Why is Walking Important Why is Walking Important

in the Beyond Sabor in the Beyond Sabor

Program?Program?

Beyond Sabor: What Do We Mean When We Say

These Words• As we begin our twelve week program, keep in mind that walking is

essential to the outcomes that we seek.

• The goals of the Beyond Sabor program are to make sure that those of normal weight, do not increase their weight throughout the 40 weeks that you will be involved with the program and WELL BEYOND THAT.

• For those who need to reduce weight, our goal is to help you lose weight. We want you to understand that in twelve weeks, those of you who are at least five pounds overweight may not lose what you need to lose. However, we call our program Beyond Sabor because our aim is for you to continue the healthy practices that you begin today well beyond the length of our program and throughout your life.

The Two Meanings of Beyond

Beyond, as in Beyond Sabor, has two meanings in this program:

1)You do not need to sacrifice flavor when eating healthy so you can have a very tasty meal which is also healthy (beyond flavor).

2)And Beyond referring to the healthy practices that you will learn here that we hope you will maintain throughout the rest of your life; that is, well beyond the end of the program.

Beyond Sabor: What Does Beyond Mean

Here?• If you continue to practice healthy eating and walking

regularly, you will continue to lose weight.

• For those of you who need to watch your laboratory results, whether it is your blood sugar or cholesterol, you should continue to improve on a monthly basis.

• Weight loss, lowering or stabilizing your glucose readings and healthy levels of cholesterol may improve slowly; but if you continue to eat healthy and walk regularly, you will be moving closer to either maintaining your good health or improving your health.

• Beyond Sabor also refers to our healthy and flavorful cooking practices. As you will learn throughout the 12 weeks, our aim is to maintain our traditional flavors while preparing our foods in a healthy manner.

First Objective To Achieve: Walking

• Walking is essential to this program. You do not need to buy special clothing in order to achieve the benefits of this great exercise.

• You will need a good pair of walking shoes, but you can use these shoes for other activities as well.

• We will provide very reasonably priced walking shoes for you which you should be able to purchase even without our help later on.

• We will also give out today water bottles. We will bring a purified 5- gallon water container to each of the sessions and we encourage you to bring your water bottles every week and fill them up here before you begin to walk.

• We will also give out bright yellow t-shirts with the Sabor logo in black as shown up front. The point is that these shirts will increase your visibility in traffic and as part of our group.

• We are going to give you some walking tips and then before we go out to walk, we will hand out “goal cards.”

Your water bottle The Bright Yellow Shirt to increase

your visibility

ALWAYS REMEMBER

• Today we are going to get our walking groups started and you will walk only 25 minutes. However, our goal is to walk 45 to 50 minutes every session. Only today we are cutting our goal in half.

• We have our Doctor in Kinesiology who will teach you some important stretching exercises that you should practice before and after your walking session. Always make sure that you stretch before and after your 45 minute walk.

• We will walk for 45 - 50 minutes each week. However, this is not enough. We are going to help you identify a neighbor or friend here who may be able to walk with you during the week. Our aim is to identify more than one, and if successful, we will have established your walking group.

• In order to achieve our aims, you need to walk a total of 150 minutes as recommended by the CDC. Since you will walk here for 50 minutes, you will need to walk twice more during the week for at least 50 minutes each time.

Our Goal

• If you get here earlier than the scheduled beginning time, you should be able to walk for at least 50 minutes since our program lasts two hours.

• So get here early, find a partner and begin to walk. There are six of us here who will walk with you in groups throughout the twelve weeks. So there is no excuse for you not to begin your walk as soon as you get here.

• Today, we are also going to hand out goal cards for you to fill out. We are handing out your laboratory results from last week and we have included your weight.

• Establish reasonable goals and try to achieve them as the program moves along. While we will not weigh you every week, we will bring our calibrated scale to each session. We encourage you to weigh yourself and record your weight on these cards.

• We are going to give you some walking tips before we begin today’s 25 minute walk. At the end of the walk we will hand out your cards. We are doing this in case that some of you may have a one to one questions that you would like to ask us with respect to your cards and/ or your lab results; while we understand that others may need to leave quickly.

• Your lab results are strictly confidential and the laboratory has put each of your results in a sealed envelope addressed to you.

Getting Here Early

Goals Card

Set your goal to walk for 150 minutes per week to achieve maximum results.

• For example, walk 10 minutes per day and gradually increase your physical activity until you achieve 30 minutes per day, if you decide to walk at least five days a week.

•Remember that our goal is 150 minutes a week.

• Three sets of 10 minutes give you the same results than a whole 30 minutes.

Drink Abundant Liquids

•Preferably water, before, during and after your physical activities.

•It is important to keep yourself hydrated.

Walk Facing The Traffic

• In the absence of sidewalks, choose the left side of the road.

•Walking on the left side will give you better visibility of the approaching vehicles; and,

•You would be able to act against any unexpected situation related to the traffic.

Protect Yourself From Negligent Drivers

•Never expect drivers to yield to the pedestrian the right of way.

•Be careful about possible vehicles entrances.

•The majority of drivers are more aware of other vehicles traffic than pedestrian walking.

Be Aware of Your Surroundings

•Don’t get distracted with your mobile phone while walking!

• It is as dangerous to be engaged in telephonic conversation while walking as while driving; you get distracted and forget about your surroundings.

•Also, be aware of strangers; if you are distracted, you could become an easy target to those with the wrong intentions.

What To Take While Walking?

• It could be helpful to take a cane or stick in case you would have to protect yourself from any loose dogs.

•You may take your own dog for company and protection.

•Always carry on an identification in case of an accident.

What You Shouldn’t Take

• Do not wear jewelry or any fancy clothing that may attract unwanted attention, especially of those with questionable intentions.

• Do not use headphones, they could affect your hearing of the approaching traffic or of a person walking behind you.

• Be always aware at what is happening around you.• Use the right shoes for walking.

Find A Partner

•It will give you motivation to walk.

•Together, you will be able to establish goals.

•It will represent protection while walking.

At Home

•Walk while cooing your baby.

•Walk around the field while your children practice sports.

•Practice stationary running while watching television.

At Work•Arrive to work 10 minutes earlier and park your vehicle far away from the building entrance, so that you walk from farther away.

•Use stairs instead of elevators.

Keep Out of The Sun

• Protect yourself form dangerous solar exposure.

• During the summer avoid walking between 10:00 am and 4:30 pm.

• During the summer months, walk preferably indoors: at the mall, in the school gym, inside a community recreational facility, a church gym, etc.

The Walking ClubWalking is one of the best

physical activities

Informal Chat*• Remember that walking is fun.

• Your homework for next week is to find a friend that enjoys walking.

• Try to establish a weekly routine to walk with your friend or group.

• Remember to walk al least 3 times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes.

• Your homework is to try to keep active for a 150 minutes a week!

• Engage in another form of exercise for at least 15 to 20 minutes like:

• Stationary running while watching TV

• park your car away from the building entrance, so that you may exercise a bit more

• use stairs instead of elevators

Next week we will talk about your exercise experience for this week.

*Encouraging conversations and engaging participants at the end of each presentation.

For moderator use only.