A creative cast

Muscle & Fitness/Hers, March, 2004 by Mary Duffy

aLTHOUGH OUR OFFICES are side by side, art director Lisa Leconte and I often communicate via e-mail. We're certainly not lazy individuals, but we are often crazy busy, and these short, quick electronic messages greatly expedite and facilitate the frenetic, time-waits-for-no-woman business of magazine making. Generally speaking, the busier I get, the lengthier the backlog of messages waiting for my response. But one morning, Lisa sent me an email that grabbed my immediate attention: "When you get a sec, Andrea and I need to talk to you about elephants."

Seconds later, Lisa and photo editor Andrea Maurio were in my office telling me about a vision they'd had. Actually, photographer Richard Corman--whose work we all admired--laid first imaginary sight on a proposed yoga feature that involved shooting a real, live, two-ton pachyderm. As soon as I realized that no one was suggesting we use the elephant to demonstrate specific yoga poses--the animal would symbolically serve as the backdrop to reinforce strength and grace--I was intrigued. And once they answered a barrage of questions about practicalities--such as, How do you cast such a huge model?--I was on board. Fitness director Liz Neporent and yoga expert Lisa Matkin (the other model in the photographs) didn't need any explanation to embrace the idea, and the vision quickly became a collective one. The result, "Yoga Power," page 62, beautifully illustrates that this ancient practice does much more than promote flexibility: it also builds strength (and perhaps even creative thinking).

Speaking of creative thinking, as a six-year-old, I declared that I was allergic to peas (they tasted so vile, they just had to be bad for me). Little did I know back then: I was way ahead of the curve. A few decades later, in a scene from Sex in the City, Carrie Bradshaw grills a waiter about the ingredients in a dish she is about to order, warning him that she is allergic to parsley. And when he dines out, a friend of mine never fails to mention to his server that he's allergic to garlic. While it seems these days that every other diner lays claim to some sort of food allergy, as Deborah Novak reports in "Food Allergy Nation," it remains a very rare medical condition. (Rarer still, Deborah says, is finding anyone who actually has an allergy to peas, parsley or garlic.) Is this food flap an epidemic or merely an excuse for finicky eating? Check out the particulars on page 58

This month we also explore the latest news on exercise and immunity (page 96); the strong connection between your workout and your inner clock (page 38); an expert's take on maximizing the afterburn (page 30); and the total skinny on gravity defying glutes (page 70), finishing strong (page 90) and fashion that makes a real splash (page 80). So read on, work out, eat wisely and wear well. And, as always, enjoy.

Best,

Mary Duffy

Editor in Chief

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