User:Ccc/Next Step To Health

Next Step to Health is a health program geared towards breast cancer survivors. The program is based in St. Louis, MO and anyone in the area is invited to join. Currently, the program includes exercise classes three times per week including aerobics, light weight training, and Pilates and a nutrition class every month. Outside of the structured classes, friendship and mentoring are also a positive benefit of the program.

Classes are held at the fitness center inside Heritage Physical Therapy located at 1050 Old Des Peres Road.

For more information or class schedule contact Rosemary Ringo at (636) 861-5975.

Mission
To empower women with knowledge in the areas of: Nutrition, specifically how to maintain a low fat diet, how to read a label and count fat and calories, and how to choose healthy food. Exercise, specifically what it is, how to do it, and how often in order to make independent and permanent changes in lifestyle and educate people to commit to change to decrease their risk of recurrence and death from breast cancer.

Scientific support
The core principles of the Next Step to Health program, exercise and a low-fat diet, are based on scientific data:

Dietary Fat Reduction in Postmenopausal Women with Primary Breast Cancer: Phase III Women’s Intervention Nutritional Study (WINS) showed that:
 * Low-fat diet (20% or less of daily calories from fat) can lower disease rate in patients
 * Low-fat diet can lower local and distant recurrence rate
 * A life-style intervention resulting in dietary fat reduction may increase relapse-free survival in a population of mostly post menopausal breast cancer patients
 * This was a 24% reduction in risk for relapse in the low-fat group
 * For women who had estrogen receptor negative tumors, the risk of relapse fell by 42% while the benefit for estrogen receptor positive women was negligible.

Physical Activity and Survival after a Breast Cancer Diagnosis (JAMA 2005) showed that:
 * Exercise decreases relative risk of death
 * The greatest benefit occurred in women who performing the equivalent of walking 3 to 5 hours per week at an average pace may decrease breast cancer death 6%
 * Women with breast cancer who follow US physical activity recommendations may improve their chance of survival.

Staff

 * Maggi Coplin, MD, MS
 * Rosemary Ringo
 * Kay Schmidt
 * Ellen Stein, MS, CNS
 * Julie Winters, RN