LETTER: Pledge to help beat cancer

All you need to do is give up meat and fish for a week and donate what you would have spent to support the charity Beating Bowel Cancer.

To make it even easier the charity has developed a Veg Pledge Calculator which helps you to work out how much you would save based on your average weekly consumption and where you shop.

It’s a great way to encourage people to look at their diet and spending habits and raise funds to help those affected by bowel cancer at the same time.

It’s only for a week but participants could learn a lot about what they eat and spend their money on, as well as support a great cause.

It’s a real win-win situation for those who take part.

Learning to live without meat occasionally could also be good for your health, as there is strong evidence to suggest eating too much red and processed meat is one factor that can increase the risk of developing the disease.

Bowel cancer is the UK’s second biggest cancer killer. There are a number of factors known to increase your chances of being diagnosed with the disease.

Some you can’t change - such as your age and family history.

However you can reduce your risk by cutting down on red meat and processed food, exercising, quitting smoking and reducing your alcohol intake.

Beating Bowel Cancer provides vital practical and emotional support for everyone affected by bowel cancer.

They also run the UK’s only nurse-led specialist helpline for bowel cancer which patients call a ‘lifeline’.

We’re here to help beat bowel cancer but we rely totally on donations, so we’re asking people to make one simple lifestyle change for 7 days to help us continue our work and support all those affected by this disease.

For more information and/or to sign up for the Veg Pledge visit beatingbowelcancer.org

Charlotte Dawson

Head of Nursing, Beating Bowel Cancer, Harlequin House, 7 High Street, Teddington TW11 8EE

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