Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being

I have not yet read this book; but, it was recommended to me by a very thorough and knowledgeable physician with whom I work. I expect it to be well worth the time and money spent.

Great book learned a lot about my body

I like the hardcover with large prints. I was happy I ordered another copy (paperback) for gifting. Am a fan of Dr. Weil after I read his “Spontaneous Healing” a decade ago. His discussions were logically persuasive with no need of medical background. They resonated with me having experienced being sick.

This may be Doctor Weil's best book. With clear understand he gives the readers the most honest view on the subject of aging. and death. This clearly stated honesty is (surprisingly) comforting. He starts Healthy Aging . . . with thoughts about immortality and the fallacy of seeking a fountain of youth.Dr. Weil is quick to debunk bogus remedies that claim to reverse the aging process. The focus of this book is to help readers gleam the most from life as it is. As he points out, life is only desirable when accompanied by some measure of health and happiness. While it is possible to extend the period of healthy life, living forever, even with youth preserved, would eventually become intolerable.Doctor Weil explains the science of aging and makes many suggestions for healthfully slowing down this process. He covers prevention, diet, healthful exercise, lifestyle, as well as the most recent information on dietary supplements. He does this with his usual inspired clarity. I think that his philosophy is of equal importance. His chapter on growing old gracefully is also helpful.As the book ends it is summarized with a brief twelve point plan for healthy aging.I'm glad I read this book and I believe most people, young and old, would benefit from reading it and applying it to their own lives.

There is a very long explanation of the major physiological changes (especially at the cell level) as one ages. It's a fairly dry but scientific discussion. There follows a number of life style recommendations that would help maintain health throughout life, especially in later years. That was the most interesting part of the book. The section on dietary supplements was also very interesting, as far as that goes, but when I researched them online, the claims made in their behalf seemed extremely tentative. Personally, I adopted very few based on all the information I gathered. But taken with a grain of salt, the book is worth reading. There may be better books out there, but this is the one I read.

Please forgive the play on words in the title of this review. I had almost given up on Medical Doctors until reading Dr. Weil's superb book. I'm 64 years old, a tenured Professor of Education at a California State University, and I've just started studying Aikido (which is also all about mind, body and spirit). That study has proven to be catalytic in the development of my awareness of the healthy aging that Dr. Weil writes about with such insightfulness and clarity. I have already posted my recommendation of this excellent book on my own web site for benefit of my students and fellow faculty and staff at the university where I teach. Perhaps I am biased in favor of this book because I already embrace the underlying philosophy, but I believe that anyone who takes the time to read and carefully consider what Dr. Weil has written will find it to be of great value. In fact, I liked it so much that I recommended it to the Naturopathic Doctor who is my own personal physician! Special thanks to Dr. Weil for including his own ethical will. I wish more people in the helping professions would write ethical wills and include information about themselves on personal web sites to help the people who need their services make informed decisions.

Andrew Weil's book on "Healthy Aging" helped me to understand better how I can contribute towards my own aging process through simple accessible easy lifestyle changes while providing the science behind each recommendation. He made me understand that we are not slaves to our genes, but by changing our environment, through lifestyle changes, we can influence the genes that life served us. This to say that we can change some aspects of our make-up to push us towards a place of aging more gracefully and healthily. Hence, our destiny is in our own hands! We owe it to no one but ourselves to be happy, healthy and wealthy!

Healthy Aging is an oasis of sage advice in the raucous marketplace of alternative health care literature. I appreciate that Dr. Weil's approach is science and evidence based, but isn't stuck to the Western medical model.This book is very accessible--for the general reader, it strikes the right balance between "technical" and conversational. For me, the chapter discussing the relation between diet and inflammatory processes in the body, and the relation between these processes and age related diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease, was a revelation. I had been vaguely aware of the dangers of poorly regulated inflammation, but Dr. Weil brings the issue into sharp focus.Healthy Aging reinforces my admiration for Dr. Weil's work. If you want to take responsibility for your own health, read this book.The 15 pages of Notes in the back are a gold mine.

It’s a great read

Good book.

Boring

Only a few chapters in and this book is fascinating reading. I'm a big fan of aging as well (and as slowly!) as I can and it is so useful to learn about cellular ageing and DNA. Will update this review as I get further on. I have other books to reduce the physical signs of ageing - Face Exercises Made Easy (Faceworks Natural Facelift) Face Exercises Made Easy: How to Lift and Tone Your Face, Get Healthy, Firm Skin and Stay Gorgeous Foreverand The Water Secret (Howard Murad ) The Water Secret: The Cellular Breakthrough to Look and Feel 10 Years Younger- both brilliant - but this one I hope will give me even more knowledge to age well and stay in tip top condition.

Many books on health give you good advice but don't really give you a satisfying reading experience. I bought this book with some trepidation, imagining that it might be little more than a collection of tips recycled from Weil's websites. I was immediately reassured as Weil launched into an explanation of cutting-edge aging research. This book is quite a meaty tome, and Weil isn't afraid to give readers some complexity when explaining important scientific concepts behind aging. As the Amazon.com review suggests, the detailed and careful argumentation is more persuasive than any collection of bullet-point advice on healthy living.As a licensed physician, Weil of course advises readers to talk to their own doctors about many of the supplements and measures discussed in the book. But he doesn't hide behind the disclaimers, and is quite ready to tell us what he believes. At the same time, he doesn't ram it down our throats, and presents alternative views as appropriate. All in all, a valuable source of information and a fascinating read.