Her energy flows into you. It helps that Thompson exudes credibility. She lives by her own health advice. She gets three workouts a week teaching step aerobics and kick boxing, plus snippets of exercise demonstrating double-dutch moves and working as a personal trainer for a couple of clients. Add to that two runs a week, totaling 3 to 10 miles, either around her northwest Detroit neighborhood or on Belle Isle, to keep her in shape for 10K races.
Breakfast is usually fruit and whole-grain bread or cereal.
Lunch, her main meal, is an entree like spinach lasagne or chicken and brown rice, bread and steamed vegetables. Occasional treats are ice cream or her favorite Butterfingers candy bar. She doesn't believe in official diets for anyone, just gradual diet improvement. Her method is relaxing major muscle groups and then just sitting quietly. If Thompson sounds extraordinarily self-disciplined, she apparently is.