Recently I read an article about Bo Derek who has now turned 54.  The gist of the article was that she was still a 10 at age 54, a nice wordplay since she is best known for her role in the romantic comedy movie 10.

I checked out some of her photos, and, well, yes, she has held up remarkably well.

I’m always curious about the diet and exercise of these stars, because fitness and beauty is the key hallmark of their trade.  I found out two things about Bo.

The first is that she is on a vegetarian diet.  I’m beginning to think there is something to this.  You’ll recall in an earlier post that the actress  Natalie Portman was also a vegan – one of the variations of a vegetarian diet.

Bo Derek and Natalie Portman also have a similarity in their exercise plans.  Rather than doing regimented workouts, they both integrate more physical activity into their daily lives.  In Bo’s case, this is rather colorful, in that she says she does much of the physical activity on her ten acre horse ranch, and that nothing is quite as physically invigorating as shoveling horse manure.

A bit comical perhaps, but I think by just leading an active lifestyle doing things they love – in Bo’s case, taking care of her horses – it gives them the discipline to exercise in a way that doesn’t seem like exercise.

We can all take a lesson from that.  Walk more, take the stairs, all these things are quite possible, even for those of us with office jobs.

And the vegetarian diet?  I don’t think it’s necessary to go totally meat free, but eating much more fruits and vegetables, and less meat, can’t possibly do any harm and certainly much good.  This also has the benefit of reducing our intake of the many biotics we may be ingesting from the meat supply in our country.

That said, I intend to walk even more, and add more vegetables, including raw ones, to my diet.

So what do you think.  Would making these simple modifications help you too?  They certainly seem to work well for Bo and Natalie.

Have a healthy day – J. Daniel