Eva Mendes

The lovely Eva Mendes is featured in the premiere issue of  Cosmopolitan for Latinas (Zoe Saldana on cover)

Here’s what the 38-yr-old actress who stars in the upcoming film, Girl in Progress had to share.

On how she maintains her “curvy” figure: “I hit the gym three to four times a week to do light weights-not too many repetitions-which target me whole body, and some serious cardio-normally sprinting and interval running. The minimum I do cardio for 35minutes, but you use it wisely. And then I spend about an hour on the weight training.”

On her eating habits: “I don’t eat meat, but I eat a lot of fish and brown rice. I love bread too. People are always surprised when I eat bread in restaurants! I mostly stack to whole grain, though. I have this rule that, when in doubt, go dark with the food-so I stay away from white pasta, white rice and white bread, and that keeps things single for me.”

On being a role model to women: “The term role model scares me a little because I’m still such a work in progress. But if I can encourage women to embrace themselves and celebrate their strengths rather than getting down about what they don’t have, that’s great. If that’s what being a role model means, then I’m okay with that.”

Eva Mendes covers the March 2012 issue of Marie Claire.

Here’s what the 37-yr-old “Hitch” actress had to share with the publication.

On keeping effort to keep her body in tip-top shape, “I run four to five times a week, mixing it up among distance running, intervals on a track, and running uphill on a treadmill. I don’t eat meat and stopped eating chicken. My skin has gotten a lot better.”

On gaining a healthy body image in Hollywood: “It doesn’t matter what you have or what you look like. It’s something everyone has to work at. I realize I have contributed to a certain happy, healthy, empowered image, but that’s not all of me.”

She adds, “I feel it’s important to let women know that I have similar struggles. What I tell girls is what they don’t like about themselves now, they will probably end up loving as an adult, because that’s what happened to me,” Mendes says. “When I am complimented on things that I didn’t like when I was 13, like my overbite and my mole, that’s when you realize that your imperfections are why people love you.”