This has been a week of announcements from friends and colleagues and they all have one thing in common …they’re taking up new habits in order to look and feel better.

This comes right after I received an email telling me about this beauty, 73 year old Ernestine Shepard.  She’s a champion body builder, still works out and competes and teaches women about fitness in her church in Baltimore Maryland.

Carol, my sister-in-law, started off walking a few months ago.  She’d made her annual visit to the doctor and didn’t like the numbers, so she began her quest for fitness with walking.  Her objective was to get her cholesterol level down and shed a few pounds in the process.  She began with just walking her neighborhood, now she’s at the track field and walking 3.4 miles “Everyday”.

She understands that her eating habits had to change and has cut down on her sugar intake.  No soda’s, no juice.  She’s on a mission!  I told her that she has inspired me to loose ten pounds with her and she called me a “Skinny Bitch” and went off into other terminology that I won’t bother to repeat 🙂  Got to Love her!

Then there’s my friend Del.  She has decided to study Hand and Foot Reflexology.  Go Del!  But I include her in this post because she also said that she wants to take up “Belly Dancing”.  Del is all of 5’2″ tall with no body fat but this is how she has decided to keep herself in shape.

And then there’s Yolanda.  A job move took Yolanda and her family from Bayonne, New Jersey to Greenville, SC.  Quite an adjustment for someone who has lived and worked in the New York tri-state area all of her life.  But Yolanda is “running” a  5k marathon today.  Ok, for you runners this may not seem like a lot but for those of us that don’t like to run, 5k-the equivalent of 3 miles- is a lot of running.

She joined the local runners club just to have a way of getting out and learning about the area.  She was the first of my friends in New York to “walk”in different marathons, 5k, 10k …

Why do I share the experiences of these women with you?  Because they are all over 55 years of age and they are taking life by the horns and living it.  They have all shared how much better they feel and how well they look.  I’m trying to get them to share pictures with me, we’ll see how well this works out.

For those of you that aren’t in their age group, there’s no time like the present to begin a workout regimen.  And for those of you already working out and keeping fit, I Salute You!

Bottom line, when you move – your body that is – not only do you loose weight but you look and feel better also.  Talk back to me!  Let me know what you’ve been doing to keep yourself fit and fabulous.

Until Next time,

Dedicated To Your Beauty,

Juliette Samuel,

Esthetician/Publisher

NYRAJU Skin Care – Providers of Natural Skin & Hair Care Products for People of Color

http://www.nyrajuskincare.com