Your Body Beautiful; Clockstopping Secrets to Staying Healthy, Strong, and Sexy in Your 30s, 40s, and Beyond

Ashton, a New Jerseygynecologist, CBS News medical correspondent, and author (The Body Scoop for Girls), and journalist Rojo present a five-part plan to bolster women’s health now and in the future. Ashton, 42, argues that the 30s and 40s are foundational, make-or-break decades for lifetime health and “not a time to coast, health-wise.” In the first section, the authors address diet, exercise (incorporating high intensity interval training and weight training), beauty and sleep, stress reduction, and better sex. Section two focuses in separate chapters on hormones, breast health, heart health, osteoporosis, cancer prevention, and other diseases. Ashton, who describes herself as “old-school medicine with a new age approach” divides each topic into manageable five-week stretches designed to be repeated until new habits become second nature (i.e., for diet, cut bad carbs in week one, don’t drink your calories in week two, add a mid-morning protein snack in week three, add colors to your plate in week four, and add an afternoon protein booster, week five). She even includes a user-friendly five-week plan for revving up one’s sex life (week one, schedule in sex on the calendar). Combination pep talk and warning, Ashton’s message that women can and should take control of their own future health in these critical decades is backed up by current research and up-to-the-minute disease-prevention info. (Jan.)