Informative, practical, and uplifting, Healthy Aging is filled with the engaging candor and common sense that have made Andrew Weil one of our most trusted sources on healthy living. Here, using a combination of traditional and nontraditional approaches to good health, Dr. Weil gives us a guide to the myriad things we can do to keep our bodies, minds, and spirits in excellent working order. Here Weil offers an anti-inflammatory diet; separates myth from fact about vitamins, herbs, hormones, anti-aging "medicines," and other would-be elixirs of life extension; explains how to master exercise, breathing, and stress-management techniques; and helps us to understand the science behind the aging process.
"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'3; centenarians from Okinawa and Sardinia; and myths and legends, Weil explores common Western beliefs and attitudes about aging and urges readers to develop healthier perspectives. [Weil] 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.... 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."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)