I’ve learned a number of things since my husband had a heart attack two weeks ago. Among them are how many steps it takes to circle our house, where to find tofu in the grocery store, and how quickly you can get used to something when your life depends on it.

Actually, I already knew that last one, since I had to make a number of dietary and lifestyle changes years ago when I sustained severe heart damage from chemotherapy. Until then, I never thought I’d be able to stomach skim milk. But we switched in a heartbeat – no pun intended – and have never looked back. My life may not have literally depended on making changes to my diet, but my quality of life did.

Some changes are in order for my husband now, too, and he’s agreeable to trying foods he never would have touched before, as well as cutting back on – or eliminating – some of his formerly favorite foods. I have several health-related cookbooks, so I’m trying out new recipes that I think will be tasty as well as healthy. The one with tofu was actually a hit, as were several others that called for ingredients that dieticians would approve of, but my husband would not – until now.

Exercise is a different story. He’s always been physically active, working out at the health club regularly and doing home projects inside the house and out in the yard. That’s worked in his favor, but until he’s cleared by the surgeon to resume those activities, he’s pretty much limited to walking. So he’s started a program of walking outside, around our house. I go with him on most days, and we’ve worked our way up to circling the house ten times, then we add a bit of elevation by going up to the road, and down to the dock. He keeps track of how many times we go around the house, and I count steps as we walk. Not for the whole time, but for one or two laps. It’s usually somewhere between 125 and 150 steps.

I know that’s a far cry from the 10,000 steps a day many experts recommend for good health, but it’s where we are right now. And as an old Chinese proverb tells us, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

I know a lot of people – myself included – who became more sedentary when COVID first hit, and have had a difficult time building exercise back into their lives. If you’re one of them, you might take this opportunity – weather permitting, of course – to go outside and find out how many steps it takes to walk around your house. That might be the first step that launches you back into the simple but healthy habit of walking.

And if you want to go even further and build more healthy habits into your life, just walk over to the tofu section of the grocery store.

February 21, 2022
©Betty Liedtke, 2022

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