Walking has become the default mode of exercise. If going outside to walk is not convenient, then a walking treadmill is available for year-round use. You will get nowhere, but you will use up calories. We are exhorted to walk to lose weight, to avoid gaining weight, to refresh our minds, to unstiffen our muscles.  As someone whose steps per day are counted by an app on my cell phone, I am pleased when my daily walking miles increase. “Look at all the calories I am using up!“ I think when a congratulatory computer-generated message appears on the phone.

But before walking was reserved for burning calories, it used to be the predominant way of reaching a destination. Those who still depend on walking, rather than a car or public transportation, often find it a more efficient and cost-effective way of getting somewhere.  When the roads are clogged with traffic, it is a delight to realize that walking to a destination is faster than driving.  And in some situations like a mall, museum or zoo, walking is the only option other than a wheelchair. Tour buses get drive a sightseeing group to the ancient castle or botanical garden, but seeing it requires legs not wheels.

However, there is an aspect to walking that seems to have been forgotten or disregarded in an attempt to make more people move more. Walking is good for the mind, for thinking, daydreaming, and becoming aware of the details of our environment.  Indeed, those who meditate sometimes do a walking meditation in which the body, breathing, and mind become one. Usually too impatient to contemplate anything but a robust pace while walking, recently I have been forced to slow down because of my dog. He is almost blind due to a genetic problem associated with his breed. Fortunately, his hound genes allow him to sniff his way through the world as if there are eyes at the end of his nose; but his pace is about 90% slower than when he could see.  As I am at the other end of the leash, I too have slowed down my pace. 

Our walks have now become a stroll, a leisurely perambulation around the neighborhood. But as the number of miles we used to cover diminishes to a few blocks, moving slowly has the positive effect of increasing my awareness of the surroundings: There are fewer ducks in the pond today; the yellow leaves of the birch tree highlighted by the sun look painted; that trash can needs to be emptied; the moon is almost full tonight; the leaves on the sidewalk crunch delightfully when I scuff through them. Casual conversations with other walkers occur frequently, as I stop to allow the dog to smell his way to the next tree. But the best aspect of these leisurely strolls is giving me the time and privacy to think, to indulge in memories, even to daydream.     

A constant complaint of our over-committed lives is the absence of time to restore and renew ourselves.  We must always get to the next thing on our list. One of my friends jokingly told me that as she is lowered into her grave, she will toss out her ‘to -do’ list. Strolling gives us permission to forget the list, to stop temporarily multi-tasking and strategizing about how much we can accomplish over the next 24 hours. Ambling gives us the respite from the constant demands upon us. It gives us time to indulge in our private selves without having to worry about how we present ourselves to the world.  Strolling, if we think about it, should even make us aware and grateful that we can walk and see and hear.

Exercise is important; indeed, it is essential to good mental and physical health. But as my dog has taught me, sometimes a gentle walk can truly enhance our well-being.    

I hadn’t seen my neighbor for several weeks, but we’d just met again while walking our dogs.  When I commented on how well she looked, she patted her mid-section and said, ”I finally got rid of my big stomach.” (that she had a large stomach was not apparent in our previous encounters.)  When I murmured something to that effect, she went into a long discourse on how she managed to vanquish her perceived girth by radically changing her diet.  She told me, “I cut out all dairy and carbohydrates, and I eat only protein and vegetables. But it’s strange. I haven’t lost any weight. I just lost the bloating.”

My nutritional antennae went up when she mentioned her dietary changes.  Further questioning revealed that she really hadn’t stopped eating carbohydrates, and had enjoyed an excellent pasta dish the previous night at a local restaurant.  But no dairy products had been eaten for weeks. “And as soon as I stopped putting milk on my cereal, and cut out yogurt and cottage cheese, my bloating stopped,” she proclaimed, patting her flatter stomach. “So obviously the dairy products were making me fat.”

As our dogs settled down on the grass, we continued talking. “ So maybe you have lactose intolerance,” I suggested. “That would account for the bloating after you eat dairy. “

She was unaware that as people age, the enzyme lactase that breaks down lactose, the sugar naturally found in milk, disappears or becomes much less active. Consuming milk and sometimes other dairy products such as ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese and even butter (it contains milk solids) causes gas, bloating and diarrhea. This is due to bacteria in the intestine interacting with the undigested milk sugar. The intestinal discomfort is accompanied by cosmetic discomfort; skirts or pants strain to fit over a bloated stomach, and the abdomen may not retract to a flatter shape until all the lactose has been expelled.

“You can get lactose-free dairy products,” I told her. “Also, often the bacteria in yogurt have already broken down some of the sugar, so regular yogurt may not cause bloating. And you can take pills that contain the enzyme lactase. You chew them right before eating any dairy products. “

“Well, maybe I do have lactose intolerance… but it doesn’t matter,” she responded. “Why go back to eating dairy? I drink almond milk and eat broccoli. “ She bent down to pick up her dog who was eating grass. “I get all the calcium I need. “

I felt as if I was making a nutritional nuisance out of myself, but asked anyway, “ Didn’t your doctor tell you a few months ago that you may be developing osteoporosis? You were worried that calcium in supplements was not being absorbed as well as calcium in food. Are you sure you are getting enough calcium now?”  Her dog started barking, and she looked as if she was going to bark at me so, letting our dogs pull us in opposite directions, we parted company. But as I walked home, I wondered whether she could get enough calcium from almond milk and broccoli. She needed to get about 1200 mg of calcium daily.

She was right about the almond milk. Eight ounces of calcium-fortified milk contains as much of this mineral as cow’s milk: 300 mg.  But would she drink 4 glasses a day?  Yogurt has 400 mg of calcium, but because eating it supposedly made her fat, it was not on her allowable food list.  What else could or would she eat? Canned salmon or sardines with bones? Probably not, or only rarely. Vegetables? She said she ate broccoli.  Could vegetables provide the calcium she needed?

Broccoli is not a good option, unless she eats a bucket full.  A cup contains at most about 65 mg of calcium. Steamed kale, bok choy, turnip greens, and spinach are good sources (a relative term as they contain only about 100 g per cup of calcium) but there is a problem. These dark leafy vegetables have a pesky substance called oxalic acid that attaches to the calcium, and prevents the mineral from being absorbed from the intestine into the circulation. In fact, oxalic acid can even prevent the calcium in milk or yogurt from getting into the blood stream if these dairy products are eaten along with dark leafy vegetables.

What about orange juice? Calcium-fortified OJ is as good a source of calcium as milk, and has about the same number of calories as whole milk. But will my friend, worried about the size of her tummy, fret about the calories?

Maybe she could swallow 2 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses every day (400 mg). And she could eat chickpeas, black-eyed peas, soybeans, tofu processed with calcium sulfate, figs, and instant oatmeal fortified with calcium.

Bones are an excellent calcium source, but I suspect only her dog chewed on those. (These cook down in the canning process of sardines and salmon to boost calcium.)

So it seems that dairy products are the best natural sources of this essential mineral. But will my friend be willing to try lactose-free dairy products and/or the lactase containing pills so she can consume them? Maybe so, if her stomach remains flat.  Perhaps it will require another   walk with our dogs to convince her.