Aging Books

First we want to grow up; then, we want to look younger! Positively Ageless gives advice on how to take care of ourselves inside and out. I've met Cheryl Forberg and she is a perfect example of practicing what she preaches. This book touches upon every aspect of maintaining health and the recipes are doable and delicious. That's what I want to be --'positively ageless'. Thanks.

For those of us wanting to keep our bodies healthy and as "ageless" as we can, this book is a hit! The easy to understand examples (like the oxidizing apple...) are great, and the no-nonsense research is fascinating and well-written. And the recipes are terrific too -- so far, of the 4 I've tried, all are yummy! Great book...

Motivating, easy to read,follow, & implement, and inspirational, with good, solid science behind everything....what more can you ask for?

Finally! A book by someone who's knowledgeable about the subject of antiaging nutrition. I saw her on television and she really knows her stuff.
I've read a few popular antiaging books and I liked Positively Ageless better because it is written from the perspective of a nutritionist who is also a professional chef. She makes the subject easy and logical to understand. Her recipes sound and taste great. I even made two of them myself so far which is a first for me.

I felt like a new person after following Dr. Cheryl's nutritional advice. I lost weight, but more importantly, I looked great! Everyone commented on how much I glowed after a few weeks of following the plan.

I love this book! It was highly recommended to me and I know why. Reading Donna's story was like seeing a reflection of my own experience of entering midlife.

The more I read, the more I love Donna's work. I'm just getting into the juicy parts now about self-love and self-blessing.

Thank you Donna for helping me to recognize the Queen I've become.

As the founder of Women of Intentions:Ordinary Women Making an Extraordinary Difference and Vicki Fox Productions, my mission for the last six years has been empowering myself and other women. As our culture and society has changed, entering our middle years has been relatively uncharted territory. God bless Donna Henes and her powerful book.

Telling her life story, she has written that middle age is a profound time of loss -- experiencing the loss of our youthful beauty, our parents, our children becoming adults, losing our spouses through divorce or death. Yet despite this time of "letting go" she informs and reminds us that most women report never being happier. What a breath of fresh air for those of us at the beginning of the journey.

I recommend this book to all women. Donna relates personal experiences and gives us exercises to get in touch with how to live the second half of our lives with "moxie, meaning and magic."

I am 50 something, and eagerly looked forward to this book. Initially I was disappointed. It seems to get off to a slow and self aggrandizing start on the part of the author. Also, as a book written for women in middle age, the color and size of the font is perplexing - especially the script used for the poems scattered liberally throughout. I frequently would have to take off my glasses (that already have a bifocal) and hold the book up to my face to be able to read them. However, I stuck it out and was well rewarded. She speaks to us middle-age women in a new, open and refreshing way. Her suggestions for claiming our "queenhood" are insightful, fun and expanding. It is a fresh start for us facing all the changes - physical, emotional and mental - that we encounter as we enter this phase of our lives. Well worth the price of admission!

If I were to recommend three books to a friend in need of some reassurance that is - truly - great to be a woman, and even finer to be a woman pushing fifty or beyond, this triad would be "The Queen of My Self" by Donna Henes, along withThe Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicineand The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. Well, I'd have to add The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing During the Change.

I am writing this during the breaking news of the unearthed mummy of the Queen of Egypt - a woman who died in her fifties. The "alpha female" of the ancient world, the newscaster blares. It is delightful to hear about a woman ruler (and it is great that she was fifty and not some maiden queen). But this review is about a book about women ruling none other than herself. And that is far more important a discovery than the mummy.

"The Queen of My Self" is unusual and counter to the culture. There are not many books that contradict the idea that life is essentially over for a woman of "a certain age". Partly it is due to lingering taboos. There are self-help books that "help" us defy our stage, fend it off or conceal it. These books are not empowering, because it is a lie and we know it, it fools no one, so they feeds the terror. We may feel invisible, but why? We are everywhere. And we are full of power, but we may not know it or recognize it. Mostly we disappear from imagery and stories in books and films, though in reality we run society (even if not compensated for it). Though rising in our eroticism, we vanish as erotic beings, and we are pressured to dye our hair and insist we mostly bake cookies - trapped in the Mother archetype - if we dare to be actual queens of the land. So much of our creative energy seems to be wasted on hiding what we are slowly - irrevocably - becoming. This has got to be as destructive to one's self esteem as racism.

