Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Fine Wine of Aging (BOOK REVIEW)



The Fine Wine of Aging:
7 Habits of Forever Youthful People
by Angela M. Bryan, MPA/RD
CreateSpace
Paperback, $6.99
50 pages
ISBN: 978-1-466396-98-2

Book Review by Kam Williams

“Many people confuse aging with getting older… Everyone grows older with time. It’s just a part of living… But aging is a progressive and gradual change in the physiological functions [of] the body and mind…Aging is gradually being unable to do everything you did when you were younger.
The fine wine of aging is the ability to control and support the internal environment of your body and your mind to such an extent that, as the chronological age increases, the physiological and metabolic functions are maintained or improved… In other words, the fine wine of aging is being able to do most of the things you did when you were younger, as you grow older.”
 Excerpted from Chapter Two - “What Is Aging” (pgs. 4-5)

The dawn of a new year generally marks the moment when most people pause to take stock of their lives before making an annual list of self-improvement resolutions. And for many us, that means a rededication to issues revolving around health and/or weight loss.
For that reason, a how-to book like The Fine Wine of Aging might come in handy right about now. This compact primer on delaying the aging process was written by Angela Bryan, a registered dietician who works for USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services Department.
Over the course of her career, the author has encountered a number of folks from all walks of life “who look and feel 10-20 years younger than their chronological age.” Upon asking them to share their secrets, lo and behold, she discovered that they had a lot in common, and distilled the essence of their daily regimen to the 7 habits which serve as the basis for this opus.
Ranging from eating healthily to exercising regularly to going to bed early to drinking plenty of water to breathing fresh air to maintaining one’s balance to minimizing stress, they sort of sound like common sense except they are actually easier said than done in this high-pressure age of over-scheduling and incessant demands which must often be met while on the run.
In sum, hats off to Ms. Bryan for providing a viable game plan for anyone really ready to walk the walk rather than merely talk the talk when it comes to this year’s resolutions. Fair warning: the successful anti-aging formula calls for summoning the willpower suggested in the Biblical message of John 13:17: “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”
Amen.

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