Sharing these words from article in The Diabetes Diet Blog:

“Adapted from BMJ Sept 19 Promoting physical activity to patients by Christine Haseler et al.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has described walking as a miracle cure. Despite this many of us are not as active as we should be and inactivity is thought to result in as many deaths as smoking. More than a quarter of UK adults do less than 30 minutes physical activity a week.

Quantified, these are the benefits of just plain walking:

30% lower all cause mortality, even 10 minutes a day is worthwhile.

20-30% lower risk of dementia.

Better relief from back pain than back exercises

30% lower risk of colon cancer

30% reduction in falls for older adults

22-83% reduction in osteoarthritis

even lower body fat than playing sports

20-35% lower risk of cardiovascular disease

20% lower risk of breast cancer

30-40% lower risk of metabolic syndrome or type two diabetes

The people who need to see their GP before undertaking exercise are few but include people with unstable angina, aortic stenosis or uncontrolled severe hypertension.

In pregnancy the sort of activities that need to stop are: impact activities, lying on the back for long periods, high altitude activities and underwater activities.”

After a nice walk why not enjoy a bowl (or mug) of Minestrone Soup

All the best Jan