Walking Off the Thanksgiving Feast

In a recent post, Geezer calculated that to walk off the calories packed in a typical Thanksgiving meal, he would have to walk for nearly 10 hours, which, fortunately, is pretty close to the time it would take him to walk home from this year’s gathering of extended family at the home of an extremely patient relative. But wait. Geezer has a better idea: He will walk to the gathering, but only from a distance of seven miles. That’s because Geezer has learned that if he walks for 90 minutes before a fatty meal, he can eat more food and do less damage to his heart. It’s true. The BBC reported last year that researchers at Glasgow University put 10 lean and 10 obese middle-aged men to the test, making them walk for 90 minutes before a fatty meal, and then measuring the blood fats in those who walked and in a control group who did not. The tests showed that walking reduced levels of triglycerides by 25 percent. The scientists also found that the exercise improved the function of the endothelium, the inner wall of the blood vessels that
provides a defense against the build-up of fatty deposits, by 25 percent before the meal, and by 15 percent after the meal.
For Geezer, this is a no brainer. He will walk before the meal, and after the meal, he will creep to this patient relative’s wine cabinet, and quietly open a bottle of Pinot Noir. One of the kids can drive home.