Donna Henes comes to the rescue! She is a rift healer, a paradox mender. A soul retriever. It is fitting that she is also a professional celebrator of celestial seasons - for we humans also have our seasons, and she celebrates our long autumnal glory. Life isn't just Spring, Summer, and Winter, but somehow the Autumn and its bounty got skipped. Henes bridges this immense gap.

As I passed forty and began to grow out of the Mother (Summer), I knew the looming Crone archetype (Winter)did not fit me or define me, and speculated that this image arose when most women were dead by fifty, or at least toothless and wasted (as you can see in women of many poor agricultural countries today). "The Crone" did not describe my midlife friends; it didn't describe my mother when she turned a robust, imperial seventy. It really only described my great grandmother of 105. The decay aspects of the Crone seemed to have been dreamed up by men - and probably women - afraid of their mortality and projecting death onto the Feminine. Carl Jung didn't help. The Crone was an outmoded archetype - and I decided to not take it on. I would create and live my own archetype, and categories be damned.

That can be a lonely hermit road though. As Henes shows, part of the dilemma of this stage is we often isolate ourselves to process the transformation, and this isolation can make us feel we are going it alone. For women, erstwhile social creatures, that can be especially strange. Turns out, I am in good company in my "ruminations and regenerating". Uncannily (well, she is a shaman)Henes sent me her book at the time when I most needed some external sisterly affirmation, and explanation of, and highly accurate description of the amazing psychic journey I have been on.

I gladly embrace the Queen archetype: I am Queen of my Self - if not of the Land! This is not about power over others - it is about power of oneself and power over highly destructive confusing imagery and stereotypes.

Henes exactly describes what I have been going through and mulling over. Here is a favorite "aha" quote:
"Despite the rude awakening, the unsettling physical and emotional chaos of midlife and all its frightful, presumed ramification, an amazing number of women find this stage to be the most personally fulfilling and satisfying one of their lives so far...Just what are we to make of this apparent feeling among so many women that we believe ourselves to be better off once we have lost possession of the very characteristics and trappings that society seems to value in us -- our sexual allure and childbearing capabilities?".
Pleasurable, iconoclastic, great writing, great wisdom (from someone not yet a Crone), bold vitality: This book will be valued companion for me in the years to come.

Lesley Thomas, author of
Flight of the Goose

I looked forward to my 50th birthday with more joy and anticipation than any other birthday in my adult life. There was just one problem: Traditionally, women have identified age 50 and menopause as the time when they segue from Mother to Crone. But I didn't feel like a Crone! I still loved to hike in the woods, ride my bicycle, play with paints and clay and toys.

Then I met Donna Henes and read her book, "Queen of Myself." It was one of those rare, "Aha" moments for me. Here, at last, was a woman who understood the old archetypes were outdated; that menopausal women in this millennium are still vibrant and full of life. Smart, yes; wise, well....maybe in another few years.

Henes explains how the idea of the three stages of a woman's life--Maiden, Mother, Crone--are not, as often thought, the faces of the triple goddess. Rather, they are the creation of a man, a man who clearly feared the strength, power, and bohemian spirit so prevalent in today's midlife woman.

She offers lots of fun and fanciful ways to celebrate Queendom, from rebirthing and coronation ceremonies to personal affirmations and chants. And she doesn't do this from an impersonal distance. Henes bares her soul, talking about her own path to Queendom, writing in such an intimate manner the reader feels like the book is a personal letter from the author to her, and her alone.

Read this book. Give this book to every woman you know who is a Queen, or is approaching Queendom. Then, pour yourself a delicious bubble bath, a glass of wine or cup of soothing tea, put a crown on your head--one you've made yourself, of course--slip into the tub, and sing, "Hail to the Queen!"

You deserve it.

I purchased this book because my Aunt and Uncle are on page 97 but found that I love the whole book. There is so much wisdom in these pages. These people are amazing and the photos are beautiful.

