After awhile, all diet and lifestyle change books begin to sound a lot alike. That is somewhat the case with Ten Years Younger by Steven Masley, M.D., the former Director of the Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa. This new ten-week plan promises to do everything every other “plan” does that has graced bookstore shelves in the last decade: reverse aging, decrease weight and cholesterol, improve sleep, lower stress, etc…
In this particular book, we are given a ten-week regimen that focuses on reversing the aging process using nutrition, exercise, proper skin care and stress reduction. The program itself makes sense and is very easy to follow, a real plus for those who refuse to totally change their lives in order to improve them. And the author emphasizes the basics of good food, exercise, supplements and reducing stress, so you are not required to go out and buy expensive gym equipment or eat raw food for six months.
What makes this plan so similar to others, like the South Beach Diet, is the focus on eating lean proteins, good carbs and getting the body moving, as well as improving sleep and lowering stress levels. There are the typical recipes and meal plans, and even suggestions for ways to decrease stress and damaging stress hormones, and the author does include a lot of information about the care of the skin, but all in all I felt like I had read all the same information many times before.
Still, this is obviously a commonsense approach to living better and healthier, and if it works for some people, more power to it. The benefit of having so many different diet and lifestyle change books is that it makes it easier for people to find one that will fit their specific personal needs. Ten Years Younger can no doubt do what it says, reverse the aging of the body by ten years and make you look and feel younger, and if that angle appeals to you, then this is the plan for you.
I just wish these authors would all stop bagging on each other. I get a little tired of hearing one author saying all the other authors are wrong, and how his or her plan is the ONLY one that will work. And the Atkins-bashing gets really old after awhile, especially since that particular diet has worked well for some people. Masley gets his punches in, too, yet in the end, his suggestions sounded an awful lot like those of many diet plans out there, including Perricone Prescription and the South Beach Diet.
What it comes down to is variety and choice, and there is a lifestyle change plan for everyone. So, for people who are interested in the idea of taking ten years off their lives, this is a book that will help them do that and it promises to do it in ten weeks time. That’s a small price to pay to remove a whole decade of aging from the body, mind and spirit!