One Reason to Walk Daily
This week we are focusing on going for a walk each evening in our Moms Raising Healthy Humans Community as a family if at all possible. Here is one of many benefits as to why you should walk daily.
There are a few reasons why I recommend you try walking daily:
-Last chance to get in some movement as a family
-Help to relax and destress you so that you can get a better night’s sleep
-Aids in digestion, by not allowing things to become stagnant
-Great for the lymphatic system
-Opportunity to catch up with your children
-Walking after eating helps to keep blood sugar stable
Walking Helps Blood Sugar
As we get older it becomes harder to control our blood sugar so we need to do as much as we can to help support it. Try walking daily in as little as about 15 minutes to help control this as your muscles need glucose to help power the walk. It also helps the body use the insulin more effectively. When your blood sugar rises, your pancreas will produce insulin which is a hormone that absorbs the blood sugar for energy or storage. Walking will allow for this blood sugar to be used for energy, which is good for our mid-section as well.
Walking changes gut microbiota
The other thing that exercises does is it alters the gut microbiota. Physical activity alters the gut microbiota by increasing the production of short chain fatty acids.
Short chain fatty acids are the main source of energy for the cells lining your colon and are involved in the metabolism of carbs and fat. Most of our short chain fatty acids come from eating fiber and they help to reduce the risk of inflammatory disease, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
The really cool thing is they always thought it was the food that we eat that creates short chain fatty acids, but with this recent research we have learned that exercise alone can also alter our gut microbiota!
Listen to the Podcast to hear more about the 2 studies.
This helps us to understand that exercise is so much more than just what you see in the mirror. This is imperative for more aspects in our overall health. Now the goal is to help you find ways to make exercise a part of your daily life.
If you are looking for more ways to move in your daily life, I would recommend our Movement Membership where we offer monthly movement focus, work out videos, opportunities to join LIVE pop up online classes, and yummy meal plans.
