Colon Cancer Coalition President Kristin Tabor welcomes race participants (Photo: Wayne Kryduba)

ASCRS News, the newsletter of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, featured a front page article about the recent Twin Cities Get Your Rear in Gear 5K Run/Walk in Edina, Minnesota.  ASCRS worked with the Colon Cancer Coalition to make the event a success, bringing over 100 Society members to the race and helping to raise much needed funds for awareness and research.   The 2010 ASCRS Annual Meeting was held in downtown Minneapolis and also set records for attendance.  According to the article, “Public Relations Committee Chair Dr. Harry T. Papaconstantinou, Temple, TX, is working to arrange another Get Your Rear in Gear event in connection with the 2011 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Read the full article…

Fitness expert Chris Freytag

Almost all women have cellulite.  Concern over the condition brings countless women into diet centers, health clubs and beauty counters.  While most remedies have been proven ineffective, the changes that women make as a result of that concern can be positive; better eating practices and improved exercise habits.  But can a woman be too young to be concerned over the appearance of cellulite?  This question comes from a teenage reader who would like to reduce cellulite on her thighs. Ask the Trainer fitness expert Chris Freytag responds with helpful diet and exercise advice and suggestions for developing a healthy body image at an early age.

Get Your Rear in Gear reader: Hello!  I am 13 years old I have a bit of cellulite on my thighs.  How can I get rid of it? I usually eat well and I like eating salad and some fruits, too.

Chris Freytag: Well, you are not alone…cellulite plagues 90% of all women at some point and sometimes it starts in our teenage years.  The quest to get rid of cellulite has become a billion-dollar business.  Most cellulite creams and pills have been proven ineffective and a waste of money.  Bottom line, cellulite is the product of body composition, genetics and hormones. Cellulite is basically pockets of fat which are trapped in the loosened fibers and cause dimpling in the skin. There are no miracle cures, but to reduce the appearance of the “cottage cheese” look, you need to tighten up the muscle fibers, maintain a healthy body weight, and eat a healthy diet.

Try these steps to reduce cellulite:

• Get your cardio exercise – try for at least 3 times a week.   This will help improve circulation, burn calories and feel good!
• Try a few strength exercises – do a few squats or climb some stairs to tone and tighten your leg muscles.
• Join a new sport – something that allows you to run, jump, walk and have fun.
• Stay hydrated and eat healthy.  Avoid preservatives, chemicals and processed foods.  Eat fresh fruits, veggies, and as much real food as you can.
• Wear clothes that flatter your figure. Not necessarily the newest trend but find the styles that make you feel good.
• Do some positive self talk everyday – remind yourself of your best qualities.

Remember – beauty is much deeper than cellulite.  Beauty is about who you are on the inside.  By keeping a positive mental attitude and body image and you will appear more attractive the world around you!

Get Your Rear in Gear: There are many reasons to develop good diet and exercise habits from an early age.  Improving one’s appearance is one of them.  But as we age, those health habits will also help us to prevent disease and enjoy fuller, healthier lives.  Check out the links below to learn more about developing a strong body image in the teen years, then check out some of the other links to learn more about developing exercise and nutritional habits for a healthy life.

Chris Freytag is a nationally known fitness expert on NBC-TV, the fitness expert for Prevention magazine, and author of 3 books. Chris holds a BA in Journalism and is a certified Group Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer and Lifestyle and Weight Management consultant.  Visit her website for more information about her products or exercise DVDs.

Submit a fitness question to the trainers!

Read more:

• Healthy Body Image: Tips for Guiding Girls (Mayo Clinic)
• Get a total body workout at the neighborhood playground
• Runners live longer healthier lives
• 5 steps to developing a successful fitness plan
• Get fit with the kids during Spring Break

At GetYourRearinGear.com, medical and health experts have repeatedly pointed to the importance of diet and exercise in the prevention of chronic disease, including colon cancer. In a recent interview, Dr. Robert Madoff, Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the University of Minnesota, discussed how he made changes in his own diet to improve his health. He says, “nutritionally, I’ve migrated from a typical high meat, high fat “Western” diet over the last few years to what would now be described as a “Mediterranean” diet – many more vegetables, less meat, and less dairy than I used to eat.” Ask the Trainer fitness expert Chris Freytag also recommends a healthy exercise plan paired with the food found in a typical Mediterranean diet to reduce body fat and improve health. “Eating MUFA’s – monounsaturated fatty acids- such as olive oil, olives, nuts, seeds, avocados and dark chocolate have been linked to reducing body fat.  Therefore, choose a MUFA with most meals and get moving.”

The Mediterranean eating plan is less of a diet than a lifestyle. Healthy fats and lean proteins are paired with a regular exercise program for optimal health. Learn how to get started on the Mediterranean plan by clicking on any of these links.

