Do you want to gain an extra boost with your diet and optimize your efforts to get healthy? New Research from Stanford University has identified an easy, low cost way to enhance your efforts. Read on to find out how.

Using a simple, inexpensive pedometer leads to important health benefits when used as part of a fitness program. A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed 26 previous studies on pedometer usage and weight loss, blood pressure, and activity level. The lead author of the study, Dr. Dena M. Bravata, found that individuals who wore a pedometer during a fitness program were more active, lost additional weight, and lowered their blood pressure to a greater degree than people who did not use a pedometer. Interestingly, they found that pedometer usage led to an average 2000 more steps—about one mile of walking—each day.

Pedometers are small devices that are worn at the hip. A pedometer counts the number of steps a person walks each day. They are typically smaller than a pager and very light. Pedometers are easy to use and can be found at most discount stores like Target or Walmart. Many companies give out free pedometers to their employees to improve fitness and lower health care costs. Typically pedometers are used as part of a program that sets a daily step goal. The typical goal is 10,000 steps each day.

Even more exciting is that the study found that the added weight loss in pedometer users was not fully explained by their extra activity. The authors hypothesize that this extra weight loss may be due to the pedometer serving to remind people to eat less and make healthy choices.

Pedometers: if you don’t have one--get one; and if you don’t wear one--put one on. Work to get at least 10,000 steps everyday.