A very Happy New Year to you! May 2023 fulfill all your deepest desires and bring you health, wealth and happiness!
This is the year I focus on my health, both physical and mental. I will focus on building small habits in my daily routine which help to raise my health quotient.
I have started walking for 10-15 min after dinner.
My family would go for an after dinner walk regularly, especially in the summer months. We followed the adage, ‘After lunch, rest awhile, after dinner walk a mile.’
I would definitely rest after lunch, napping for at least an hour in the afternoon, waking up refreshed to play in the park. I have managed to keep up with this habit, even if for 15 min, all through my ‘working’ and ‘bringing up the children’ years.
After dinner, we would all walk around the same park, enjoying the cool breeze after the hot afternoon. This was peak socializing time for the parents, they would meet other families, exchange gossip and other daily news, inquire about each other’s health.
Plans would be made for dinners and birthday parties and movies. Parents would compare notes on how the children were doing in school, on the best way to discipline the kids, which schools and which teachers were the best. We could never hide any tests taken or results given, the parents would come to know and we would have to hear about it for months.
I used to think this was a very Indian thing to do, my friends and I discussed how much we missed this interaction. Recently, while reading about Italian culture, I came across the word passeggiata, which is a leisurely stroll, taken in the evening, after dinner.
I read a research study which concluded that one of the reasons women have less heart events is because they move more after dinner, clearing up the dishes, sweeping the floor etc. I disregarded the study, thinking it to be another way the men want women to be tied to the chores in these modern times.
But I am reading more studies recommending a 10-15 minute after dinner walk, mainly as a means to control blood sugar. After a meal, the sugar levels in blood spike, and walking even at a slow pace, puts the big muscles of the legs into motion, so they use up that sugar, which leads to less of an insulin spike, which over time can lead to better sugar control and might prevent diabetes.
I have been trying to do this off and on. I do feel better on the nights I walk, the food gets digested better and I feel lighter.
Every night, after dinner I walk for 15 min. I listen to audio books while I walk. I have started the Sue Grafton series, I like the narrator, Mary Peiffer, she has a very snarky tone which makes me laugh quietly. I actually look forward to this. I also spend some time picking up the house, though there’s not much to do in an empty nest.
So have I convinced you to walk after dinner? Let me know.