Erin O'Hara: naturopath and wellness expert on the importance of bowel cancer awareness

February marks the start of 'Move Your Butt for Bowel Cancer' month - an awareness movement designed to encourage people to think about the condition.

Colorectal cancer is the most commonly registered cancer in New Zealand, with thousands of cases diagnosed per year.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explains the importance of getting checked regularly - and eating a healthy diet to keep harmful effects at bay.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News TALKSB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Do you want to be now to talk well, missus
Eron O'Hara, Good morning, Good morning. So February is Move
your Butt for Bow Cancer Month. That's got a ring
to it.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
It does, absolutely, It's about getting out there, moving your
body and walking through one hundred ki kilometers through the
month of February to raise some money for bow cancer,
which is definitely needed in this country. I think people
don't realize the high risk of bow cancer as is
the second highest cause of cancer deaths in New Zealand,

(00:42):
actually higher than prostate and breast cancer combined, which is huge.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
That is huge, so really quickly. Actually, if people are
interested in doing that, Move your Butt dot org dot
nz is the website to go to.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, you can sign up start moving your body, which
is getting in any movement and raise some money for them.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
So how do you know that your colon is healthy?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Well, regular bow movements is one big part of colon functions,
so I think just being aware of getting regular bower movements,
which I would classify constipation as less than three bowl
movements per week. So If that is you, then starting
to think about how to get your coalon functioning properly
is really important for your overall health and also your

(01:25):
coalon health as well. But other signs can be gastric symptoms,
so things like bloating, pain, cramping, diarrhea, or more bower
movements than sort of three or four a day, loose stools,
all those things are signs that there's something not quite
right with your digestive function and maybe looking into what

(01:46):
you can do for that.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
So when you talk about the digestive function, explain a
little bit about what the colon does actually, Well.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
The colon's responsible for processing food that has been digested
and forming the stools and also removing some of the
fluid from it, so getting that stool formation. But it's
also a big part of the micro biome, so that's
where a lot of bacteria starts breaking down food, also
through the large intestine.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Okay, so do we need to do cleanses to keep
it healthy and happy or well, I feel.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Like that's a bit of a fad thing to do,
Like the gut in the body is amazing at self cleansing,
and I don't think we need to be over the
top and doing juice cleanses and all these cleanses that
are really putting lots of laxatives through our digestive system,
but instead just looking at getting good gut function. And
that's going to be your best protection is making sure

(02:44):
you're doing all the things on a daily basis, rather
than kind of eating whatever and then doing a cleanse
and then going back to your old habits, but instead
looking at what are good things for keeping the colon
functioning well, And top of the list is always fiber.
And I think that making sure you're getting enough variety
of whole foods, plants, and not necessarily going on a

(03:06):
plant based side of being a vegan, but just eating
more plants and vegetables, so getting more fruits, vegetables and
out seeds, all those grains, the roffage also whole grains
are like kind of working like a little brush through
the colon, really helping to move everything through, preventing constipation,
but also helping also get good bow stool formations as well.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
I'm sure that there are medical reasons why people still
have enemies, but is that still a thing that people
do for to cleanse the colon.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
There's definitely a lot of people that would do that,
or doing the whole colon colon cleansers where you can
go to a clinic and have your colon cleans I'm
not a huge fan, to be honest. I feel like
it really disrupts the gut function and it's more about
how the gun gut functions on a daily basis, and
if we do those sorts of things, it actually sometimes

(03:56):
makes the gut a little bit lazy, and we really
just want to make sure we're more like we're training
the gut to have a good function, which is by
what we're eating, So reducing our red maane, eating more fiber,
eating more plant based foods, eating more fermented foods, which
I know is one of your big favorites as all
you're sound crauch And minted foods. Yeah, so all feeding

(04:17):
all those good bugs and keeping all the good nutrients
into the body rather than stripping everything out with it.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
And I wish I could say that I eat them
because because of all the goodness it gives me, But
actually I just love the taste. This is just an
easy way to throw some taste into things. Erin Thank
you so much. If you're interested in move your butt
for bow cancer. That website again is move your Butt
dot org dot NZ.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Talk next week for more from the Sunday session with
Francesca Rudken. Listen live to News Talks it'd be from
nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio