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Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being
Books: CookBooks: Healthy: Item 7
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Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Beingby Andrew Weil
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful: Excellent book, easy to read and complete, May 11, 2006 Reviewer:Amalfi Coast Girl (Mid-Atlantic, USA) - This review is written by a former hospital administrator of just under 2 decades. I have been studying health and nutrition for more than decade. I became very interested in alternative medicine when a family member was diagnosed with kidney cancer and the allopathic doctors (traditional MD's) could give no reason for the tumor. If you have not read one of Dr. Weil's books before, I think you will enjoy his writing style. His tone is very conversational, you feel as though you are talking to a friend while you are reading his books, this one included. Dr. Weil has a gift for taking a dry and complicated subject and explaining it in a manner that anyone can understand. The purpose of this book is NOT to stop aging, but rather to prevent or minimize the impact of age-related disease, to learn how to live long and well, and to age gracefully. He subdivides his book as follows: PART ONE: The Science and Philosophy of Healthy Aging 1. Immortality 2. Shangri-Las and Fountains of Youth 3. Antiaging Medicine 4. Why We Age 5. The Denial of Aging 6. The Value of Aging 7. Interlude: Jenny PART TWO: How to Age Gracefully 8. Body I: The Ounce of Prevention 9. Body II: The Anti-inflammatory Diet 10. Body III: Supplements 11. Body IV: Physical Activity 12. Body V: Rest and Sleep 13. Body VI: Touch and Sex 14. Mind I: Stress 15. Mind II: Thoughts, Emotions, and Attitudes 16. Mind III: Memory 17. Spirit I: Unchanging Essence 18. Spirit II: Legacy A TWELEVE PROGRAM FOR HEALTHY AGING Appendix A: The Anti-inflammatory Diet Appendix B: Suggested Readings, Resources and Supplies The doctor does a wonderful job of explaining why and how we age. Even without an educational background in the sciences I was able to comprehend advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and how they cross link (form abnormal bonds) to adjacent protein strands leading to inflammatory and autoimmune responses. If you have been reading much about nutrition or health lately you know that inflammation is the new "hot topic" in medicine linked to almost everything. According to Cardiologists inflammation is more important in determining heart health than cholesterol. After reading Dr. Weil's explanation of inflammatory response this concept now makes much more sense to me. Dr. Weil explains in great detail which nutrients the body requires to function properly and how to incorporate them into your life. He also goes into much detail about dietary suggestions. These are pretty much what you would expect, but he does a thorough job of explaining why he is making these recommendations, which I personally find very helpful. The doctor also goes into great detail regarding his recommendations for physical activity and how this should change as we age. The concept of a pool disinfected without chlorine was new to me, and one that I was very happy to know is an option. If you want to age gracefully, but feel as though you need more information, this is a wonderful book on the subject. I highly recommend this book to baby boomers looking for information on how to minimize or eliminate the impact of disease in our lives as we grow older.
Product Review
Dr. Weil has raised dispensing health advice to an art form. Instead of making his audience feel inadequate or guilty about bad habits, he seems to subconsciously convince readers to do better merely by presenting health facts in a non-threatening way. Healthy Aging is his most scientifically technical book yet (you'll learn all about enzymes like telomerase and cell division and the chemistry behind phytonutrients like indole-3-carbinol, and the connection between cancer and other degenerative diseases like diabetes) yet by far his most fascinating.
His main mission here is to recommend "aging gracefully," which he considers accepting the process instead of fighting it. As the director of the country's leading integrative-medicine clinic (combining the best of traditional and alternative worlds), of course he disses Botox and the slew of $100-a-jar face creams out there. It's also no surprise that he focuses on proper nutrition, moderate exercise, and meditation and rest among his "12-point program for healthy aging." (Triathletes and exercise addicts should take special note of the research linking excessive exercise and ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.) He occasionally references his earlier works, including 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. But the most eye-opening sections are those that discuss the spirituality of aging and its emotional aspects. "Aging can bring frailty and suffering, but it can also bring depth and richness of experience, complexity of being, serenity, wisdom, and its own kind of power and grace," he writes. At 63, Weil is still a bit shy of senior status, but is aging well indeed, with the legacy of his late 93-year-old mother (who’s touchingly eulogized by Weil in this book) to guide him.--Erica Jorgensen
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. America's best-known complementary care physician offers a convincing portrait of aging as a natural part of life that can be active, productive and satisfying. Using the examples of his mother, who died at age 93; centenarians from Okinawa and Sardinia; and myths and legends, Weil (Eating Well for Optimum Health) explores common Western beliefs and attitudes about aging and urges readers to develop healthier perspectives. The 60-year-old author assesses the growing and lucrative field of anti-aging medicine, takes the position that aging is not reversible, and offers many ways for readers to prevent conditions and illnesses that limit mortality and ensure well-being into the later years. He provides scientifically based information on why and how the body ages and advice on key components of good health at every age: exercise, nutrition, vitamins and herbs, and stress-relieving activities. Much of this advice is available in Weil's previous works as well as on his Web site. The real value is Weil's courageous stand, one likely to meet resistance in a culture devoted to external indicators of eternal youth. Refreshingly, Weil embraces the notion, popular in Eastern cultures, that age brings wisdom, peace and prosperity of a different kind.
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