American Cancer Society's Choose You Movement Launches 'New Year, Choose You!' to Help Women Keep Their New Year's Health Resolutions

ATLANTA, Dec. 28, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its Choose You Movement, the American Cancer Society is launching 'New Year, Choose You!' -- an initiative on ChooseYou.com that helps women transform their health-related New Year's resolutions into long-term behavior change that can have a powerful impact on cancer prevention.  

'New Year, Choose You!' is part of the Choose You Movement which was created to draw national attention to the fact that one in three women will get cancer in her lifetime, yet about half of all cancer deaths could be prevented if women maintained a healthy weight through diet and regular exercise, avoided tobacco products and got recommended cancer screening tests. Through the 'New Year, Choose You!' initiative, the Society wants to help women stay on track and meet their health goals throughout the year.

"Despite the best intentions, we know that most women are not successful in achieving their New Year's resolutions. 'New Year, Choose You!' wants to help women stick to their health goals year round," said Colleen Doyle, MS, RD, director of nutrition and physical activity for the American Cancer Society. "By providing women with the necessary support system, incentives and online tools, Choose You helps women develop long-term healthy behavior changes in order to achieve success and reduce their cancer risk."

Making New Year's Resolutions Stick

Past surveys indicate that anywhere from 80 to 92 percent* of New Year's resolutions will fail. This January, through the Choose You Movement, the American Cancer Society wants to help women transform their health-related resolutions into long-term behavior change to help them stay well and help reduce their risk for cancer.

'New Year, Choose You!' invites women to visit ChooseYou.com to share their health-related New Year's resolutions and create a community of support and encourage loved ones to participate. Participants in the 'New Year, Choose You!' initiative are encouraged to take their healthy resolution to the next level by making a Choose You Commitment, an online pledge to reach a specific, individual health goal, in order to stick to their resolutions and ultimately achieve long-term behavior change. At ChooseYou.com, women can choose from different health categories, including: Eat Right; Get Active; Get Recommended Health Screenings; Protect Your Skin; and Quit Smoking. As part of the Choose You Commitment process, participants also have the option to make a monetary pledge and ask friends and family for support in order to incentivize them to stay on track. Extensive academic research conducted by Yale economists on these types of "commitment contracts" has shown that combining incentives and accountability can make you up to three times more likely to achieve your goal.

At ChooseYou.com, women can access a variety of valuable tools and resources to support overall personal health goals, including: a calorie calculator, virtual dietitian, nutrition and activity quiz, smoking cost calculator, prevention and early detection videos and a desktop helper with daily health tips. The site also provides great articles on healthy habits, meals and exercising, among other available resources.

'New Year, Choose You!' Sweepstakes

As an additional incentive for women to join 'New Year, Choose You!' in 2011, women who make a new Commitment via ChooseYou.com between December 27, 2010 and January 31, 2011 will be eligible to enter the 'New Year, Choose You!' sweepstakes for a chance to win a series of health-related prizes.  One Grand Prize Winner and a guest will win a trip for two to fly to Los Angeles, CA to train with celebrity fitness trainer, Holly Perkins of Exercise TV. The Grand Prize package includes two nights in Los Angeles and two days of one-on-one fitness and nutrition training with Holly. Plus, the Grand Prize winner will receive a take-home workout plan and $300 in spending money! In addition to the Grand Prize package, five first prize winners will each receive a $250 gift certificate to SpaFinder.com, five second prize winners will each receive a $100 gift card to Walgreens, and 25 third prize winners will receive a Choose You water bottle.

For more information about the Choose You movement and to be part of 'New Year, Choose You!', please log on to ChooseYou.com.  

*University of Minnesota New Year's Psychology Study and "Goal Free Living" by Stephen Shapiro

About the American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation's largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing about $3.5 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, about 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

SOURCE American Cancer Society