• What is the Mediterranean diet?
• Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet
• Ask the trainer: MUFAs reduce body fat
• Three nutritional tips for preventing cancer
  

C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition
Health Care Reform and You

Health Care Reform and You from Judi Sohn on Vimeo.

Understanding the Affordable Care Act

TRX Suspension Training. TRX training was one of the hottest fitness trends of 2009 and continues to gain momentum. It is a system of straps and holds anchored to a wall, door, or other solid support. Exercisers use the straps to pull, lift and stabilize their own body weight to increase strength and improve stability. TRX workouts can be done at home or in the gym.

Kettlebells: Kettlebells first made the fitness trends list in 2008 but this weight training program continues to be a hot format in gyms across the country. Kettlebells are round, cast-iron weights with a handle on top used for strength training. But unlike traditional weights, the handle on a kettlebell and the unique round shape make them more challenging to balance through a range of movements. Like TRX training, kettlebells add a challenging dimension to strength training because they force the exerciser to stabilize or or more joints to complete an exercise.

Sprints: Long cardio workouts have gone the way of high carb diets and have fallen out of favor with many fitness fanatics. A recent study reported that exercisers who used short sprints lost significantly more weight than those who exercised at moderate intensity for a long period of time. For exercisers who are short on time, this new trend is welcome news.

Deborah Nagle, M.D.

Cancer treatment options can be confusing, especially when initial treatments are not as successful as anticipated. This Ask The Doctor question comes from a reader who was diagnosed with colon cancer at a young age and is now in the process of gathering information about future treatment.

Submit a question to the doctors

Get Your Rear in Gear reader: At age 33, I was diagnosed in 2007 with colon cancer that had metastasized to my lungs; about nine very small bilateral spots.  After 12 rounds of Oxaliplatin, Evastin and 5FU they were gone.  I followed up with CT scans every three months.  The spots started growing again.  I did another round of chemo in June 2009 for about eight months.  This time I had allergic reaction to Oxaliplatin so I only had about three doses of that.  I just continued with Evastin and 5FU until January.  My last CT scan in June showed they are growing again.  My oncologist wants to start chemo again in August.  This time he wants to add Irinotican (which I have heard is horrible).  I went to my thoracic surgeon and he doesn’t want to do surgery because the spots are bilateral and too small and are responding to chemo. Do you have any new suggestions or treatment ideas that I could consider?

Dr. Nagle: Joan, surgery and chemotherapy are the mainstays of treatment for colon cancer.  Unfortunately, there are too many lung nodules for surgery.  Given the pattern of disease (both lungs and 9 small lesions), the only real option at this point is chemotherapy.  Most medical oncologists will utilize all standard regimens before trying something more experimental.  Irinotecan has been shown to be effective.  Everyone responds to chemo a bit differently, so it may be worth a try for you.

Dr. Deborah Nagle is the Chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and member of ASCRS. She is also a member of the Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians and an instructor in surgery.

Colon cancer is the number one cancer killer among non-smokers

A new report by the Centers for Disease Control reports that 22 million adults aged 50-75 still need to be tested for colorectal cancer. The findings were part of a study carried out by the CDC which focused on screening trends for both breast and colorectal cancer. The good news is that screening for colon cancer has increased by 11%. The bad news, however, is the number of people who still need to be screened.

According to the report, roughly one third of Americans are not getting screened for colon cancer according to CDC guidelines. The guidelines state that “at age 50 and until age 75 (sometimes younger or older, if your doctor recommends it), men and women should have one or more of three tests to check for colon cancer. In particular, adults aged 50–59 years should get screened because their testing rate is so low. The maximum benefit is expected when people in their 50s are informed and start getting tested.” The three suggested tests for colon cancer include the FOBT (stool test), a flexible sigmoidoscopy, or a colonoscopy. Colonoscopy, according to many gastroenterologists, is the gold standard for colorectal cancer screening.  Lack of awareness and education, as well as insufficient insurance coverage are cited as possible reasons for the lack of testing. Only 36% of uninsured Americans are up to date with colorectal cancer screening, despite the fact that colon cancer is the number one cancer killer for non-smokers.

To improve screening rates the CDC suggests that organizations can

• Inform people about who should be screened and about test options.
• Explain the benefits of screening for colon cancer.
• Identify groups in the community who are not getting screened.
• Make sure tests are done correctly.
• Work with minority and other hard-to-reach groups to encourage and facilitate screening.
• Identify problems (barriers) that keep people from getting screened.
• Create programs to solve these problems and increase screening such as using “patient navigators.” Patient navigators can guide people through the screening process, making it easier to get screened, learn test results promptly, receive appropriate follow-up care, and find support networks.
• Encourage medical practices, especially those with low screening rates, to remind patients to be screened, track who has been screened, and follow up with patients who have not been screened or who need additional tests or treatment.

