Are you trying to burn more calories without spending more time at the gym? If your answer is yes, then get yourself to the nearest set of stairs!

Walking up and down the stairs is great exercise and burns calories. You can burn about 300 calories for 30 minutes of walking the stairs depending on the intensity of your workout. But, beware, 30 minutes is a lot of time to spend walking up and down stairs. It is hard work.

I used to take an exercise class where the instructor would have us walk up and down about 10 flights of stairs. Everyone was exhausted by the time we were finished.

Walking gifts are perfect for the walker in your family, office or circle of friends. We all struggle with what to buy someone that will be used and appreciated rather than stuffed into a closet.

I looked at the list of items people have purchased through Discover Walking over the last year. Three products have proven to be most popular and all three make perfect gifts.

The biggest seller has been the Omron HJ112 Premium Pedometer. This is no surprise, it is a great product, walkers love them and they sell for less than $20. You will either be surprise by how much you actually walk in a day or by how little ground you cover. A friend of mine who works in retail wears one so they can keep track of how many miles they walk around the store in a day.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv was brought to my attention by a reader of Discover Walking. The book received such rave reviews by readers on other web-sites that I had to mention it here.

Richard Louv is the author of seven books that deal with family, nature and the community. Mr. Louv is a columnist with the San Diego Union-Tribune and has written for magazines and newspapers too numerous to mention here.

The following quote from the book says it all: "Healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demand it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depend upon it."

Finding the right shoe and getting it in the right size is the best way to avoid foot pain. Foot pain is very common and is one of the primary reasons people give for not being able to walk long distances. The average person walks up to 115,000 miles in their lifetime which is about four times around the world. Each foot hits the ground around 1,500 times every mile, so you do the math and figure out how many times your feet strike the ground in an average day.

We want to keep our feet healthy and of course that starts with making sure your shoes fit. This is easier said than done. I can't tell you how many times I have bought walking shoes that felt fine in the store and killed my feet after a mile or two. I walk around and around the store and still when I leave there are times when I have bought the wrong shoes.

If you find a brand of walking shoes that works for you then stick with it. Unfortunately, shoe manufacturers are always changing the style of shoes. So you may find one you like only to find that after a year or two the manufacturer has done away with that style.