Apologies to my regular readers (I don’t actually know if you exist!) for the nearly month-long hiatus. I’m not even sure where April went…
*I’ll admit that last Friday I was one of the crazies who woke-up at 5 a.m. to watch the Royal Wedding in all its pomp and fashion (I still can’t get over how fabulous the dress was!) This week in DC, however, we had our own Royal occasion. Prince Charles was in town to give the keynote at a sustainable farming conference at Georgetown University, but beforehand made a visit to one of the only urban farms in the District of Columbia. Urban farms are a really fantastic way to promote sustainable living, fill food deserts, promote healthier eating and physical activity, and engage communities.
*Also this week, the First Lady continued her efforts for the Let’s Move! initiative by showing us her moves in conjunction with a new Beyoncé music video aimed at promoting movement through fun activities, like dancing!
*Finally, last month when I posted on Rome and all its culinary glory, I mentioned steps. Most of us know that 10,000 a day is the golden number, but I’ve recently become aware that this is actually in fact not all that easy (for some). My day job is currently having a 3-month pedometer challenge, in an effort to practice what we preach (for example, 3 months instead of just one to promote behavior change). Besides being a fun Spring fashion accessory, the pedometers have made us all painfully aware of how much or how little we are moving each day. 5,000 a day or higher puts you in the category of “non-sedentary” but you aren’t “active” till you hit 10,000.
For the month of April I had a total of 432,093 steps, which gives me an average of 15,432 a day. Sounds pretty good, right? Well… I only achieved this number by including the “steps” I get from swimming, yoga and running (yes, I’m allowed to do this within the parameters of the competition). I make a conscious effort to find the time for all of these activities and have the resources to do so. Most days, in actual steps, I was under 10,000. So far I’ve found that the key to adding more steps to my day is making little changes – getting off a bus stop further away from my destination, using the stairs instead of the elevator when doing laundry, etc. These small additions in steps can actually have a huge impact on the total. We’ll see how the next two months go – my goal is to be top 5 in the office – but for me at least, this exercise has already shifted my thinking on my own movement and that of others.
Just got word that I’m currently in the running for 2nd place – remembering this is a marathon and not a sprint!
-HG
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