As a leading edge baby boomer woman, I’ve been facing some of the less than fabulous telltale signs of aging. In fact, my body parts seem to slipping and sliding with a vengeance and landing right around my middle. As my friend Caryn Leschen says, “Just when you’re getting it all together, your body falls apart!”

Well, I’m happy to say, there are things we can do about this unfortunate turn of events. I interviewed Pam Archer, a fitness coach, on Feisty Side of Fifty Radio this morning and she had some simple and effective tips to help us shed those unwanted pounds. I’m going to follow one of her great suggestions and turn on my favorite Motown tunes while I’m cleaning up the kitchen. It will make the chore a whole lot more fun and have me “sweating to the oldies” and burning calories at the same time. Movement with music is also a terrific mood lifter. You get endorphins with a beat and that can’t help but make you happy.

Exercise in any form is truly the fountain of youth. It aides your health and well being in a number of ways: it oxygenates your brain and makes it function better, it wards off serious illnesses like cancer and heart disease, it strengthens your bones, and it tones your muscles. Another fabulous side effect of exercise—it boosts your metabolism so you can eat more without gaining weight! Each pound of muscle on the body burns an additional 40 – 120 calories daily while each pound of fat burns a puny 1- 3.

So, next time you’re feeling blue and lethargic and feel like being a sedentary senior couch spud, put a little music on. Make sure it conforms to what the legendary spinner of songs, Dick Clark, told us: “It’s got a great beat and you can dance to it.” Then turn up the volume; dust off your blue suede shoes, and dance, dance, dance!

As many of you know, I like to say that baby boomer women are totally transforming the spirit and style of aging… and that we are! Yesterday, I broadcast the third interview of my radio show, Feisty Side of Fifty Radio, and I asked my guest, Erica Ross-Krieger, in which ways she identified with our generation. She replied that we gals have been feisty throughout our lives and that got me to thinking, “boy, was she right!”

Here are just a few ways our generation redefined the role of womanhood:

We went on to higher education in droves—never before had women attended college in such numbers.

We broke into businesses previously denied us, moving from the three lone occupations allowed to women (nurse, teacher, secretary) into positions of real authority.

We moved into the political world—now women are holding governorships, seats in congress, and even running for President.

We mounted the pulpit (in many religions) and claimed the right to preach alongside men.

We changed the laws of the land, making them far more equitable for both genders.

We fought for and achieved Title IX, which provides athletic scholarships to colleges and universities for young women in equal numbers to those given to young men.

We broke the gender barrier in multiple ways: our faces now appear on TV, we’re in the cockpit, we’re in the army, we’re on Wall Street, we’re in the operating room (doing the operations) and we’re in the boss’s office.

And these are just a small sampling of the ways we changed society.

As such an extraordinary group of women, how could we not entirely redefine the meaning of growing older? So, let us always remember how remarkable we truly are and, as I like to say, let’s go out and show the world just how feisty a woman over fifty can be!

Go get ‘em girls!

For those of you who regularly read my blog, you’ve noticed my brand new look. This colorful new Feisty Side of Fifty is due to my dear friend and artist extraordinaire, the Pop Art Diva. She’s wildly creative and has a penchant for both color and nostalgia. Terri thought of everything—right down to the love beads and the “Feisty Power.” She’s got a number of blogs of her own. Her main one is Pop Art Diva and you can link to her others from there. I’d suggest you give them a try—you won’t be disappointed!

And, along with my fresh and feisty new blog, I’ve decided to broadcast an Internet radio show, interviewing women over fifty who are living life to the fullest and enjoying themselves as they age. We are, after all, a generation of remarkable gals who’ve already accomplished amazing things and we’re just getting started.

For my debut show, I interviewed a woman of many talents. She’s not only the force behind the San Francisco Chinese New Year’s Parade, a wildly successful annual event that brings in celebrities, politicians, and other VIPs from around the country, but she has also written her memoir.  Peggy Kennedy shares the story of her life and will inspire you to make the most of your own. The show only lasts fifteen minutes and is well worth your time. So check it out at Feisty Side of Fifty on Blog Talk Radio.

A word to those of you out there who wish to share your story with other boomer women: please go to the “Contact Me” page and send me an email. Exchanging stories of challenges, triumphs, passions and adventures will create a forum to celebrate our accomplishments, dreams, and years past fifty. I’d love to make this radio show a special place for encouragement and inspiration. So let me hear from YOU!