cover image Age-Proof Your Body: Your Complete Guide to Lifelong Vitality

Age-Proof Your Body: Your Complete Guide to Lifelong Vitality

Elizabeth Somer. William Morrow & Company, $25 (376pp) ISBN 978-0-688-15151-5

While the grandiose title may seem to promise the unattainable, Somer actually offers realistic, easy-to-absorb advice on how to prevent the early onset of age's infirmities by eating and exercising wisely, taking appropriate dietary supplements, coping with stress and enjoying life. A regular on ABC-TV's Good Morning America, Somer (Food and Mood, 1995, etc.) knows her sound bites. Pithy sentences (""Skipping breakfast is a big mistake""), lots of self-quizzes, handy lists, tables and liberal use of perky quotations (""Never eat anything at one sitting that you can't lift""--Miss Piggy) lighten her commonsense message on healthy living. She presents the latest research, even when it is inconclusive, on growth hormones, melatonin, coenzyme Q10 and other popular anti-aging potions, and she separates fact from fiction in a chapter on foods as aphrodisiacs. An appendix provides a week's worth of menus with directions for making simple dishes; recipes for more elaborate ones are in a second appendix and include analyses of calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat and fiber content. (June)