Did you know that taking as few as two minutes to walk after a meal can lead to incredible health benefits and enrich your waking minutes? In this episode, I dive into the cultural significance and health perks of post-meal walks. Whether you want to improve digestion, stabilize blood sugar, or simply enjoy more time with your loved ones, taking a stroll after eating could be exactly what you’re looking for–benefiting both body and mind. I share personal stories, scientific findings, and practical tips to help you make walking after meals a part of your daily routine. Remember: Even small positive changes can lead to long-lasting improvements in your health and happiness!

FROM THE EPISODE:

Walking after meals is a simple yet profound way to invest in our health, and it's one way that we can make the most of our 1,000 waking minutes. By choosing activities that nourish our body and our soul, you'll likely discover a whole lot more.

WE DISCUSS:

- (2:34) A personal memory that illustrates the tradition and benefits of walking after meals

- (8:23) A mindful minute to take 100 steps…together.

- (13:38) The research, the math, and the ROI (return on your investment!) behind walking after meals 

- (16:35) How walking after meals helps with managing blood sugar, metabolism, and digestive issues and more

- (19:57) Simple strategies and tips for incorporating post-meal walking into your daily routine

- (24:44) A question to ponder and reflect on: What small change can you make today to enhance your well-being? 

- (27:18) Gratitude to my team and you!

CONNECT WITH WENDY

Follow me on Instagram @1000wakingminutes

Learn more! https://www.wendybazilian.com/

PLEASE SUPPORT:

If you’re enjoying 1,000 Waking Minutes, help us grow! Here's how you can show your support:

• Subscribe to get new episodes as soon as they drop.
• Rate & Review the show. Your feedback helps others find the show.
• Comment & Join the conversation! Share your thoughts or questions by visiting my website (https://www.wendybazilian.com/), or connect with me on social media.

Health Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be considered individual medical or health advice. Always consult with your trusted healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or medical treatment.

EPISODE 3. 1,000 WAKING MINUTES: How A Quick Post-Meal Walk Can Change Your Life

“Light intensity walking significantly reduces post-meal blood sugar and insulin levels compared to prolonged sitting.”

We experience 1,000 waking minutes on average every day. How are you spending yours? I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian, and you're listening to 1,000 Waking Minutes.

I can't wait to connect with you here with practical ways to eat well, move daily, be healthy to optimize every waking minute you live for a happier, healthier life. Thank you for sharing some of your waking minutes with me today.

Let's get started.

♪ I'm saying yes to better days, yes ♪

♪ I'm on my way, yes ♪

♪ It's gonna be okay, yeah ♪

Welcome back to 1,000 Waking Minutes. I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian, and I'm so happy to be with you here today. It's a tradition embraced by cultures worldwide, offering benefits like improved digestion, blood sugar control, even calorie burning.

The French do it, the Italians do it. And in Asia, it's practically like a religion. Walking after meals, especially dinnertime, is a passion around the world, and I want you to do it too.

Today's episode is all about that. If you know my mantra professionally and personally, it's Eat Well, Move Daily, Be Healthy®. And today, in the move daily spirit, we're going to be talking about walking after meals.

In this episode, we're going to explore how our 1,000 waking minutes, our life's currency, can be used toward the goal of moving daily. This is the second pillar in my professional mantra, and it's a simple and health-promoting practice of walking after we eat. Of course, we can imagine having 1,000 coins to spend each day and choosing how we're going to spend them.

And I appreciate you spending time and sharing time—more like it—with me today. Walking after meals is a simple yet profound way to invest in our health. And it's one way that can make the most of our 1,000 waking minutes by choosing activities that nourish our body and soul. You'll find a whole lot more.

(2:34) A personal memory that illustrates the tradition and benefits of walking after meals

So today, I wanted to start out by sharing a personal story that I think, I hope for you—certainly for me—illustrates the cultural significance and benefits of walking after meals before we look into the research evidence and why it means a lot for us to have this kind of daily practice and to start it in our own personal days. This is a practice that's deeply rooted in many traditions around the world. When I visited my husband, Jason, who was doing a professional internship in China on one of the occasions he was studying there, we had an opportunity to meet with his business colleagues, people he was learning from, the mentors, and we were invited out to a business dinner.