This has become the must-have book on aging with grace. Why? Remarkable straightforward photos and quotes from remarkable straightforward people who have looked aging in the eye -- and not blinked.

If you can find a copy, grab it. If you can't, contact the publisher and ask when it will be available again.

"Salt of the Red Earth" is a timely treasure commemoratiing the lives of sage Oklahomans at a momentous slice of time -- Oklahoma's Centennial. This carefully crafted book, with its unvarnished, honest quotations and beautiful photography is not only a snapshot of real people living long lives -- it is also a testimony to the dedication, determination and hard work of a talented photographer and savvy chronicler, M.J. Alexander.

What a wonderful tribute to the older and wiser Oklahoman's in this Centennial year! M. J. Alexander does an amazing job capturing the wit and wisdom of all she interviewed and photographed. Our whole family enjoyed her work and we can't wait to see what she chooses for her next project.

What a wonderful book. The author has led us down a path, allowing us glimpses into days gone by, told by those who lived them. How inspiring to read positive words from people who lived through some of the hardest years in American history. The photos are beyond compare, just the faces of the individuals allow us to see the past. Some are worn and shadowed, wrinkled and aged, yet with finesse and compassion, Alexander has captured images of history, and all done with tenderness and care. Own this book, I assure the reader that they will be in awe at the gift of longevity these subjects have been given.
More from Alexander, please.

This book is an amazingly thorough guide to resources for the elderly and those who care for them. I bought one for myself, both my siblings and my parents. It's also a very sweet and sometimes entertaining story about the author's family. I recommend it very highly to anyone who has elderly parents or anyone who is "getting up there" themselves, as my husband and I are.

While this book is written from the viewpoint of the child, it is vitally important for parents to read it as well. My husband and I began years ago to accumulate the kind of documents we need, but after reading the book I know that we have much more to do. At our church we have a "Keeping On" group for older people who are concerned about their futures. One of our members suggested that it would be a good idea to send each of our children a copy of this book. I resisted the notion, thinking that they would take the gesture as a plea for help and a sign that we were about to become a burden to them. Having read the book, I have changed my mind. I'm going to send each of the children a copy of the questionnaire in the middle of the book, filled out with all the information we have accumulated so far and will invite their input. Whether or not I will send copies of the book later is not certain at this point, but it's certainly an option.

Jim Comer has written one of the most important books of our time. As the baby boomers approached middle age, they have found the unexpected need to care for their own parents who are at the end of life's journey. In our society nobody like to face this issues of disease and death that comes with old age, but they are a fact of life. To ignore the problems of the elderly does not make them go away.

For families, ignoring what the future holds for parents and grandparents can bring with it pain, financial loss, and countless legal and medical problems. The only way to successfully manage these issues is to talk about them early. Open and honest discussions will prevent nightmare situations as relatives face the touch decisions down the line.

If you know anyone who is aging, this book is a must read.

My parents are 85 and 86; still live on their own. I am glad I read this book before they need constant care or before their death. A good read and very helpful.

Superb advice for what is inevitable for many children ... taking care of the well-being of aging parents when, just as the title suggests, it's your turn to be the caretaker. I personally have benefitted from Jim Comer's insight and professional advice, as have several friends who also purchased the book after my comments to them. It helps EVERY STEP OF THE WAY, and you'll find yourself going back to it time and time again during the process.

Great book, easy to read. CD is a little over the top and bizarre though.

In Amy Gorman's Aging Artfully, Dr. Gene Cohen, who has conducted long-term research on creativity and the elderly, is quoted as stating "that seniors who participate in arts activities enjoy better health, visit doctors less frequently and use less medicine, to name a few of the benefits." If Gorman's interviews of twelve visual and performing women artists aged 85-105 is any indication, we certainly have to concur with Dr. Cohen's findings.

Gorman was very intrigued with the connection between longevity and the impact of creative activities on the over-85 age population. As a result of her curiosity, she interviewed twelve women in the San Francisco Bay area who were between the ages of 85 and 105. Moreover, together with the collaboration of her friend and colleague, Frances Kandl, Gorman transcribed these interviews and published them in Aging Artfully, while Kandl wrote seven songs about some of the interviewees. The songs were recorded and appear on a CD that accompanies the book.

