Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
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
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Too Technical
Customer Rating:
Either Dr. Weil was trying to impress us with his vast knowledge of molecular biology or he honestly thought most readers would understand this stuff. If we armed ourselves with dictionaries, medical school textbooks and were willing to take volumnious amounts of notes, perhaps we would learn as much about the topic of aging as Dr. Weil labors to teach us. I'll never know because I not only became bored beyond belief after the first few chapters, but Dr. Weil's relentless message of, "age is not fun but there is nothing you can do about it, so accept it...." dragged me into despair at times. Depak Chopra, by contrast, is uplifting and hopeful in his message about the aging process. I am sorry I bought this book.
Good book, easy reading
Customer Rating:
I liked this book. Very easy to read for the most part. It covers the complete spectrum of what happens to your body as you age, physically, mentally. The author goes in great detail to explain how your body works and what the impact is in our body and mind from the food we eat, the environment we live and and the good and bad habits we have. It also has some good advise on nutrition, supplement and in general for a healthy aging. It definetely makes you think twice about the food you put in your mouth and how you take care of yourself now that you are young.
Aging Gracefully
Customer Rating:
"To age gracefully requires that we stop denying the fact of aging and learn and practice what we have to do to keep our bodies and minds in good working order through all the phases of life." ~ pg. 6
In a world of fast-paced doctor's appointments I think we are all longing for someone to take the time to actually care about our concerns, especially aging. In "Healthy Aging" Dr. Weil states the realities of aging and then explores the positive aspects of aging gracefully. His warm enveloping writing style takes you to a peaceful receptive place. Instead of promoting a "grow younger" approach, Dr. Weil encourages the reader to forget about antiaging and to focus on "minimizing the impact of age-related disease."
Some of the chapters on aging had more to do with food (like aged cheese) and will probably make you hungry. I liked the discussion about Dr. Weil's visits to see ancient trees but felt that the discussion was only a way to make the reader see aging from a positive perspective.
The helpful information in this book is mostly about learning breathing exercises and learning how to meditate. Some of the supplements mentioned include DHEA (he makes no mention of 7-Keto DHEA), ginseng and medicinal mushrooms.
I would not recommend this book to you as the only book about aging you ever read. If you like books by Dr. Weil then I can recommend this to you. If you are more inclined to be interested in how you can slow down the aging process then I can recommend:
How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better
You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty
Dr. Perricone's 7 Secrets to Beauty, Health, and Longevity: The Miracle of Cellular Rejuvenation
The Metabolic Plan: Stay Younger Longer
Age-Proof Your Body: Your Complete Guide to Looking and Feeling Younger
Peptides Plus Cream Wrinkle Reverse 2 Ounces
The Power of Stillness: Learn Meditation in 30 Days
Crunch - Candlelight Yoga
Grow Younger, Live Longer: 10 Steps to Reverse Aging
~The Rebecca Review
Well Documented and Contains Excellent Advice
Customer Rating:
I love Andrew Weil's website and I think very highly of his emphasis on healthy eating and nutrition, so I decided to pick up a couple of his books. This one is "just what the doctor ordered." The first half of the book is mainly devoted to theories about how to slow down the aging process. He discusses stem cell research and how embryonic stem cells might be able to grow new tissues and new organs, but it doesn't slow down the aging process. He also warns that multiplying new cells might also increase the risk for cancer.
Weil also states that there is no evidence that eating fruits and vegetables and yogurt extend the length of life as much as it helps the quality of the life that we have. He also discusses HGH and mentions the bad side effects along with good news like increased muscle tone, better sex drive, etc. But none of these things amounts to a fountain of youth.
He also mentions botox injections and restricted calorie diets and other anti-aging medicines, but none are proven to help. He finally suggests that we age gracefully by taking care of the body that we have the best that we can. He recommends the anti-inflammatory diet, which is heavy on fruits and vegetables (especially those with anti-oxidant properties), omega 3's (walnuts and salmon), white tea and green tea, and grains and legumes. Weil also recommends exercise (30 minutes a day) eight hours of sleep, relaxation/meditation, etc.
But my favorite chapter in the book is when he talks about the value of aging. He notes that cheese is often better when it is aged, as is wine, whiskey, and even trees are beautiful when they are older. In the same way, people often are wiser and more beautiful on the inside, and so we shouldn't be so afraid of aging, even though there is good and bad associated with it.
This is a very good book, and I highly recommend it.
You're not going to live for ever.
Customer Rating:
Let's get this straight, you won't live for ever if you read this book. And you won't live forever, if you don't. But you'll live better if you do. The first part of this book details both the dodgy science of immortality and the good stuff. The second part details ways to live a long, but not permanent, life healthily. For me, the first part although interesting was a little long. I felt myself getting (or is that just feeling) much, much older as I read it. It goes into some detail about long sounding chemical names for drugs that I have no idea about. And The DNA squishy bits of why we age. Or at least why and how the boffins think we age. It gives some detail about societies that have the longest living people (Japan, and within Japan, the Okinawans -go goya!) And advice about getting old, and dealing with it. Overall, the first half is okay.
The second part deals with ways to live a long, healthy life. Generally regarding things we should know, and should do. About eating better, eating less and exercise. No surprises there. Some aspects for me were new, such as the herbal advice he gives (well, I'm just a little lazy chasing up the things that I know I should do.) The second half is also okay.
Somehow I felt that the style of the book, and the way it was written might end up being read more by the already converted (like me) and not by the need to be converted (the person I originally gave the book to.). I see colourful coffee table picture books with sexy presentation calling out to me from the same section of the book store, with easy to read formats and soothing images, such that this tome just doesn't seem to appeal so much to me. But it is the good stuff, there's a lot there to wade through but if you read the second half carefully and take notes, it will lead you onto the path of long, healthy but not immortal life.
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