Marsha Haygood: How to move from a corporate job to being an entrepreneur

Second Life Profile:  Marsha Haygood

In her first life, Marsha Haygood, currently of StepWise Associates, spent more than 25 years as a corporate executive most recently as VP of human resources and administration for New Line Cinema, a division of Time Warner.  She developed a talent for listening to employees, understanding their needs and offering them solutions and a plan for pursuing a more fulfilling work life.  But then Marsha starting listening to herself and realized that she wanted to work with less senior people and minorities, a segment where there was a serious lack of mentorship.  So Marsha came up with her own second lives plan that was much more detailed and thought out than a simple everyday “to do” list….. 

Tina Turner: Vogue Cover Girl at 73

"Simply The Best" album, 1991                                           German Vogue cover, 2013

Second Look:  Tina Turner

Tina Turner has shattered the glass ceiling, at least in publishing terms.  This April, German Vogue has put the rock and roll legend on its cover with some splashy fashion spreads inside.  To date, the oldest cover ‘girl’ was Meryl Streep featured on the American edition in January 2012 when she was 62.  Even More magazine favors celebs in their 40s and 50s as its cover subjects.

Print & Save Shopping List for the Menopausal Diet

 (Illustration by Sandy Haight)

Diet for a second life:  What foods to buy to keep weight off after menopause

Ruth Gantman, our trusted nutrition counselor, has put together a list of the foods that are not only healthy but will keep the weight gain at bay.  A monthly contributor to Second Lives Club and a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Ruth sorts through all the health and diet news, latest research studies, and alternative medicines to come up with a diet--or as she prefers eating plan--that helps women our age maintain their weight and well-being. Be sure to read some of her older posts and check in the first week of every month for Ruth's Diet For A Second Life, a sensible eating plan that fits our life stage and lifestyle.  Continue reading for that shopping list...

How Not To Gain Weight After Menopause

Illustration by Joe Harris

Diet for a Second Life: What foods to always avoid

As we age, our hormone levels drop which means that our ability to create new healthy cells diminishes. This reflects on us inside and out. That means we see the change in our skin, and feel the change in our bodies.  We need estrogen to process insulin and when that diminishes; we are at greater risk for weight gain, and diabetes.

We don’t have to gain weight as we age. But, you need to know that it’s easy to put on weight with the onset of menopause. Our bodies are now more sensitive to sugar. You may find yourself eating the same as you did before, and gaining weight. When a particular hormone system breaks down as with the loss of estrogen from the ovaries, it affects all the other processes in the entire physiological system because the systems of the body are interconnected. Your body breaks down more than it builds up and the end result is aging.  We have to change our relationship to food in order to fight the aging process.  We need a menopausal diet.

Gloria Steinem Comes Out: What's Her Next Frontier

(Photo:  Ms. Foundation)

Yes, that’s Gloria Steinem at work at Ms., the feminist magazine she and a dedicated crew (see picture below) founded more than 40 years ago.  Hers was one of the stories featured in Makers: Women Who Make America, the PBS documentary on the last 50 years of the women’s movement that aired earlier this week.  (If you missed it you can watch it online; here’s the PBS link.)  The New York Times review dubbed Gloria the star.  But now she's off to the next frontier. 

The Best Exercise for Strengthening Knees

The most fallible joint (photo from New York Times)

Caryl perfects: The Squat ( You Can Too!)

I’ve always had trouble with my knees. The knee is the most fallible joint in the human body. I read that in Sports Illustrated decades ago—and it stuck with me. Many factors contribute to aching knees, and not all of them have to do with age. My own knee problems began in my teens with a cheerleading accident. Think splits gone horribly wrong. In my 20s, while downhill skiing (or was it tennis??) I tore ligaments in my knee that resulted in a knee brace (hard to wear with the high boots of that era). With exercise, I managed to avoid surgery. As an aside, I am convinced one of the reasons I married my husband is that he carried me up to my third-floor walk-up apartment in Greenwich Village during my six weeks of physical therapy.

What is Evernote.

Maryl answers:  The 3 ways Evernote helped me get a memory like an elephant

“To help the world remember everything, communicate effectively and get things done”.  Now that’s a corporate mission statement I can support.  So in my ongoing effort to do less, be more efficient and productive (especially online) and save time, I’m mastering Evernote.  This is a suite of software tools that organizes my ideas and projects together in one place regardless of their format or original source. I’ve already found three ways I can clean up my clutter and stop losing files, photos, bookmarked web pages, emails, video, audio…easily got another hour back to my day!

Caryl toasts: Wine--A Love Story, Part 2

And, Our Romantic Heroine is A Feminist!

Norma Ratcliffe, the African Queen of Wines

I think you’re going to like this second-life profile; it’s a story of travel and romance, family and fulfillment, of transforming a corner of your world into a global platform. It’s a real woman’s story, one that’s inspiring and instructive. At the end you’ll get a buying tip from the woman herself for one of the most delicious red wines you’ve probably never heard of. Remember red wines are good for you--and your memory.

Maryl toasts: Why Women Love Wine

Women buy and drink more wine than men do. Despite this, if you should find yourself dining out this Valentine’s Day, don’t expect to be handed the wine list if your companion is a male.  Interested in some new suggestions?  Continue reading and check out the Second Lives Club list of ten reasonably-priced (around $20) and highly-recommended choices that are equally enjoyable alone or with a special someone.

We interrupt this blog post to bring you The Continuous LIfe

Painting by Mark Strand

Does it sometime feel like life is repeating itself? You load the dishwasher; you unload the dishwasher. You put your makeup on in the morning; you wash it off at night. You lose your keys, your glasses, your phone; you find your keys, your glasses, your phone. You write a blog post; you write another blog post . . . Sometimes the continuous life feels like numbing monotony, other times reassuring predictability. One thing we know at Second Lives Club, it is important every so often to stop and appreciate what we have as well as figure out what we can do better. So, after a GenFab dinner with other midlife bloggers tonight –(website launching soon, bookmark this link)—Maryl and I are going to take a few days off and a hard look at what we’re doing here. How’s that for a cosmic question? But first a favorite poem from Mark Strand to sustain you while we're away.

Diet for a Second Life: The Best Protein

By Food Blogger Ruth Gantman

As we age, our digestive systems are taxed. It’s best to eat simple and clean. Clinical research and author Dr. Neal Barnard suggests we eat no more than four different foods at any one sitting to reduce stress on the digestive system. We, as Americans, are saturated in offerings of animal protein and, according to Colin Campbell’s 30 year definitive China Study, the best source of protein that matches our own would actually be human flesh. So Jonathan Swift’s 18th century social satire A Modest Proposal not only would solve the economic problems of the Irish lower class, but also has a nutritional base. (Gasp)

Maryl Found: An Extra Hour in Her Day

I recently attended a seminar titled, The Art of Less Doing, which is about how to be more productive and spend less time doing fewer things.  There were a number of automation tools proffered that could take the rest of the year to integrate into my daily or weekly agendas.  So I started out slowly with a change that I knew about but needed someone standing over me to do.  As a result I estimate I got an hour back each day.