Walking for your Health

Walking Cure from Women's Health, December 2006

Eating a meal high in saturated fat could do immediate harm to your blood vessels. But if you just polished off a pint of Edy's Chocolate Fudge Chunk, don't panic: A study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology suggests that going for a walk after a high-fat meal may reduce the food's effect on your arteries. Researchers compared the heart health of eight 25-year olds after three scenarios: eating a low-fat breakfast; eating a high-fat breakfast; and eating a high-fat breakfast and then going for a 45-minute walk. While the arteries narrowed in the nonexercisers who ate the fatty meal, the arteries in the exercisers dilated (even more than in the low-fat eaters). So take a walk after a holiday pig-out, but avoid regular binge-and-walk sessions.