Prime-Time Health

Starred review from December 21, 2009
Baby- and child-care experts, the Searses present a healthy aging book for their patients' parents and grandparents, featuring an eight-week self-care nutrition and exercise plan to achieve and maintain optimum health. Now a 12-year survivor of colon cancer, Bill Sears restored himself after surgery and treatment by researching, developing and implementing the LEAN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude, and Nutrition) regimen around which this book is centered. Part I helps readers understand how the body changes with age; part II addresses how to have healthy heart, brain, gut, senses, breathing, bones and joints, and skin. Part III covers the importance of weight loss and better nutrition via sixteen “superfoods” rich in anti-oxidants and Omega 3s; part IV offers the science behind and guidance for quelling inflammation that leads to heart disease and cancer. and part V discusses fitness. Finally, part VI puts it all together in the personal Prime-Time Plan with self-tests and list-making exercises. Amusing, encouraging, and easy-to-remember prescriptive mnemonics and slogans appear in text, boxes, sidebars, and illustrations to enliven a lucid, personal and professional narrative. Sears provides what similar books often lack—an honest and trusted voice plus the latest medical science in a comprehensive, accessible program that is hard to resist.

November 23, 2009
Along with his wife, Martha, pediatrician Sears-author of more than 30 books and a colon cancer survivor-provides middle agers with practical advice on staying healthy. Here, he lays out easy-to-read steps on how to plan for a healthy retirement by focusing on protecting the heart, brain, gut, eyes, ears, lungs, bones, joints, skin, and gums, an area rarely covered in other health guides. He begins by exploring how the body changes with age and how we can improve health through lifestyle like buying household plants and air purifiers to aid in breathing. Focusing on nutrition throughout, Sears gives examples of healthy foods and provides sample menus and tips. He also covers such topics as sleeping, general well being, health care, and fitness. The concluding chapter contains an action plan to incorporate the healthy tips into everyday life. Verdict Although there is some repetitiveness, Sears's text is simple to follow and includes valuable illustrations. His latest work will appeal to middle-aged consumers looking to lead a healthier life. Many may recognize the Sears name from his parenting books. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/09.]-Dana Ladd, Community Health Education Ctr., Tompkins-McCaw Lib. for the Health Sciences, VCU Libs.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.