And this was many years ago now, but the evening has such a lasting impact on my memory. It was a professional dinner. Picture the setting.

We dressed appropriately for the evening. It was my first time meeting these individuals. It was my first time in China.

He had been there for some time. He had been ingrained, but he was working and learning on a regular basis. I was meeting them for the first time.

The meal was a bit of an elaborate occasion. I had a variety of delicious dishes. The smells—I love the culinary culture of China and this region that we were in, but it was all new to me.

So we sat around the table. We had the rotating shared dishes. We had the chopsticks.

We had sort of broken communication. We had a translator there as well. But we shared a meal in the company of friends with each other.

As the dinner came to its end and concluded, I sort of expected the evening to wind down as it typically does in our lives here in America. The typical scenario being wrapping up a business meal, that is, wrapping up for the evening, saying thank you. Perhaps you have a nightcap.

Perhaps you set up your next meetings and say thank you for a great meal, and you move on your way. Well, that was anything but what happened. After some of our final conversations, to my surprise, our host stood up and invited us to join them for a walk.

They explained that this was simply part of their after-dinner experience. I was going to say their after-dinner, but this was part of the dinner experience. And it was a natural extension of the meal.

So we set out on a brisk walk. I'm talking like not a slow walk, not a stroll around the block. We actually went into the park.

I found myself practically running to keep up with them, even though one of the female doctors who was in tow was in high heels. Not super high, but heels nonetheless. And she was just walking at the most brisk pace, keeping up conversation, animated.

And we were just walking along. What I saw was a lot of other people that were walking along, catching up with each other, smiling at the same time. There were other families out there.

In fact, at one point, one of the sons of one of the doctors came out of their house. We were literally walking in the neighborhood where we had dined, near one of their houses, and he joined us. We were chatting away.

We were just continuing our day. We saw people at all stages, all life stages, older, younger, just sort of out and about walking after the meal. It was a pure moment of spontaneity and joy for me.

And I realized that this is a common practice for them. So walking after meals is not just a health practice. It can be a social tradition that we can bring into our own lives.

Maybe you've had experiences where you've done this yourself, or maybe you're already somewhere along the path toward this. Or you have memories of moments when you've had walks after meals during a vacation or far walk to the parking lot if you parked far away. Or if you live in a city, maybe it's very typical for you to walk several blocks.

Well, I want to not only give you credit for that, but underscore how meaningful, important, beautiful, and special that experience can be. It is communal. It can be together.

You can be alone with others, even if you're walking by yourself on a road or path or park where there are others around. And there are many health benefits with the simple ritual. Here in the U.S., it's not common.

It is more common to linger at the table. Perhaps we have that nightcap, or we just wrap things up, move our tableware to the sink, and go on to whatever's next. But this experience in China really opened my eyes to that alternative—this global tradition that happens elsewhere and can happen here at home as well.

So I'll be encouraging you throughout today's episode to try incorporating a post-meal walk into your routine. It may seem like an effort at first, but you'll find that people can be delighted to join in. Maybe you invite someone along.

It doesn't have to be a strict amount of time. It doesn't have to be a strict pace. It just has to be getting up and transitioning, and using walking and movement to do so.

There are a lot of benefits, as I mentioned. And once you try it, you might find yourself hooked on this practice.

(8:34) A mindful minute to take 100 steps–together.

So as with every episode, I'd like to have a mindful minute together.

And I thought we could actually do something together now. Maybe you're here or there. You might be at your desk at work, in which case you can join—unless there are others around you and you're not supposed to be listening at this moment.

If you're exercising, you're in the gym or at home doing some exercise, certainly you can join in. If you're cooking, as long as you're not over the hot stove or chopping at the moment. And then if you're commuting in the car and running errands, you can tap along and visualize what we're about to do.

So we're going to actually engage in a minute of exercise. And this is just walking. I have to bring this up because there was one client long ago who was running late for meeting us.

