Walking is all about grabbing life with both hands and savoring the moments. National Geographic helps create those moments with Top Ten Walks and Hiking Tours. Trek to an Acadian fishing village in Nova Scotia, the Cloud Forests of Costa Rica, or the dramatic cliffs of the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland and more. The world is a walker’s oyster. So pop on your pedometer, lace your shoes, and Walk Toward “Wonderful.”
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies
And all that’s best if dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes. Lord Byron
Walking is less about looking good than feeling good. But in a physical-appearance obsessed world, this may be a difficult concept to internalize. After all, everyone wants to walk “pretty.” And you can!
Just ask Balance me Beautiful, a blog devoted to the mission of helping readers “walk” toward a balanced, healthy and beautiful life. They’ve “curated” the internet for the best and most recent articles so you don’t have to spend hours on the web culling through junk to find the gems. After all, the goal is to reduce your sittin’-down time, not add to it! Do you want to lose weight by walking or get your yoga on? Find flattering yoga apparel to match your inner beauty? Traipse through Balance me Beautiful’s blog and find gems aplenty. You’ll be glad you did.
Not to be outdone, the American Heart Association’s “Walking to a Healthier You,” Mayo Clinic’s “Walking: Trim Your Waistline, Improve Your Health,” and “Walking Women Win,” show that a healthier you is a more beautiful you! In more ways than one!
Eating healthy too often looks more like deprivation. Worse, much of the “expert” advice over the years has now been debunked as scientifically unsound. This article from the Harvard School of Public Health provides critically needed clarification. And these two websites, Healthy Recipes from AllRecipes and Food Network’s Healthy Cooking Every Day take healthy eating into “delicious.”
So, it’s time for lunch and you have a decision to make. A self-deemed “indispensable” you can swill coffee and greasy fast-food while slaving through the hour OR a “connected” you can walk with a friend, eat a healthy lunch and come roaring back!
Decide for the latter says this New York Times piece citing a study in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sport.
In this Atlantic reprint of philosopher/author Henry David Thoreau’s essay titled “Walking,” the author muses upon the joy of sauntering while lamenting a sedentary world disconnected from nature. Extolling the art of the saunter, he notes;
No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence which are the capital in this profession. It comes only by the grace of God. It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker. – Thoreau
Thoreau waxes eloquent but his passion may not be for the faint of heart. Read his essay and contemplate it the next time you head for the woods. It may change your life!