| Product Summary | | Format: Hardcover | | ISBN: 9780375407550 | | Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf | | Publish Date: 10/25/2005 | | Buy.com Sku: 39805950 | | Item#: BQWU9E | | Dimensions (in Inches) 10H x 6.75L x 1.25T | | Pages: 320 |
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| | | | "Our attitudes toward aging and our responses to the changes in appearance that aging brings are totally colored by our knowledge that we are moving inexorably toward death..." (from the first line) From the Publisher:
Spontaneous Healing ... Eight Weeks to Optimum Health ... Eating Well for Optimum Health ... The Healthy Kitchen in each of his widely acclaimed, best-selling books, Dr. Andrew Weil has been an authoritative and companionable guide through a uniquely effective combination of traditional and nontraditional approaches to health and healthy living. Now he gives us a book about aging that is unlike any other in the breadth and depth of its information and understanding. Hugely informative, practical, and uplifting, it is infused with the engaging candor and common sense that have been the hallmarks of all his books.
At the heart of Healthy Aging is Dr. Weil’s belief that although aging is an irreversible process, there are myriad things we can do to keep our minds and bodies in good working order through all phases of life. To that end, he draws on the new science of biogerentology (the biology of aging) as well as on the secrets of healthy longevity -- diet, activity, and attitude -- that he has gathered firsthand from cultures around the world.
In Part One -- "The Science and Philosophy of Healthy Aging" he explains how the body ages, and he explores the impact of gender, genes, environment, and lifestyle on an individual’s experience and perception of the process of aging. He describes the various would-be elixirs of life extension -- herbs, hormones, and antiaging -- medicines -- separating myth from fact and clearly delineating the difference between the spurious notions of preventing or reversing the process of aging and the real possibilities of inhibiting or delaying the onset of diseases that become more likely as we age. He writes movingly about the ways in which an acceptance of aging can be a significant part of doing it well, and of recognizing and appreciating the great rewards of growing older: depth and richness of experience, complexity of being, serenity, wisdom, and its own kind of power and grace.
In Part Two -- "How to Age Gracefully" Weil details an easy-to-implement Anti-inflammatory Diet that will protect the immune system and aid your body in resisting and adapting to the changes that time brings. And he provides extensive practical advice on exercise; preventive health care; stress management; physical, mental, and emotional flexibility; and spiritual enhancement -- all of which can help you achieve and maintain the best health throughout the lifelong process of aging.
Healthy Aging -- a book for people of all ages -- is Andrew Weil’s most important and far-reaching book yet.
Annotation:
Dr. Andrew Weil's many readers have found the well-grounded and practical advice in his many popular books to make good sense, and they have modified their diets and lifestyles accordingly. In HEALTHY AGING, Dr. Weil applies his mind-body approach specifically to aging and longevity, drawing on recent research into the field of biogerontology. We all age differently, and a major goal of this book is to help us to age gracefully, keeping a sound mind in a sound body. Dr. Weil includes information on gender differences in aging, and explains the important role that our genes play in our general health. He also addresses the topic of inflammation and tells how to strengthen the immune system, supporting his theories through his knowledge of traditional and nontraditional medicine from many world cultures.
| PraisePublishers Weekly
"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...that age brings wisdom, peace and prosperity of a different kind." 08/08/2005Booklist
"[Weil] comes on as an open-minded observer who persistently studies and tests, often with himself as subject, the diet and supplements, exercises, stress-reduction measures, and spiritual practices...that he recommends." 09/01/2005 |
| Author Bio| Andrew Weil | | Andrew Weil, best-selling author and natural-health pioneer, was born in Philadelphia in 1942. He received an A.B. degree in biology (botany) from Harvard in 1964, and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1968. Initially, Weil's fascination with the miraculous healing powers of the human body drove him to pursue biology and medicine. He came to believe that, if nurtured properly, the human body has the ability to heal itself. Thus he became disillusioned with the rules of Western medicine, which promoted chemical intervention and disregarded any connections between the mind and body. His dissatisfaction with his conventional clinical training led him to explore non-Western cultures' concepts of natural health and mind-body interactions. Believing his discoveries would be helpful to Western populations, Weil began to write informative books about the healing arts. His first work, THE NATURAL MIND, was published after he completed his medical internship at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco and worked one year at the National Institute of Mental Health. Between 1971 and '75, his position as a Fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs allowed him to travel to South America and Africa, where he accumulated information about medicinal plants and natural remedies used to treat diseases. Between 1971 and 1984, while on the research staff of the Harvard Botanical Museum, Weil conducted research on psychoactive plants. He has continued to write about natural healing practices. Many of these works, such as EATING WELL FOR OPTIMUM HEALTH, EIGHT WEEKS TO OPTIMUM HEALTH, and SPONTANEOUS HEALING, became national bestsellers, catapulting Weil into the heart of health-guru fame. |
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