And so then we rescheduled our appointment together. And then she had a little extra time because I was coming along in a few minutes. I said, hey, while you're waiting, why don't you just take 100 steps? And she sort of laughed.

We just left it at that. When we got on the phone shortly thereafter, I said, hey, did you do that 100 steps? How long did it take you? She said, oh, no, I didn't have time for that. And we chuckled together because I said, exactly as we're going to do now, let's stand up and take 100 steps together.

Now, I just called this a mindful minute. So I'm going to show you how that works. If you're listening, basically all you need to do is stand up.

[STEPPING TOGETHER]

One, two, three, four. As you can hear, it's a little quirky, my metronome, but it gets pretty accurately to the 100. As you're stepping, think about getting up from the table, feeling satisfied, taking a deep breath.

What happens when you stand up? You actually move your shoulders up, your head up, your posture becomes elongated, and your torso stretches out. We’re going to be talking a little bit about the mechanical benefits of walking after meals shortly. But a lot is going on in just taking these 100 steps.

And we're in the home stretch—about six more seconds. And there's your one minute. It should have been about 100 steps. So what just happened in that 100 steps? Well, as I started to mention, you stood up, you engaged your abs—not by squeezing them, it was nothing dramatic.

But you took 100 steps that you might not otherwise have done. Does 100 steps even make a difference? You betcha, it definitely does. And I'm going to share the reasons why.

As you focus on this, as you imagine these 100 steps, as you count where 100 steps will take you—and I encourage you to do that—start thinking about how those can add up. And we're going to start by putting them after our meals. Think about how you'll feel the ground beneath you when you're taking those mindful steps.

Think about how the air will fill your lungs, which, by the way, as you fill those lungs, it pushes down on the diaphragm and starts the digestion process mechanically by squeezing your intestines a little bit. So by taking 100 steps, you're supporting not only your physical self, but you're nurturing your personal self as well.

(13:38) The research, the math, and the ROI (return on your investment!) behind walking after meals 

So why? What's the return on this investment? And I'm not going to suggest that you just take 100 steps.

I'm going to encourage you to do a little bit more than that. When we think about getting up from the dinner table, well, there are a lot of reasons to do that. Number one, if you linger longer at the table, there’s a chance that you might take another bite or sip. Just moving in transition can be a great thing.

But research has shown that you can have improved digestion from taking walks after meals. A study in Germany found that individuals who walked after eating experienced faster digestion compared to those who consumed an espresso or an aperitif after a meal. And of course, this is simply because moving helps the food move through your system; it helps peristalsis, as well as wakes up your cells in your digestive process for what comes next.

It may also help reduce bloating and the lethargy that comes after meals. The return on investment, the research, why we're doing this is what we're talking about right now. Believe it or not, weight management can be something that taking steps after meals can have an additive effect.

Think about taking those 100 steps, which took approximately a minute at a very reasonable pace. I would say you may walk slower, you may walk faster. But if you were to string 100 steps into seven minutes—seven minutes—and we’re going to talk about that shortly and why that relevance comes to me. If you did seven minutes, 700 steps, three times a day, mathematically—and I like to do the math on this—that would account for probably about seven to 10 pounds of body weight burned in calories over the course of a year. Seven to 10 pounds just doing straight math.

So, there are a lot of factors that can come into play. For every mile you cover, which is about three times those 700 steps or 2,100 steps or so (give or take), if you do about 2,000 to 2,500 steps, you burn between 70 and 100 calories on average. That adds up over time to helping with weight management. If you need to burn extra calories, it can help with that.

If you just want to manage the extras in your life—the little bites of cookies, an extra snack, part of an alcoholic beverage, or a sweetened coffee drink—they may not add up as prominently because the impact of walking does add up. Seventy or 100 calories may not seem like a lot when you say it once, but over the course of 365 days, it can really add up. Walking can also help combat the accumulation of belly fat, that dangerous fat that increases the risk of heart disease.

(16:35) How walking after meals helps with managing blood sugar, metabolism, and digestive issues and more

Other benefits I wanted to tell you about in particular involve blood sugar regulation. This is where probably the most research exists. For those at risk of diabetes or who are managing their blood sugar and energy levels—by the way, because usually our energy stays steadier if our blood sugar is managed well—or who may have pre-diabetes or a family history that you're trying to contend with, walking after meals can be particularly beneficial.