The 12 women, who candidly share their life their experiences with Gorman, are all connected in one way or another to the world of art and all were quite capable of recounting poignant and careful examinations of their lives.

This does make for some very fascinating reading as we are introduced to Lily Hearst, a 107- year old pianist, Frances Dunham Catlett, a 97-year old painter, Ann Davlin, a 95 year dancer, Mary Beth Washington, an 85-year old storyteller, Dorothy Takahashi Toy, an 88-year old dancer, Faith Craig Petric, a 90-year old folk singer,Rosa Maria Morales Escobar, an 82-year old singer and folklorico dancer, Grace Gildersleeve, a 94-year old rug braider, Elsie Ogata, a 90-year old Ikebana artist, Stella Toogood Cope, a 90-year old storyteller, Madeline Mason, a 104-year old doll marker and sculptor, and Isabel Ferguson, an 89-year old actor, illustrator, painter and assemblage artist. You probably won't find most of these women listed in the various Internet search engines, however, what they have to share is quite an eye-opener.

Although, all of these feisty women are unique, exhibiting strong characters, there are some surprising standouts such as Dorothy Takahashi Toy, who had a lifetime of dancing, choreographing and producing shows, and had barely slowed down at the age of 88 when interviewed by Gorman. Imagine a 107-year old, Lily Hearst, who died in 2005, and who was still practising daily on her cherished Schiedmayer grand piano. When Gorman met African American Madeline Mason, who at the time was over a hundred, she greeted her with a cheerful smile and laughingly told her she would be 102 on April 20th, the same birthday as Hitler, and he didn't like or Jews."

Gorman's interview technique is clever and masterful, turning what might easily have wound up as tedious and monotonous conversations into an informative look at the benefits of art that has kept these individuals alive and kicking in their ninth decade and beyond. Her transcriptions of the interviews are plainspoken and direct with a minimum of flourish, an approach that permits her readers to understand why art was so much part of them or as Gorman states: "Their art is now so deeply ingrained in their beings that they cannot separate it from themselves. The art and the person have merged."

In addition, the interviewees do not shy away from discussing the difficult realities that they may have endured during their lifetime. In fact, they even confront their past sufferings without resorting to complaining or dwelling on unpleasant experiences. In the end the interviews together with the several black and white photos that are thrown in felt like I was having a pleasant rendezvous with elderly neighbours while enjoying a good laugh or maybe shedding a tear or two. And after putting the book to rest, I shook my head in amazement with a new perspective on growing old.

Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures

It's so nice to find inspirational women role models for creative aging. As a former actress and singer, I have promised myself that I would some day go back to my earlier career in the theater. If I had any doubts that it was too late to do that, this book has put those doubts to rest! Pamela D. Blair, Author The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Mid-Life And Beyond

"Aging Artfully" is Amy Gorman's inspiring and touching rejoinder to the pervasive idea that age is some sort of wasteland. Gorman--who "woke up one morning, age was on my mind," interviews 12 women who by any measure are very old--85-105--and yet are deeply engaged in the visual and performing arts. She finds that the arts have become so much a part of these old women that "the art and the person have merged," that in the face of declining strength, it is their art, in fact, that keeps them going. In an unusual touch, Gorman's heartfelt profiles are complemented with music, songs composed by her colleague Frances Kandl, whose CD is included with the book. Kandl composed these special songs in response to the spirit of seven of the 12 women; they are performed by--the Crones' Kwartet! Some of the women have always been involved in the arts, others discovered them late in life, and as each tells us her story, we see how the lives of all of them are enriched thereby. These women have a lot to tell us -- it's up to us to hear them.

"Slow down," one of my children may tell me; sometimes, I even say it to myself.

Forget it!

The great message of this book is "Keep going--full tilt."

Consider Dorothy Toy, 88, with a dance class full of high school girls, or Lily Hearst at the piano practicing her scales before she tackled Chopin, all this before her students arrive. Lily didn't like teaching youngsters--she insisted that they be at least 70. It makes sense, since when Lily taught her students, she was 105 herself. Dorothy and Lily are but two of the inspiring women whose stories enliven the pages of this fascinating book.

