During a catalogue search at my local library, I came across this title: "Fitness without Exercise - The Scientifically Proven Strategy for Achieving Maximum Health with Minimum Effort." This book by Bryant Stamford and Porter Shimer really misses the point. After all, fitness is more of an attitude than a destination.

Here's another book title that I found which has more going for it, and is an agreeable concept. "Walking: the Pleasure Exercise," written by Mort Malkin. Under the search-word 'fitness' during my library catalogue research, five of the first twenty items contained the word 'walking' in their titles. Doesn't this makes sense?

Quite naturally, walking is the ideal starting place for creating your Fitness Attitude. First, it's low impact, and it uses your body's large muscles. Walking requires no special training or equipment. Actually, you're already expert at doing it, with a body that's been designed for the activity. Wonderful! You've got a perfect way to get started developing your Fitness Attitude: Enjoy a daily walk.

Now, I'm going to make a confession. Even though I place a high value on health and nutrition and fitness in general, I sometimes have to really make an effort to get out the door with my walking shoes on. Today, for example, it was rainy and cold. I had a back-log of emails to answer, and had eaten a heavy lunch. It would have been really easy to make a very good case for staying indoors by the woodstove with my computer screen glowing away.

Momentum is helpful. A daily walk is so much a part of my life by now that I feel strange when I don't walk out. Another thing that is useful, if you'll try it, is having a routine. A ritual will get you out the door and into the flow. Rather than choosing a distance, set a length of time you'll walk, and then Go! You'll develop some routes that become your favorites, and require no planning - which is the beauty of a routine. They can free your mind so your thoughts during your walk can be about more interesting topics than which way to turn at the next intersection.

Good for you, if you use a treadmill, gym, or other walking strategy such as mall walks. Still, if you can possibly make arrangements, spend at least some of your walking time outside. Time in the open air is part of fitness as an attitude.

There is also question of diet as it relates to the Fitness Attitude. Usually, by eating foods that are basically natural, (such as salads that aren't smothered with an oily dressing, or a stir-fry of vegetables that aren't drowned by a sugar sauce), you won't crave un-foods like my personal demon: licorice twists. Still, in our current fast-paced culture, it's inevitable that with the easy portability and attractive packaging of 'snack' foods, plus their availability everywhere~ there will be times when you eat junk. What's different when you have your Fitness Attitude is that you automatically don't include processed 'foods' as a staple in your diet.

As you put attention on fitness, your life will soon include the pleasure of walking daily and a natural hunger for whole foods that are nourishing to you. A Fitness Attitude isn't complicated, and you'll feel better. You simply will.

About the Author
Helen Norse has written on a range of health and fitness topics. She is contributing author to Health First News, on-line health information resource.



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