If you are 50 years of age and have not been screened, if you have a family history of colorectal cancer, or if you are experiencing symptoms which cause concern, visit the Education page at GetYourRearinGear.com. The Colon Cancer Coalition oversees Get Your Rear in Gear 5K races and events across the country which help raise awareness about the importance of colon cancer screening. Get more information about the events or the organization by visiting GetYourRearinGear.com.

Read more:

• Symptoms that warrant a doctor visit
• Got a Question?  Ask the Doctor and get an answer!
• Ask the Doctor: Sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy as a screening option?
• Hereditary cancer 101: What you need to know about inheriting cancer
• Phone reminders increase screening rates

Submit a fitness question to the trainers!

Get Your Rear in Gear reader: I am 21 years old and about 115 pounds. I like to exercise and I have a great tummy and legs, but when I tone I tend to loose my chest. I’m lucky to always have been a petite female, but I really stress about looking too thin. Do you have any suggestions as to what I could do to fill in?

Kris Wayne: This is a great question.  Breast tissue is primarily fat, so when you lose weight, that area will get smaller. If you would like to “fill out” that area try to develop the pectoralis muscle in the chest area. Add pushups or use free weights to do chest exercises such as the “fly”. If you belong to a gym, the weight room will also have a chest press machine and pec fly machine. Just be aware that it takes a great deal more effort to build muscle than it does to lose fat. This means you must be prepared to be both persistent and patient. The rule of thumb is that lighter weights and high repetitions will build endurance, but if you want to increase muscle mass, you can use heavier weights and fewer repetitions to actually develop more lean mass. Good luck!

Kris Wayne is the Generations Fitness Specialist for the Metropolitan Minneapolis YMCA. Kris is a certified presenter and fitness instructor through the American Council on Exercise and is a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified personal trainer.

Read more:

• Is weight training important for a runner?
• How to begin a weight training program
• How to do the perfect push up
• How to get Michelle Obama arms

According to a release, the 2008 was study funded by the National Cancer Institute and appears in the July 2010 edition of Medical Care. The study involved nearly 6,000 Kaiser Permanente members aged 51- 80 who were overdue for colon cancer screening. Half received up to three reminder calls stressing the importance of screening and offering them an at-home kit to detect blood in the stool. Within six months, 22.5 percent of people who received reminder calls ordered and completed a stool card test, compared to only 16 percent of those who did not receive reminder calls.

• Listen to the reminder call

Colon cancer is at least 90% curable if caught in its earliest stages. Screening guidelines suggest a colonoscopy beginning at age 50 for most adults. Those with a family history of the disease, or those experiencing symptoms should talk to their health care provider about getting screened at an earlier age. However, many adults are reluctant to have a colonoscopy performed. An FOTB (fecal occult blood test) may be a reasonable alternative. Positive results from the FOTB may indicate any number of conditions and should be followed by further testing.

Read more:

• Ask the Doctor: colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy as a screening option
• A simple solution to improve cancer screening rates
• Top four reasons that people avoid a colonoscopy
• Active patient involvement is key to improving screening rates

Photo source

The efforts of Wilson’s Warriors were recently highlighted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In an article titled “Gaining by Giving“, the team is pictured at this year’s Twin Cities Get Your Rear in Gear 5K Run/Walk, where they turned out in significant numbers to raise funds and awareness for colon cancer. The article discussed the importance of workplace volunteerism and included an interview with Doug Cole, the founder and CEO of Cole’s Salon, where Jennifer Wilson was a vice president and where many Wilson’s Warriors team members are employed. Cole explained his commitment to his employees’ charitable endeavors. “We have 300 people representing us. The customer is king. We care about them, their causes and these communities.” The salon chain was recently recognized by the Star Tribune as a “Top 100 Workplace” for their training center, which was run by Jennifer.

Wilson's Warriors organizers Jamie Chapman and Theresa Warner

Team members Theresa Warner and Jamie Chapman were also featured in a recent issue of the Farmington Independent for their work organizing the second annual Wilson’s Warriors beer bash which raised additional funds for the Colon Cancer Coalition. As a result of their efforts, Chapman and Warner were named the 2010 Team Ambassadors for the Twin Cities Get Your Rear in Gear 5K in Edina, Minnesota.

While the funds raised by the team will go to support colon cancer screening and treatment programs, including the Minnesota Department of Health Sage Scopes Screening Program, the media attention gained by these organizers raises awareness of the disease. This crucial media attention helps to bring key health issues out of the dark and into peoples’ homes. By educating the community, Wilson’s Warriors and the Colon Cancer Coalition hope to increase screening rates in Minnesota and across the country.

Sadly, the team suffered another loss with the recent passing of Ken Kuchera to colon cancer.  Kuchera was the father of Theresa Warner, and longtime Farmington Minnesota Fire Chief.