Author Amy Gorman, along with her colleague, Frances Kandl, became intrigued with women artists who continued to pursue their art into their later years. Amy was so intrigued, that in 2006 she interviewed twelve of them, all but one 85 or older, who lived in or near Berkeley, California. The interviews and these women became this book, which is itself an inspiration.

The women followed many muses: Lily, music; Dorothy, dance; the well-named Stella Toogood Cope told stories, as did Orunamanu (Mary Beth Washington). There are painters, singers, a doll maker, a rug braider and an Ikebana artist as well. Despite the differences in craft and life story among the women, the author noted many similarities: they accepted the limitations of age without complaint and they "continued to do their art no matter what."

As my own clock ticks along (whose does not?), I find inspiration in each story. These women can serve as models for all of us. It would be a fine book to share with older women's groups, not only to encourage the participants but also to serve as a catalyst for the sharing of their own stories. This book also deserves a place in the larger field of women's history, for while each woman was living her later years in California, their stories spanned three centuries and several continents. Lily began her life in Austria, where with her sister, she pioneered skiing for women--and wore pants to do it! Stella began her storytelling career on the radio in England, while Madeline, the doll maker, was a pioneering African-American nurse in New York. Dancer Rosa Maria traces her family back to the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, and dancer Dorothy, American born with Japanese heritage, spent the Second World War in her parents' homeland. Such diversity, such a wealth of personal creativity. If these women are all in Berkeley, I wonder about the women around me!

A bonus comes with this book. Frances Kandl composed seven songs about the women interviewed here. She performed them as a salute to the women; a compact disc is included with the book.

This is a book to appreciate and share.

by Patricia Nordyke Pando
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews

This book is great for someone turning 40, 50, 60, 70...
It is so inspiring to see images of happy, healthy, active seniors.
I guarantee this book to be a big hit.

This book is an inspiration to all! Great pictures of senor athletes who are in fabulous shape. If we all could look this great at advanced age!
Just goes to show that physical excercise can keep you young and fit!
Looved this book and think it's a great gift item.

A terrific follow up on the original book; "Growing Old is Not For Sissies" - highly recommend both

As a 50 year old runner and biker, I loved this book. I am now firmly entrenched in middle age and need the occasional inspiration to get out on the trails of Houston especially during the brutally hot summers. This book is full of what I need. A beautifully photographed and written book portraying active seniors competing and loving life, some well into their 90s. Truly amazing. The book is generally formatted with a picture and a few paragraphs written about and in some cases by these special people. By personal favorite is 83 year old surfer "Woody" Brown pictured with his 6 year old son Woody Jr. (Yep.... do the math) A copy of their picture is posted on my refrigerator for those days I hesitate to lace up the running shoes.

I have bought this book now as a birthday gift for my father, my husband and two of our friends (all of whom are athletes who are definitely NOT sissies!). It is such a beautiful testimony to the fact that age is just a number. I hope someday I might qualify to be in one of Etta Clark's future edition of this book.

full of practical advise........not just philosophy........hard to find elsewhere
highly recommended , for laymen and the more so for doctors.
Dealing only "sparsely" with food/nutrition.
stress mainly on supplements,but really worth it if you are looking for proper advise in this area.

hits pretty hard on the medical community but has some really innovative ideas on supplements to keep you young. Well worth having as part of your "medical" library

This brilliant book from the cutting edge Life Extension Foundation reveals the promise of anti-aging medicine and provides a complete programme of lifestyle, supplements etc. to stay biologically young and healthy.

Anti-aging medicine takes an approach built on the principles of functionality, prevention, holism and integration. The authors discuss the reasons for aging, like cellular programming, biochemistry, environmental influences, heredity and lifestyle factors.

The good news is that we can now correct, reduce and compensate for metabolic and biochemical changes that take place as we age. Some of the treatments include the use of bio-identical hormone replacement, the use of a wide array of nutrients, herbs and pharmaceuticals, plus lifestyle and dietary changes.

