Walking to lose weight

There are very few things that we can do that have a more positive impact on our health and our lives than walking.
Walking feels good. Walking cheers people up. And walking has an amazing array of positive results when it comes to our health.
Studies have shown that walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week, can cut new cases of Type 2 diabetes by nearly half.
Our bodies are made to walk. Walking gets the blood flowing through our veins, and changes our blood chemistry to increase the percentage of good (HDL) cholesterol in our bodies.

Walking briskly for 30 minutes a day can reduce the risk of stroke by 25 percent. Walking can also have a positive impact on depression. People who walk report a lower level of depression. One very credible study of women who were depressed and started to walk showed that the women in the depression control group who did not walk had a Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score of 13.5 points at the beginning of the study, and they still had a score of 12.5 points at the end of the 12-week study.

The women who were depressed and walked, however, had their BDI scores improve from an average of 14.81 at the beginning of the study to only 3.27 by the end of the 12-week study. That is a huge difference.

Another study showed that when people between the ages of 60 and 65 walked on a regular basis, they had a significantly lower risk of developing both cognitive impairment and dementia.

Reducing the risk of dementia is a good thing.
Walking definitely helps prevent heart disease. People have known that to be true for a long time.

What people didn’t know to be true until recently was that walking helped patients recovering from certain cancers survive longer. No one quite understands why this might be true, but the studies seem credible and the results seem clear. For prostate cancer, one study showed that patients who walked 90 minutes a week had an almost 50 percent lower mortality risk. Another study showed that for women recovering from breast cancer, regular walking reduced the relative rate of both recurrence and mortality by about 50 percent. Walking also seems to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.

Our bodies clearly function better when we have walking as a regular part of our lives.

Another entirely unexpected benefit from walking is that it can help prevent the common cold -- and another credible study done at Appalachian State University reported that people who walked benefited by having their cold symptoms for as much as 46 percent less time than non-walkers who also had colds.

Again, no one really understands all of those benefits or why they happen.

The researchers from the cold symptom study theorized that walking makes the blood flow faster, so it is possible that increased blood flow brought the body’s natural immune system cells to each of the actual virus sites more often.

Over time, very smart people will figure out why those benefits exist.

Is it better to run or walk? That has been a topic of debate over time. People take both sides. What we know to be true is that both are extremely beneficial to our health, but walking is generally much easier on the body. Walking a mile and running a mile burn about the same total number of calories. All of the health benefits that I just mentioned are triggered by walking. So walking works as well as running, and walking does less incidental damage.

Walking tones muscles and makes them leaner and more efficient. Walking also can create feel-good chemicals -- endorphins -- in the brain.

An ideal health package would be a combination of healthy eating and physical activity. Healthy eating and eating in moderation are both very good things to do, and they do improve health.

Our HEAL agenda for years has focused on two themes -- Healthy Eating and Active Living. We have long sponsored healthy eating campaigns and we have created a whole array of great farmers markets for healthy food -- and now we will try to get everyone to walk. Active living is possible and it can feel very good.

Walking has great benefits -- whether done alone or as a part of a package of healthy behaviors.

Walking can create a very consistent positive and beneficial outcome relative to our personal health -- and, the really good news is, walking generally feels good.

Walking often creates a very nice set of experiences. We can walk in groups. Walking can be very social. We can walk to explore and we can walk to learn.

I love walking through neighborhoods and cities because I see the world around me much better and more completely than the world I see when I just drive by in my car.

Walking has given me the gift of my town.

Walking is a good thing.

walking is fine I heart walking!

Walking is my exercise of choice too. I truly enjoy it - and it's done wonders for me. My dogs love it too, and they're like my own private cheering section to get out there and walk, lol. But I do practice "lift and carry" with my abs and add in upper body exercises for a good portion of my walk, including arm rolls, raises and punches. Got rid of the batwings I had from losing all that weight!!!

I too use walking as my main source of exercise throughout the week...

I load the toddler up in the stroller, leash up the dogs, and head out! It's so refreshing!

I also bought a dance video! It's fun and great for rainy days! (I can't do the salsa if my life depended on it though, so I definitely close the curtains!)

I also actually enjoy cleaning, so sometimes I'll find things to clean thoroughly...Sometime I'll scrub baseboards or walls, etc...