There’s a mountain of research dating back a couple of decades, actually. A 2013 study revealed that just short walks after meals were as effective as longer exercise at reducing blood sugar levels. Even a 10-minute walk can make a difference.

More recent research, Buffy et al.—so, Buffy and team, in a systematic review and meta-analysis on this very topic—found that light-intensity walking significantly reduced post-meal blood sugar and insulin levels compared to prolonged sitting. They concluded that even standing up after the meal versus sitting could have a benefit on blood sugar regulation. Even as little as two minutes of exercise could have an impact.

And they also concluded that light-intensity walking—so, light intensity is the kind of walking you can do while you're still carrying on a conversation, reasonably comfortable. If you're very sedentary, you might need to work up to that, and that's okay. But light-intensity walking for about 15 minutes was found to be the best, the superior intervention, they called it, at managing blood sugar.

But even as little as two minutes made a difference. Another study from 2023, just last year in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, evaluated various exercise types from home and work settings. They titled their research, by the way—let me pull it up here. I love this one, a peer-reviewed paper—the title of the article was Walking Attenuates Postprandial Glycemic Response.

That's after-meal blood sugar response. What else can we do without leaving the home or office? I love that they had sort of a subtitle to that. And their team revealed that walking was the most effective exercise for reducing post-meal blood sugar.

These studies reinforce many others that have come along the way. And how does that work? Well, we know that when you start moving in the digestive time, the digestive period right after eating, it helps the blood sugar that's entering your bloodstream. It helps reduce the spikes that might occur. Even if you don't have issues with blood sugar, all of our blood sugar goes up after a meal.

And walking helps use it up. It also helps sensitize the cells and helps navigate and keep the insulin level stable, so that we can bring the blood sugar, the glucose that is out of the blood into the cells to make the energy as it's supposed to. So it helps us navigate that in a variety of ways.

Keep this in mind. I hope that those were convincing reasons for doing this practice. But sometimes in our 1,000 waking minutes, it feels a little bit easier said than done.

(19:57) Simple strategies and tips for incorporating post-meal walking into your daily routine

How are we going to bring this into our own life? And I'm going to put you to a task at the end of this episode here shortly to do so. But let me just tell you a little story of how this really came to me and why 700 steps is relevant to me, even though I do love the number seven in general. When I consulted at Golden Door—which I bring up frequently in conversation, because it was a big part of my professional life for a decade plus—after meals, in particular after the dinner meal, there was a wonderful ritual of walking from the dinner table up to the main doors of the property.

And it was one of many passages that we would take across doors, transitions, rituals that were built into the day. One evening, I was walking alongside the guests—I was giving an evening lecture that night. So after dinner, before the presentation, I would have dinner, and then I'd walk up to the gates at the beginning, at the opening of the property with them.

But one night, I just had in my mind, I wonder how many steps this takes to get up here. What an interesting ritual we're doing right now. We've been doing it forever.

And the founder, our beloved founder, Deborah Szekely, who is over 100 years young and still thriving in her later years—why did she initiate this? And does she know how many steps it took? So a couple of guests and I decided to count the steps. And round trip, we came back with about 700 steps, and about seven minutes.

And it was a leisurely, beautiful, celebratory, conversational walk. I observed firsthand how this walk not only helped digestion—it felt good—but it did help transition away from the table, all these things that I just shared with you.

It helped move us to what's next. It helped us mentally as well. And this was really a wow moment for me.

And then, me as a scientist, mathematician, I started crunching some numbers and came up with what I revealed before. If you did that three times a day, you're getting an extra mile a day for doing something like a leisurely stroll after a meal. So this experience just reinforced the idea that walking after meals was more than just a health tip.

It's a lifestyle choice, and it's backed by science. It enriches our waking minutes. It's a great one to take.

And even if you start with 100 steps and work up to 700, I'm not asking you to run a marathon or to increase your mileage day over day. Just take a walk after a meal. So let's talk some more tips.

