By Angela Hanlon Fourth year Nutrition I’ve never really been into work- ing out. I go to the gym every once in a while, but I really want to start a regular exercise regi- men, something I can stick with. I was on the volleyball team in high school but I’m in fourth year now. How do you suggest I go about this? Well, I don’t know as much as Phys Ed students in this area, but I’Il answer to the best of my knowledge. When many people start working out, they. get too ambitious and over-do it on the first day. Then, their mus- cles are too sore and they are often turned off of exercise for weeks. I suggest that you start with some power walking, maybe for half an hour for the first two sessions. Make time for 15 minutes of stretching when you are warmed up. For the next two sessions, if you feel ener- gized, make your walk longer or faster. Keep stepping up your sessions gradually until you have reached the level of exercise you had in mind. You may want to add a lit- tle variety to your workouts with biking, stepping, pilates, yoga, or aerobics. When beginning a new activity, it is natural to feel sore muscles. It’s when your muscles feel so sore that you dread the next workout that you’ve pushed yourself too hard. I’m getting tired of all my old recipes. I want to start cooking some new stuff that is not too dif- ficult. Do you know of any sea-- sonings, out of the ordinary, that I can use to spice up my dinners? I am a big fan of pesto, which is basil, garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil, ground into a paste. You can also get sun-dried toma- to pesto, whose base is not basil. Curry with lite coconut milk makes a nice sauce. The only thing with curry is, it is tempting to add lots of salt to the sauce. Authentic teriyaki sauce can be found in the “internation- al” section of grocery stores. It doesn’t have all that added sugar that most teriyaki sauces do. Authentic teriyaki is great with tomato and onion. Balsamic salad dressing is a nice replacement for Italian dressing in stir fries. Plum sauce and cheddar cheese make a nice addition to rice. I, personally, am not a fan of Thai peanut sauce, but it is becoming quite popular. You may want to try it with pork. Greek seasoning is nice on fish and potatoes. Finely chopped, fresh parsley adds a great flavour to almost any dish. Speaking of seasonings, I have to tell you a story. One day, when I was experimenting, I used paprika in a stir fry, which consisted of chicken, peppers, onion, and cucumber. Then [| added salt, pepper and oil, but I thought the dish needed more kick. I added mustard and vine- gar, which made the dish smell strangely familiar. I tasted it and, in horror, realized that I had pickled my stir fry! Gross. Women Earn Less than Men Among Maritime University Graduates CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI -- Two years after graduation from university, female graduates work- ing full-time hours earned 78% of the weekly wages of male gradu- ates. Even after controlling for dif- ferences in field of study, occupa- tion, province/country of residence, and number of hours worked per week, the wage gap attributable to gender alone was still 3-10%. This is the key finding of "The Gender Gap in Employment Outcomes of University Graduates" released [March 23] by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission under its Trends in Maritime Higher Education series. "We conducted this analysis to identify the factors contributing to this gap," said Mireille Duguay, Commission CEO. "What we found was that much of this wage gap may be explained by underlying factors such as the different choices men and women make in field of study, which in turn influences occupational choices, and therefore earnings." Ms Duguay went on to say, "While it's true that, on average, a universi- ty education means greater earn- ings, particularly for women, our analysis nonetheless confirms that, even among university graduates, women still earn less than men," said Mireille Duguay, Commission CEO. The report also found that, while men and women were equally like- ly to be employed, women were somewhat less likely to be employed full-time or to have a per- manent position. Ms. Duguay went on to explain that, again, field of study played an important role in UPEI Cadre April 5, 2004 page 7 job status differences. Women are under-represented in some of the more professionally-oriented or applied fields of study, such as Engineering & Applied Sciences and Mathematics & Physical Sciences, and fields such as these are associated with a greater likeli- hood of full-time and permanent employment. The article, based on data from the MPHEC's Survey of 1999 Maritime University Graduates in 2001, explored the impact of gender on a set of employment outcomes, including labour force attachment, job status, job quality and earnings among graduates who were at the beginning of their careers — that is, they had completed their first bach- elor's degree in 1999 and were employed two years after gradua- tion. The Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission was estab- lished in 1974. Its mission is to assist institutions and governments in enhancing the post-secondary learning environment. MPHEC's 19 members are drawn from the Maritime provinces and represent higher education _ institutions, provincial governments and the general public. For more information, contact Dawn Gordon, Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission, (506) 453-2844, gordond@mphec.ca Issued at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island by Island Information Service.