Walking After Midnight

Late one night recently, I watched the documentary "Supersize Me." One of the many factoids I remember from my hazy late night viewing was that one of the doctors said that most of us get from between 3,000 steps per day (very sedentary) to 6,000 steps per day (average) as we go about our normal activities. He said we should aim for 10,000 steps per day. That got me thinking--how much do I walk each day?

I figured that since I live in the country with three kids, a dog, and a two story house that I probably walked more than the average, but those old jeans still don't fit, so I decided I'd keep track. I am discovering that the goal of 10,000 daily steps is harder to reach than I thought. I made it today, in part because I shoveled out an entire truckload of composted horse manure into my garden and started hand-tilling it in around some of my plants--hardly an everyday occurrence. Yesterday I took my youngest to preschool, went clothes shopping, and later in the evening went grocery shopping, and still reached only around 7500 by the end of the day.

Apparently the idea of aiming for a certain number of steps per day has been around for a while: the Japanese, who average 3 pedometers per household, have been doing it for over 40 years and refer to it as "Manpo-Kei," which takes its name from a pedometer marketing slogan from the 60's and basically means "10,000 step meter." (While interesting, I was disappointed: I thought the phrase would have some nice Zen-like meaning about health and balance, but no--it was a commercial). In one study researchers discovered that in an old order Amish community, the men averaged 18,000 steps per day; the women, 14,000. Contrast that to our average number of televisions and cars per household, along with our low daily step counts, and it's no surprise that more than a few of us can't get away with that extra Krispy Kreme.

So I'm thinking I'll keep track of my steps for a while and see if I can't raise my average, and while I'm at it, start pacing when I eat brownies. . .