Start with a Walk in the Park

Greetings from rainy Lexington, KY!

Dr. Oz was on Oprah this afternoon. If you are new to Dr. Oz, he is famous for his series of "YOU" books such as "YOU ON A DIET". The one thing that struck me as very important was walking and how much a person needs to walk. Basically, he stated that you must get in 10,000 steps a day. You can start with a few thousand, but to be healthy, we must work up to 10,000 steps a day. Depending on your stride, this could be different for each person. I did a little research, and here's the deal.

Man's average stride = 2.5 ft
Woman's average stride = 2.2 ft
There are 5, 280 feet in a mile. So, if you are a woman and you walk a mile, you have taken about 2400 steps. (Just divide 5280 by your stride and you have the steps.)

According to Dr. Oz, 10,000 steps are the goal, which is approximately 4.16 miles.

I have often commented to my friends and family that unless I walk 5 miles, I don't feel a thing in terms of improvement to my body. Now I understand why that is the case. I actually like to walk 6 miles in one hour, and of course for anyone who walks, you know that is very aggressive. But, after listening to Dr. Oz, we need to rethink our idea of how much walking we really need.

Well, I'm getting my walking shoes on now!

Dianna