This book provides practical and user-friendly programmes whereby you can easily benefit from the spectacular advances in anti-aging medicine in order to live a longer, fuller and happier life. It includes detailed information on how to protect yourself from heart disease, cancer, arthritis and Alzheimer's disease through the control of inflammation and oxidation.

There is also plenty of advice and information on retaining and increasing brainpower and mental clarity. Diagrams and charts enhance the text and the book concludes with extensive references and appendices to the latest research.

The Life Extension Revolution is very thorough and detailed and makes the latest research findings accessible to the average person. I also recommend Renewal by Timothy J Smith, The Superhormone Promise by William Regelson, The New Anti-Aging Revolution: Stopping The Clock by Ronald Klatz and Mind Boosters by Ray Sahelian.

the only scientifically pliable book on the market. shure the topic of anti aging is complex. but get over it. the author tried hard to explain the "process" of anti-aging in as least encyclopedical terms possible. thanks. the other way aroung wuold be a magic bullet or some sort of miracle. but i guess you are a grown up. miracles dont happen. we have to do our part.

Herein lies the biochemistry of aging and the steps you can take to slow it down. It isn't simply a matter of finding a multivitamin, exercisiing and hoping fate keeps at bay. It's a matter of premeditatedly taking action to keep your systems running at full efficiency and carefully monitoring your bloodwork to make sure you're on target. In terms off all you spend to stay healthy, and will spend for medical intervention - this information is virtually free. I put a lot of energy into my health and found this information life changing.

Suza Francina's book "The New Yoga for Healthing Aging" is a must-have for anyone over 50 as well as for those of us who work with the aging baby boomer population. This book is chock full of inspiring photos of seniors in different asanas, sage advice and some sample routines. I can't believe that some of these people are over 90! Wow!

Francina is Iyengar-based, so many of the poses are shown with props and there is good information on how to use the props safely. In this book you can also find medical research and advice on using yoga for a variety of conditions including arthritis, osteoporosis, hip replacements, alzheimer's and parkinsons. Many of the seniors in the book share their stories on how yoga has helped them with their issues, and this can be very encouraging for people who may be fearful of trying yoga.

Especially helpful are the suggestions for getting up and down from the floor and the section on teaching seniors. Any teacher who works with the aging population will find these parts invaluable! I hope that this book can not only help me to be mindful of my teaching skills but also about my own aging body.

As a brand new yoga teacher (at age 62), I find Suza Francina's latest book, "The New Yoga for Healthy Aging", to be a great resource. I teach in the 55+ community where I live, so many of my students have health challenges. I often refer to the chapters on teaching seniors, as well as those dealing with specific health issues, like hip replacement (I have two in class), arthritis and osteoporosis. I also like to share quotes from Suza and the other senior teachers featured in her book with my students. I highly recommend this book for new teachers and older students as well.

Carin Seebold, RYT

With the innumerable yoga books on the market and the attempts of companies trying to make a buck of the yoga boom I am leary of buying any products, including books, marketed for yoga. Also, from my own experiences I feel many reviews give an exaggerated view of the books.

However, this book is truly a good book. I am 49 yrs old and have been practicing yoga for almost 5 years, two to four times a day. I am constantly trying to find out more about books, DVDs, websites etc on yoga related items in order to improve and deepen my practice. I am glad I bought this one.

For someone who recovered from a severe and incapacitating lower back injury with the practice of yoga asanas, this book is a reaffirmation of my own experiences. Had I not taken to an asana pracitce, I know for a fact that my injury would have made a "cash cow" out of me for the "medical professionals" in our health care system. More importantly the book offers tremendous inspiration, hope and encouragement to the aging -- which includes all -- and people recovering from chronic pain. It does this by sketching the lives of those who have been practicing yoga asanas.

I assure you that if you are serious about your mental, physical and emotional health, and if you have had a year of yoga and want to give your practice a boost then this book will not let you down. It will confirm your realizations and build on them regarding the healing potential of yoga asanas. I have already bought two copies and will be buying numerous more to give to everyone I know. This will save them a lot of pain and suffering as they grow older, not to mention the expenses of a medical system that is absolutely out of control. In my opinion and experiences medical science itself is shallow and flawed despite the many sincere practitioners. People suffering from chronic ailments are a testimony to this claim.

