All posts filed under: exercise

french women diet plan, take 2

Published by

I had written an entry back on June 22, 2010 here about how I planned to follow the recipes in the book French Women Don’t Get Fat to see if I am able to shed a few pounds and improve my  somewhat healthy  eating habits. Now, I consider myself a pretty disciplined individuals and when I put my mind to something I normally or usually do it. But in the case of this “diet” plan, I somewhat put it on the back burner for more reasons than one.  So, as I began to strategize for the Fall to Winter season meal plans for myself to avoid gaining the holiday pounds, I decided to check out the website for French Women Don’t Get Fat  as well as flip through my copy of the book in order to chart my meals for the next few months. So, here is one that I will use over and over again, I guarantee it. My favorite soup,  Buttersquash. I have included the recipe here just in case you are a …

in search of fall colors in san francisco

Published by

One of my favorite activities is walking. Of course I do it mostly for exercise but when I am walking in a more leisurely pace, it is so I can just take in the outdoors. Fall is especially a wonderful time to take a leisurely walk, because if you happen to live in a city where the leaves turn color, it is probably one of the most rewarding walks you will experience (at least for me).  However, in San Francisco we are not fortunate enough to experience the fall colors because, outside of the parks, we are mostly treeless and the type of trees we do have, they do not change colors. When I worked at Stanford University six years ago, I had the pleasure of walking the campus every morning before work and in the Fall, I was able to enjoy the colors while I shuffled through the fallen leaves.  As a matter of fact, there are benches strategically placed along tree-lined pathways and if you are bold enough to sit on one of them on …

oh stop it halle berry

Published by

I am not a jealous woman nor envious but sometimes I just want to say, STOP IT “celebrity” you’re making me look and feel bad about myself. Yes, you might think this is childish but reality is that most women in their 40s have as much insecurities as teenage and girls in their 20’s. It’s that whole, body deciding what shape it should be, sometimes no matter how much you exercise or diet, and then there are the wrinkles and the gray hairs sneaking up on you and the pre-menopausal state taking over. Shall I go on? So, when we pick up a magazine or look online and see, in this case, Halle Berry, in all her beauty, we tend to second guess ourselves, physically that is because God knows what her personal life is like, and suddenly become sad (at least in my case). I am not sure if she has had plastic surgery or a nip tuck or whatever and frankly I don’t care. I do appreciate the end result and in my own …

books i added to my to-read list

Published by

Here is a list of books I saw at Barnes and Nobles which I added to my to-read list for 2010. 1. Good To A Fault by Marina Endicott 2. Purge by Sofi Oksanen 3. A Happy Marriage by Rafael Iglesias 4. Lonely: A Memoir by Emily White I would love to hear from anyone who has read any of the books. Are they a good read or not.

megapixel and hd nightmare

Published by

I understand advancement, enhancement, upgrades, more, much more, sharper, deeper, 3-D and all the jazz associated with making photos and film more appealing to the eye, but for heaven’s sake, these enhacement are really not good for the aging man and woman. It not only makes the photos clearer and sharper, but it also makes every wrinkle, blemish, scar, unwanted hair and other scary facial and bodily defects more visible and troubling, to the point where any person over  40 and some under 40, should probably avoid being photographed or filmed EVER. So what now? How do the inventors plan to address this MAJOR problem? Even celebrities are beginning to look scary on the screen. There is only so much that can be done to edit a film, or touch up a photo shoot before the person begins to look like something out of a wax museum display instead of a their natural self. What went wrong? Is more truly better than less? I mean I for one am probably going to retire from having …

naomi watts makeover

Published by

Although naturally beautiful, Naomi Watts, in my opinion, was in a much-needed makeover, so I was really happy to come across recent photos of her where it seems she has a new look (I hope) and  not just a one time look for the SALT premiere a couple of weeks ago in LA. Watts, who is 41 has two kids with her long time love Liev Schriever and in the recent years has looked particularly tired (understandably so) and I suppose hasn’t really focused much on herself as a result of her family life. I am not saying that is a bad thing, but I always want to see women make an effort to take care of themselves no matter what, just to keep themselves psychologically motivated to endure life’s *** on a daily basis. I especially appreciate coming across a positive makeover and feel more inclined to push myself harder as a result of it. I do believe that the first step to feeling good is looking good no matter what the body makeup …

frozen yogurt craze

Published by

This past week I was in L.A. again and for the first time in a while I decided on venturing into one of those frozen yogurt shops popping up everywhere around the U.S.  I fought the urge for the longest time because I had heard some interesting stories about the makeup of the yogurt ingredients in the past, but for some reason the one I visited in Calabasas and Beverly Hills was really good and I suppose worth my dime (yes I meant dime) It is called  Menchie’s Yogurt and the store is set up something like a Hello Kitty store with bright colors and characters. At first you think to yourself, is this place really for adults also? But when you actually go in and create your own yogurt cup, you start to feel like a kid again and it doesn’t matter much anymore after that.  They have about 10 different flavored yogurts which is sold by weight (very smart business practice) and you can mix them in a one size for all cup, …

a walk, two bottle of red, and a cupcake

Published by

While in Los Angeles, I had announced to my travelling companions that I intended to walk every morning since I was accustomed to the habit while at home. They laughed at me, but decided to partake in the adventure no less since they noticed how serious I was about my daily ritual. One morning I drove up to Griffith Park and decided to tackle the five-mile walk toward the Hollywood sign. I put my i-pod on as usual and began trekking. My companions decided to converse and walk while taking photos, making the climb up the course much more difficult. I kept looking back only to discover the gap between them and myself getting further and further apart. I shrugged and continued my trek until I could no longer see the two of them. I stopped midway atop the mountain and waited for them. After a long while, they showed up and announced they could not continue on the five-mile trek since they both felt flustered and exhausted and in my opinion completely bored. They asked …

venice beach for the woman over 40

Published by

In the 80’s every time I was in L.A. I had to visit Venice Beach and be part of the madness. In the 90’s not so much. I used to refer my student travellers to visit Venice Beach but I stayed away. In the early part of this interesting decade, I had the wonderful opportunity to work and live in L.A. so occasionally I drove down to Venice and checked out the interesting transformation taking place but didn’t have the chance to see the finished product/project before leaving L.A.  So with this visit, I was determined to drive down  to Venice and check on the progress and sure enough as I parked my car and walked towards Main Street, I quickly smiled to myself because I knew I would love the results as I plotted my walk down the street. Suburban Venice has transformed into a wonderful place for the older crowd (especially women over 40) to visit and actually consider spending a few days there in order to enjoy shopping, get a facial and …

eat, pray, love in reference to the woman over 40

Published by

Another one of  my favorite reads last year, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, is being made into a movie with Julia Roberts playing the lead role.  Although the true story is about a woman in her 30’s, Julia is portraying the role while in her 40’s, which in my opinion require much alteration and revision to the film to fit the make up of a 40 year old woman’s lifestyle.  I am not really sure how good the film will be but the book is a recommended read for any woman who hasn’t read it yet. The book can be considered a motivational book and although geared towards the woman in her 30’s, some of us beyond that decade can learn a few things from it here and there. The only downside for the woman over 40 is that, if she were to consider using the methods in the book to self discovery, she must be childless to accomplish the challenge. But either way, it is a solid book and since it is based on a …