What's a way to get up away from the dinner table and up, off, and walking? What are some ways to engage that besides just simply doing it? We can set a timer for our post-meal walks—use your phone or a kitchen timer to remind you to walk after the meals in the beginning. Setting a timer for 10 or 15 minutes, or the seven minutes to start, or even one minute, and then string them together to help establish the routine. Of course, this helps you create dedicated time to it. Combine social time and walking.

So catching up with a friend, or if you make a phone call to your folks or your mom after dinner, or set the time for that—or a friend or your mom group or anyone—make social time around walking, either in person or you can do it virtually. Choose a route that you love. If there's a pleasant walking route out your door or you want to start mapping it, map out the route.

We used to have a certain route we called the cloverleaf around our neighborhood just because we had mapped it so many times it resembled a cloverleaf in our minds, and we knew exactly how long it took, how many steps it was, and it was easy to just go out and let our mind wander. You can incorporate walking meetings. So if you have a meeting that comes soon after a meal and it doesn't require you to be seated or up at the whiteboard or taking copious notes, sometimes our best creativity can come when we're walking.

Starting small and building up is a big key to this. Especially if you haven’t done it before, don’t try to do all three meals right out the gate unless you're really ambitious and have the time. Try one meal and be consistent with it over time. And make it a family tradition.

If you're a parent of young ones, teenagers, or even your elders—your parents and other loved ones nearby—maybe make walking after meals a tradition together.

(24:44) A question to ponder and reflect on: What small change can you make today to enhance your well-being?

Each episode I've always promised I would share a question for you to think about, a reflection on our 1,000 waking minutes. As these evolve, they will come up, and I will restate similar ones sometimes.

And please, if you have great questions you'd like us all to ponder together, I would appreciate you writing in for that. The question for you today is around our 1,000 waking minutes, of course. And that question is: What small change can you make today to enhance your well-being?

What small change can you make today to enhance your well-being? Perhaps it's dedicating a few minutes to a new hobby, calling a loved one.

Those are things to enhance your waking minutes. Or maybe it's simply taking 100 steps after one meal or after each meal. Then reflect on how this small change could ripple through your day, ripple through your days, ripple through your months, transforming your waking minutes into moments of growth, joy, and better health.

What small change can you make today to enhance your well-being? Reflect on how this small change could ripple through your days. So we’ve covered some key points today. I know that you're investing time with me and sharing time.

I'm so grateful. So just in summary, start incorporating this habit of walking after meals as a critical part of moving daily. You get your move daily credit, and there’s incredible health payoff.

Everything from blood sugar regulation—importantly helping digestion overall, which affects your metabolism, bloating, and feeling the overall nutrient bioabsorption and more—as well as weight management. And it just feels so good. So remember, these small steps add up over time.

Covering an additional mile a day for 365 miles a year is a simple behavior that sounds like a lot. But I encourage you to embrace this because it's one step toward a life well-lived that you can do day after day.

Now, as we come to the end of this episode, I hope that you will start to incorporate this practice into your routine, recognizing the power of each minute and how they contribute to well-lived days, a well-lived life. I'm Wendy Bazilian, and you've been listening to 1,000 Waking Minutes.

I thank you and look forward to sharing more minutes in another episode and in other ways too. Until next time, make the most of your 1,000 waking minutes each day.

(27:18) Gratitude to my team and you!

Thank you for tuning in to 1,000 Waking Minutes. A huge thank you to our amazing collaborators, to our producer Nikki Butler Media, to KCM Connect PR and Marketing, the ultra-talented Beza for my theme music, my lifelong friend and artist Pearl Preis Photography and Design, to Danielle Ballantyne, Jen Nguyen, Joanna Powell, and of course, my family and everyone working tirelessly behind the scenes.

And to you, our valued listeners, I so appreciate your support. If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving a comment, writing a review, and giving 1,000 Waking Minutes—that's us—a five-star rating. And please hit subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Please follow and stay connected at wendybazilian.com. And don't forget to share with your friends. Your support helps us grow and bring you more great content.

Until next time, stay inspired and find simple opportunities to optimize those 1,000 waking minutes each day.