The writer has done a very good job of writing this book. Thank you Suza.

Suza Francina goes beyond inspiring once again with her newest book The New Yoga for Healthy Aging. As a yoga teacher of senior adults I really like the organization of the chapters, the mixture of instructional information and heartfelt stories I associate with Suza's writing style; offering practical guidance and personal anecdotes to help motivate older students. I read the section on Suza's mom, how she had this very emotional family emergency during the writing of this book. I'm sure she worried at times about losing her. Suza too shared a very personal story. I read from this book to my students as I find the stories uplifting and recently taught from the sequence for heart health.
www.yogamudra.com

"The New Yoga for Healthy Aging is one of the most exciting yoga books ever published. Its promise is one that millions of baby boomers will find comforting--that yoga is a natural prescription for reversing the aging process. The proof is in the lovely and inspiring photographs of yoga students in their later years in poses of beauty and strength. This outstanding resource addresses the common ailments of aging and is as encouraging as it is informative and practical. Suza Francina shows how even challenging yoga poses become "do-able" through the use of props and modifications. Her extensive knowledge and experience teaching yoga is evident and her wisdom and deep caring shine through her words and stories. "

---Peggy Cappy
Author, Yoga for All of Us, and creator of the popular video series Yoga for the Rest of Us, as seen on public television, and the guided relaxation audio CD series Deep Relaxation for the Rest of Your Life. www.peggycappy.com

Just the chapter on Skin Care is worth the read.

Unlike other books, this one leads you into the recommended changes very gradually, so you don't come away after reading it thinking you cannot possible remember everything you are supposed to do and give up before even trying.

My recommendation is not to think about this process as a 10-week long program.

Just take it one day at a time, in week-long blocks. Mark the changes on your calendar. Don't look at the whole 10 weeks. Just look at what you will do during the first week. Then you look at what's on schedule for the following week when it starts. And so forth.

If you are consistent, you'll see dramatic changes.

I needed quickie proof that something in this book works, so I began the skin treatment first. Since you see your face every day when you wake up and before you go to bed, your face is a good place to start seeing changes. When your complexion shows improvement even after a couple of days, you'll think...."Wow...I ought to do those other things in the book."

Before you realize it, Voila! You'll have lost a few pounds, and the people at work will ask you what you've been doing with yourself.

I'm on week four. It must be working because my clothes don't fit as tightly and my skin looks GREAT.

Since the pig-out holiday season is starting up, don't punish yourself if you fall off the wagon. Pick up where you left off. One binge isn't going to result in total failure...just a little set-back from which you can quickly recover.

And if it takes you 12 weeks or 15 weeks, just keep doing this program. It worked for my husband, and it is working for me.

This book purports to assist you, O Baby Boomer, to remove 10 years of aging in only 10 weeks. This book has no schematics to build a time machine, instead it's a guide to vitamin supplements, health issues such as sexuality, diabetes and heart disease, how to preserve your mental accuity and much more. I was surprised to find some interesting nuggets of information that, taken together, form a good blueprint for healthful habits. Some of the habits (quitting smoking) are a given. Others, such as finding supplements like bilberry to ward off eye problems, are not so well-known.

This author is not on the low-carb bandwagon (recommends the more usual lower-fat, whole-grain diet) but this is in keeping with such books as "South Beach Diet."

What's valuable to me are lists of supplements and what degenerative processes they help deter, and a general plan for good health in your middle age and beyond. This is a readable, useful book.

Filled with practical, well researched information this book contains the distilled knowledge of the most recent studies on aging. The book is organized in a way that allows you to go to the areas that concern you most and read that section without having to read all the preceding chapters.
The chapters cover such topics as getting rid of fat, regaining lost muscle, boosting your brain power, getting rid of fine lines and wrinkles, recharging your immune system and others. Julian Whitaker and Carol Colman have created an interesting book that puts information you would normally have to search across many reference articles to find into one easy to read book.

