Groups team up to push healthy lifestyle

Three of the nation’s leading not-for-profit health agencies announced a joint initiative this week. Lori Hannam is head of the Iowa Chapter of the American Diabetes Association. The joint initiative also includes the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association, in a drive to educate both consumers and doctors, called “Everyday Choices for Healthier Life.” It’s a three-year advocacy and public-education campaign based on four strategies.Those strategies are: consumer a healthy diet, be physically active, don’t smoke, and see a doctor to assess your personal health risks. The focus on the consumer aims to cut the risk and occurrence of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Hannam says they hope to tackle the factors the average person has in their control.Poor diet, overweight, lack of activity and smoking contribute to deaths and combined with the 4 chronic diseases they account for nearly 2 out of every 3 deaths in the US. It’s a three-year initiative that’ll be visible at the local level as well as nationally with the shared resources of the cancer, heart and diabetes associations.