Small steps to a healthier life

Cybele Wiren and her daughter Phebe. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Heavy handbags and hurried cellphones conversations are throwing us off-balance as we walk, a visiting expert says, putting our health at risk.

Instead, the answer to losing weight and boosting confidence could be as simple as putting your best foot forward.

Trained nurse Dr Cliff Oliver says walking properly can improve muscle tone, balance and even help people look younger.

"You can even tell how young someone is by the way they move," he said.

"So people need to free up their movements and get the swagger back."

The Californian is visiting Auckland this month to deliver a series of seminars on health and nutrition, including one titled "Changing the Way You Walk Can Change Your Life".

Oliver insists walking is one of the best exercises, because, if done right, it uses all the muscles in the body.

Examples of good technique include using buttock muscles to "push off" and walk, which can help avoid a "flabby bottom".

He says striding purposefully boosts self-confidence and projects an image of strong physical and emotional wellbeing.

Other crimes include hunching over a cellphone, carrying a large designer handbag and resting a plump baby on the hip.

The solution to the female obsession with fashionably large handbags is to get a small backpack that goes over both shoulders, he says.

Oliver says good walking should be encouraged from day one and deplores the popular use of hard, adult-looking "shoes" for babies.

He says they cause fallen arches, flat feet and fail to help babies develop strong foot muscles and grip.

Kiwi experts backed Oliver's claims.

Dr Jackie Mills, a trained doctor, head creative director at Les Mills gym and co-author of the book Fighting Obesity, said walking well can change your life. Walking at pace with good posture can "tone you up" - especially when going uphill. But repeatedly holding babies or bags on one side is bad for your back because "it puts you out of alignment", she says.

The associate dean of AUT's faculty of health and environmental sciences, Geoff Dickson, said the wellness concept was an extension of the traditional "sound mind - sound body" approach to health.

Work-life balance

Fashion designer Cybele Wiren often carries a minimum two bags on one hip - and her cute 11-month-old baby Phebe on the other.

"It balances me out," laughs the 33-year-old.

Her heavy load usually includes her own personally designed bag containing her diary, BlackBerry, notes, makeup and more.

Another bag includes nappies, face cloths, spare baby clothes, toys, a drink bottle and more - then there's sometimes her laptop bag and another bag full of paperwork.

She has never had a bad back because she remembers not to carry things "in an off position" and has never used an exersaucer - a static walker - for Phebe, preferring "to play with her".

Hard shoes are also out for her daughter because she is not yet walking and "they're not really necessary".

* Tickets for Oliver's seminars are available through Ticketmaster.