I began reading this book after I quit smoking hoping for a healthy new beginning. It is absolutely a delightful understanding of how you can reverse past mistakes and embark on a fresh start to reverse aging. I have basically purchased many of the suggested items and have seen a remarkable change. Alot of the items were somehow difficult to find such as the high potency multi vitamins without iron which was suggested but I am searching vigorously. I think anyone who reads this will understand when I tell them to purchase this for friends and loved ones. Awesome reading!

When a dieter seeks to reclaim youth, health, and vigor, he or she would most likely turn to the newest trend: human growth hormone. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with that as there is a clear place for HGH as a tool for health, but before one goes that route, it might make more sense to go back to the basics of a balanced diet and food supplements. In SHED 10 YEARS IN 10 WEEKS, Dr. Julian Whitaker and Carol Colman urge the health conscious to reappraise their diet so as to eliminate harmful foods and increase beneficial ones. The approach of the authors is bedrock common sense mixed with the knowledge that each brings to the table, he with his years of expertise in diet and nutrition and she with her own contributions to Melatonin and hormone research. What separates these two from other more widely known authors is their ability to take complicated issues related to diet and supplements and make these issues ring with clarity. Whitaker and Colman divide their book into 10 steps or chapters, with each step focusing on one aspect of dietary advice. For example, in step 2, called "Lose A Decade's Worth of Fat," they outline a 10 week program that urges the reader to do all the right things: eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables; establish an optimum intake of carbohydrates, protein, and fat; cut down on red meat, add soy to the diet, recognize that some fats (like Omerga-3 fats) are necessary for cardiovascular health; choose which phytochemicals might help be useful; be aware of the importance of soluble and insoluble fibers. Now all this is what your Granny might have been telling you for years, but Whitaker and Colman manage to punctuate Granny's sage advice with the absolute need to listen to her and to them. The major focus of this book is on diet and supplements. It is interesting to note that if one were to follow their advice prior to adding human growth hormone to a health regimen, then the results of that HGH might likely deliver the fancy promises of the hype. SHED 10 YEARS IN 10 WEEKS is highly recommended in that it takes a complicated subject and breaks it down into easily manageable chunks.

thanks for a book like this i have a therapy dog myself i trained for me and then i followed his lead when he showed he wanted and needed and was so good at helping others
i have only read excepts of the book but will buy it my dad is dying of parkinson disease 1000 miles away i am a daddy girl so this time is hard anyway since i have no way to see him
your book helps so much
turns out my dads dog-has saved my dad a few times himself by going to get mom everytime dad falls or needs things
i know if i could get up to dad i could train the dog to do more
the dog is a cocker spaniel raised from 2 weeks old by my mom,but seems to glue itself to dad as dad got sicker
as i always said dogs know more then we think they do and do so much for people
what a gift god gave with allowing us a small time with his critters
[...]

I am grateful to Lynne Hugo for her heartwarming and insightful book. She encouraged me to continue to visit nursing homes and Alzheimer patients with my toy poodle, Lucy, even though she is not trained to perfection. Lucy brings joy to residents and care providers. God has presented me with the opportunity to share my dog and I am proud to serve Him in this way.

I can see why this book won a national writing prize. What a sheer pleasure to read. It's thoughtful, deeply considered and the language sparkles as the author deals with terribly difficult issues but helps us through them by injecting literally hilarious episodes at just the right moments. Marley and Me has nothing funnier than sections of this book. My dog and I are Delta Society volunteers, and I, too, have aging parents. Much of this helped me think about my own life as well as my parents' situations, and I'm really grateful that a friend recommended this book. Now I'm passing the favor on and giving this my most enthusiastic endorsement.

An enjoyable book! I was moved emotionally by the connections of the dog therapy team, the residents they visited, and the nature around them. Nice symbolism showing how human life events parallel changes in nature.

I throughly enjoyed reading "Where the Trail Grows Faint: A Year in the Life of a Therapy Dog Team" by Lynne Hugo. Lynne Hugo is masterful at blending the story of Hannah, her beautiful chocolate lab therapy dog, with the lives of the people who are in the nursing home, along with the lives of her own aging parents. Ms. Hugo has a beautiful way with words; her prose creates atmosphere and feeling....so much so that at the conclusion of the book, I immediately went to visit my own aging mother-in-law, who is in an assisted living facility. This book was clearly written from the heart!