The coolest part of my job is the chance to interview celebrities.
In what other job could you get phone chats in the same week with Judy Woodruff, one of the foremost political reporters in Washington, and Jill Conner Browne, the Sweet Potato Queen?
Ms. Browne writes with an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek humor that has built a fan club of 5,000 SPQ chapters worldwide. Her eight books chronicling the misadventures of the SPQs — who are all named Tammy in order to protect the guilty — are hilarious.
Friday night the SPQ Boss Queen will be in town for The Time of Your Life. (That really is the name of the event, not just my prediction about how much fun it could be.)
The benefit for T. C. Thompson Children’s Hospital starts at 5 p.m. at The Chattanooga Convention Center. There are a few $45 tickets left, which may be purchased online at www.erlanger.org/TOYL.
In all Ms. Browne’s books she includes recipes sent to her by the Tammys. These comfort foods have such tempting names as Chocolate Stuff, Pluperfect Brownie, Pig Candy, Atlanta Allelujah!, Yam Yomp or Chocolatopoulous.
You won’t find one pack of Nutrasweet in their ingredients.
“If you eat the food in my books all the time, you will die with a HUGE behind,” Ms. Browne said bluntly.
“However, it is very good for your disposition, and I think that justifies a lot,” she joked.
So how does a woman who enjoys such artery-clogging indulgences maintain a slim 6-foot, 1-inch frame?
“Moderation in all things,” she said.
This former aerobics instructor for her local YMCA said she still follows a routine of daily exercise. If she isn’t walking, she’s riding her recumbent bike. Plus, she said she has a full gym in her garage to keep her occupied.
“You need to be able to move, be active under your own steam,” she said. “Our bodies were built for movement and we need to do that.
“Studies have shown that morbidly obese people are the most motion-efficient people on the planet. They instinctively can accomplish the largest number of tasks with the least amount of movement,” said the author.
So take the stairs, she suggests, or park a little further away from the store and walk.
“Make small increases in your daily movement. You have to stay strong. As we get older, strength becomes very important. Sooner or later something is going to happen to your body, and if you are already below a base line of normal fitness, the harder it is going to be to come back to a normal strength level.
“Everyone isn’t an Olympic athlete, but we all need to be able to meet daily exercise requirements,” she said.