In fact, a new national survey of approximately 2,000 women ages 25-64 revealed that they are so busy being caretakers of others, they have little time to take care of their own health. I can relate.

To encourage women to put their own health first in the fight against cancer, the American Cancer Society has just launched the Choose You movement, which empowers women with the tools, tips and motivation to put their health first and make healthy lifestyle changes. Choose You reaches women nationwide online, at work, in stores and around the community, providing them with the tools they need to make personal health a priority. By committing to their health, these women will be better able to care for their families and serve as role models for their children, families, and friends.

When asked to pick one day to focus on themselves and their health each year, the majority of women (65%) chose their birthday. I would, too. I just celebrated a birthday the day before yesterday, in fact, and am hoping I’m lucky enough to see many, many more. By empowering women with the tools and resources to take care of themselves and help prevent cancer, the Choose You movement is another way the American Cancer Society — the official sponsor of birthdays — is helping to create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Join the Choose You movement by logging onto ChooseYou.com and making a commitment to reach a personal health goal.

Giveaway is closed. Winners have been contacted and are listed here.

As a way to inspire women to take action and put their health first, the American Cancer Society would like to offer one of my readers a Choose You Healthy Lifestyle gift set, which includes a Choose You stainless water bottle, lapel pin, and t-shirt (pictured below), a couple of pens, a hair clip, Neutrogena AgeShield +repair 55 SPF Sunblock, valuable Sprite Zero coupons, and a Walgreens gift card (Sprite Zero and Walgreens are the national sponsors of Choose You. They share the American Cancer Society’s goal of educating women about Choose You and the simple steps they can take to maintain a healthy lifestyle and help prevent cancer.) This set would be a great gift for yourself or a loved one.

To enter to win, please leave a comment tell me which healthy habit you most want to adopt right now (i.e. eat right, get fit, stop smoking, protect your skin, get regular health checks).

For extra entries:

• Subscribe to my feed by feed reader or email (or let me know if you already do).
• Tweet about this giveaway (one time): Choose you! Enter to win a ‘healthy lifestyle’ gift set, provided by the American Cancer Society – http://tinyurl.com/choose-u – (Follow me on Twitter @OhMariana!)
• Link to me in your sidebar or blog roll. Feel free to grab my button (at the bottom of the page).

I was provided with the information above, a gift bag for myself, and another for giveaway, by The American Cancer Society. Contest ends June 18th, 2010 11:59 pm EST. US entries only, one person per household. Leave a separate comment per entry & a valid email address. Winner, chosen at random, has 3 days to claim their prize.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a list of all my latest giveaways!