This is national women's health week, and the US department of health and human services is taking the lead in a program to help women drop a few pounds and improve their health in general. A local publisher is helping promote that message.
Twenty-three year old Nicole Polizzi drops by her mom Suzanne's workplace, not for a chat, but for a walk. Off come the office shoes, on go the running sneakers, and during a lunch break, a brisk walk in Bryant Park follows on quickly.
Suzanne works at a magazine called Medizine's Healthy Living. It's teamed up with the federal government in the woman challenge, an eight week exercise program to get women working out.
"It's also about getting the right screening tests, about healthy habits, like wearing seatbelts, quitting smoking if you do smoke," Diane Umansky, Medizine's Healthy Living, said.
To sign up, woman can go to the magazine's website or to the government's office of women's health. You can join a virtual team and walk from billings Montana to Albuquerque New Mexico, with support from your virtual teammates along the way.
The goal is to get women walking for thirty minutes a day or to take 10, 000 steps in that period of time.
Pedometers come in handy to count steps. Though the challenge ends on July 5, the magazine and the women's health office hope the website and the workout will start women walking on the path to health.
Nicole is a runner but her mother was not a workout person.
"If walking is what you have time to do, then that's it and I'm supporting my mom in the beginning of her fitness," runner Nicole Polizzi said.
And Suzanne, who travels a lot for business, seems to have found a way to stay fit that she enjoys.
"I can do it anywhere. All I need is sneakers and sweat pants," the woman challenge walker Suzanne Polizzi said. "You can do it anywhere you are."
Walking for 30 minutes or for 10,000 steps may be tough for many of you, so why not break it up and walk for ten minutes on the way to work and back, and for ten minutes at lunchtime.
It's good for your heart, your brain and your weight.
For more information, go to www.healthyupdates.com or www.womenshealth.gov.