How do you do it?

Often Harper's Bazaar covers a story called Eating Diaries on semi-celebrity women who live relatively healthy lifestyles. They look to be in great and healthy shape, which makes many other women curious to know how they do it. I often receive compliments on my health conscious lifestyle, which inspires me to reveal my daily routine here in the format Bazaar does it in.

I'm genetically thin, however thin does not always equal healthy. You hear about thin, healthy-looking people having heart attacks and strokes, and people respond in a surprising manner. But how were they eating? How were they really living? I try to eat right. I don't count calories at all, but I do look at the label for nutritional content. I eat a lot of fish and chicken, but shamefully I do not eat enough vegetables. I also tend to eat a lot of pasta just because it's so easy to make and so so yummy. Nowadays you can buy whole-grain pastas, a significant difference in calories and carbohydrates. I also work out three days a week.

9:30A.M. I have a bowl of instant oatmeal made with whole grain oats with raisins, dates, and walnuts in my office. Instead of mixing with water, I mix with 2% milk. I drink distilled water throughout the day.

11:00A.M. I have a cup of Hazelnut coffee with sugar and cream, mainly for the taste over the caffeine.

1:00P.M. I'm usually starving by now, and admittedly I eat out every single day. I'll have a grilled chicken sandwich on whole grain bread, honey mustard, lettuce, tomato, and red onions. If I do a whole sandwich I won't do a side, but if I do a 1/2 sandwich I'll have a cup of chicken noodle soup or lobster bisque or a small bag of kettle potato chips. Then top it with a daily multi-vitamin.

4:00P.M. I have a banana and a cup of caffeinated tea with sugar and cream.

6:00P.M. I work out on upper and lower body with weights for an hour.

9:00P.M. I love salmon and think I could eat it everyday. Plus it's so easy to prepare. I'll have that with a side of seasoned pasta or wild rice. Lately I've been getting my vegetables by eating raw baby carrots. I found that it's the easiest way for me to work it into my daily routine.

12:30A.M. I finally get to bed, maybe even a little later.