Is walking worth the effort?

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 10

Is walking worth the effort?

Q. I read that jogging burns up only about nine calories a minute. I was thinking about taking up walking to lose some weight, but if running uses only nine calories a minute, I would think walking isn’t worth the effort. Should I bother?

A.The figures you read are just about right. A person who weighs 100 pounds and jogs at the rate of about s’/ 2 miles an hour uses up about 440 calories during a 60-min-ute run.

You would imagine that walking pales by comparison. But look at the chart compiled by the American Heart Association.

You might be surprised at how favorably walking compares, as long as you get your speed up to a pretty good clip, rather than just strolling. The number of calories burned by these activities may seem relatively small, considering the energy you feel you expend. But you are achieving a number of benefits that may not be immediately obvious.

For example, regular exercise heightens your metabolic rate, which means that your body is going to burn more calories during all of its activities throughout the

day not just during workouts.

Exercise also has a tendency to raise people’s energy levels, which means that they tend to become more active in general. It’s a change of lifestyle, no matter how subtle, that achieves the net result of burning more calories, too. If all of that isn’t enough to get you started on that walking program, perhaps you should assume a more positive mental approach. Researchers have found that attitude can play a major role in exercise.

Sports psychologists at the University of Wisconsin discovered, for example, that when they told cyclists pedaling on a stationary bicycle that they were going uphill, their heart rates increased by 15 beats per minute.

When they were told that they’d crested the hill, their physical response returned to a more normal count.

The same kinds of suggestions worked on weightlifters. When they were told that the weights were heavier, they perceived the exercises to be more difficult. Their conclusions are that people who dislike or

are apprehensive about exercise seem to have a tougher time of it than necessary.

So it seems that a positive attitude can really do wonders for launching and sticking with an exercise programme regardless of the activity that you choose.

Q. I would like to get my children out of the habit of eating too much salt. What is the best way to do that?

A. The simple answer would be: throw away your salt shaker. Unfortunately, the companies that manufacture the foods we eat put a lot of salt into them. So, although you should be conservative in the amount of salt you add to foods, the simple answer just does not suffice.

The average American swallows between 10,000 and 20,000 mg of sodium per day, which is grossly in excess of the safe and adequate amount. It is

recommended children should have from 325 to 1800 mg; adolescents, 900 to 2700 mg; and adults 1100 to 3000 mg. Most of the sodium in our diets is hidden. It is a main ingredient in processed foods, fast foods, baked goods, and soft drinks, to name a few. Even condiments contain sodium: a teaspoon of tomato sauce, for example, has about 180 mg; some barbecue sauces go up to 300 mg. Frozen dinners contain thousands of milligrams. A fast-food burger with cheese has 1200 mg; that is not counting chips. Youngsters could easily consume an entire day’s allotment of sodium first thing in the morning, in their cereal bowls. To avoid sodium, become a vigilant label checker. In the cereal department, for example, shredded wheat, puffed rice, puffed wheat, and similar simple offerings have less sodium per serving. So do the old-

fashioned kind of cooked oatmeal, farina, and cream of rice.

Bottled spaghetti sauces, for another example, vary between 35 and 800 mg of sodium in a IOOg serving. You can even make wise choices with fast food. Most restaurants will be happy to provide you with pamphlets listing the amount of sodium in each item on their menus.

You and your kids can learn to like low-salt foods. Researchers have discovered that people with a restricted salt intake eventually reduce their desire for salt. In a six-month study, one group reduced by 50 per cent the amount of salt they found satisfying. If you help your children to lower their appetite for salt, you will be doing them an enormous service. It is a gift that will manifest itself in better health for the rest of their lives. And it’s all just a matter of good taste.

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