Monday, March 17, 2014

PUT YOUR LEFT FOOT IN, PUT YOUR RIGHT FOOT IN - OR ELSE

There is probably dust on my three-pound weights.  But I did walk quite a bit over the weekend despite some foot issues.  

But back to those weights.  The side benefit of weights is that it's hard to eat while you're using them.    

Rebecca Siegel, director of surveillance information for the American Cancer Society, was featured in a Modern Healthcare article today.  She's delighted with the decrease in colon cancer over the last decade.  She's troubled by the underserved populations who haven't had colonoscopies.  

She reminded us about the prevention of staying at normal weight and exercising.   

This of course reminded me of Sunrise Rounds and Dr. Salwitz's chilling title:  Breast Cancer Patients Rest in Peace.   He gave me statistics on exercise time that would keep breast cancer from recurring.  He did get me walking more.  But probably not enough.

Somewhere yesterday I read that most of us walk a lot more than we realize.  (The person who wrote that may not have studied  commuter times very seriously.)  But it was encouraging that we may not need 10,000 more steps.  Maybe only a half hour more five or so times a week.  So. . .  

Why don't we walk?  Athletic shoes in a myriad of colors are popular.  I've had time to study them on people who are sitting down.  Busy people in a meeting.  

In my mystery stories, which I can't read while I'm walking, the hero and heroine run before breakfast every day.  Of course, they are police detectives, so they're safer than some of us when they run wherever they please.

Now, in spite of enough pollen to foliate a new continent, I do have the luxury of walking as much as my feet will put up with.

And my California doctor dealt with the time excuse by telling me to walk faster and get those cardiac bonuses.  

When I lived in the hills, I had a whole litany of ways I talked myself slowly into climbing the nearby hill:  I'd tell myself if I only just laced up my shoes and got my sunglasses, I still didn't have to go.  But for me, it only took one step up before I climbed the whole hill, and proud of it!  

And if I'm careful, I can read while doing the ankle weight moves!  


As I mention in my book ms., an old boyfriend taught me never to sit down when I come home unless it's in front of my project.  
So I guess I'll have to pick up that businesslike three pound weight when I come home and take off my jacket, and see where it leads.  Maybe to more energy?  Maybe to more years without recurrence?  








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