Can We Age Gracefully?
By Claire Knight
Suzi Grant wants it all; everlasting youthfulness without the Harley Street price tags, or even the surgery. A self-proclaimed baby-boomer, her mission is to help people of a similar age live longer and look and feel younger. We set Claire Knight the task of casting her scientific eye over Grant’s book, Alternative Ageing.
Alternative Ageing starts off with a quiz – how well are you ageing? Then, if you haven’t shuffled off into a corner in depression, there is plenty to get going with.
The book is divided into ‘super chapters’ such as super hormones, super fats and super foods. I like her style – she writes in a motivational way, recapping on important points to take on board – good for those of us ageing less well on the memory front.
A large part of the book is about changing and supplementing your diet with super anti-agers. Suzi seems quite chirpy about this, reeling off the list of ten pills she takes with lunch etc.
You get a choice of three diets, plus one extra for those who really view the allowed food list whilst contemplating a jump from a very tall building. One even seems quite normal (the GI diet).
However, there’s no escaping the fact that, to work, these diets have to become a way of life; one that involves a bunch of alfalfa sprouts at every meal, vegetable juices instead of a morning cuppa and endless lotions and potions. And that brings me onto another thing. The price.
If you were to take on board all the supplements and ensure as much as possible of your food and even drinks were organic, you would certainly age every time you looked at your bank balance.
However, I do like the ethos: alternative ageing. It’s something more proactive and harmonious than surrendering to the surgeon’s knife; even for the fortunate few who can afford it.
Sadly, however, the book is littered with dubious facts and outright inaccuracies. For example, one alcoholic drink can destroy up to 1 million brain cells… I spit my Rioja out and flick quickly to the back for the reference. That must have been a Nature paper I missed. Only there’s no reference list at all. (A quick trip to the Null’s bible, the Book of General Ignorance, will tell you that alcohol doesn’t kill brain cells at all. But then, that isn’t referenced either – Ed.)
Another ‘fact’: apparently, using a mobile phone for 30 seconds opens up the blood brain barrier for up to eight hours! Now, ‘facts’ like these would be sure to make the audience sit up in horror and bow at the feet of wheatgrass and flaxseeds, if they had the appropriate references. The book’s scientific grounding also took a serious knock at the mention of that super-food expert Gillian McKeith – now don’t get me started on her.
Another thing, Suzi loves her wolfberries. I’m still not entirely sure what these are, some kind of cranberry raisin mutant by the sounds of it. A handful will apparently keep you jolly for the rest of the day and there are ten amazing reasons why wolfberries generally rock. However, how much can we believe when we’re regaled with a story of a guy who lived until he was 252 having started eating wolfberry soup every day at 50?
However, personally I think there are some good ideas to take on board. Dancing, particularly the tango, can decrease the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease, due to the mental effort required by the brain (I wonder if Friday clubbing counts?).
The book is a good idea – motivationally written, but you can’t help looking ahead to the hopefully evermore distant horizon, and sighing, thinking “yes I maaaaay possibly live a bit longer, but I’ll be poorer and forever bitter as I walk past the chip shop”.
On the other hand, maybe in a few years, when the wrinkles take hold, a bunch of wolfberries every day will seem more appealing. However, to take it seriously and knuckle down with all those super-foods, lotions and potions, I’d want a signed guarantee of immortality.
Alternative Ageing: The Natural Way to Hold Back the Years by Suzi Grant. Published by Michael Joseph Ltd.
Claire Knight is a postgraduate student at the University of Bristol. She works on plants, but smiles a lot nonetheless. Alternative Ageing is available from the Null's bookshop.
Alternative Ageing starts off with a quiz – how well are you ageing? Then, if you haven’t shuffled off into a corner in depression, there is plenty to get going with.
The book is divided into ‘super chapters’ such as super hormones, super fats and super foods. I like her style – she writes in a motivational way, recapping on important points to take on board – good for those of us ageing less well on the memory front.
A large part of the book is about changing and supplementing your diet with super anti-agers. Suzi seems quite chirpy about this, reeling off the list of ten pills she takes with lunch etc.
You get a choice of three diets, plus one extra for those who really view the allowed food list whilst contemplating a jump from a very tall building. One even seems quite normal (the GI diet).
However, there’s no escaping the fact that, to work, these diets have to become a way of life; one that involves a bunch of alfalfa sprouts at every meal, vegetable juices instead of a morning cuppa and endless lotions and potions. And that brings me onto another thing. The price.
If you were to take on board all the supplements and ensure as much as possible of your food and even drinks were organic, you would certainly age every time you looked at your bank balance.
However, I do like the ethos: alternative ageing. It’s something more proactive and harmonious than surrendering to the surgeon’s knife; even for the fortunate few who can afford it.
Sadly, however, the book is littered with dubious facts and outright inaccuracies. For example, one alcoholic drink can destroy up to 1 million brain cells… I spit my Rioja out and flick quickly to the back for the reference. That must have been a Nature paper I missed. Only there’s no reference list at all. (A quick trip to the Null’s bible, the Book of General Ignorance, will tell you that alcohol doesn’t kill brain cells at all. But then, that isn’t referenced either – Ed.)
Another ‘fact’: apparently, using a mobile phone for 30 seconds opens up the blood brain barrier for up to eight hours! Now, ‘facts’ like these would be sure to make the audience sit up in horror and bow at the feet of wheatgrass and flaxseeds, if they had the appropriate references. The book’s scientific grounding also took a serious knock at the mention of that super-food expert Gillian McKeith – now don’t get me started on her.
Another thing, Suzi loves her wolfberries. I’m still not entirely sure what these are, some kind of cranberry raisin mutant by the sounds of it. A handful will apparently keep you jolly for the rest of the day and there are ten amazing reasons why wolfberries generally rock. However, how much can we believe when we’re regaled with a story of a guy who lived until he was 252 having started eating wolfberry soup every day at 50?However, personally I think there are some good ideas to take on board. Dancing, particularly the tango, can decrease the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease, due to the mental effort required by the brain (I wonder if Friday clubbing counts?).
The book is a good idea – motivationally written, but you can’t help looking ahead to the hopefully evermore distant horizon, and sighing, thinking “yes I maaaaay possibly live a bit longer, but I’ll be poorer and forever bitter as I walk past the chip shop”.
On the other hand, maybe in a few years, when the wrinkles take hold, a bunch of wolfberries every day will seem more appealing. However, to take it seriously and knuckle down with all those super-foods, lotions and potions, I’d want a signed guarantee of immortality.
Alternative Ageing: The Natural Way to Hold Back the Years by Suzi Grant. Published by Michael Joseph Ltd.
Claire Knight is a postgraduate student at the University of Bristol. She works on plants, but smiles a lot nonetheless. Alternative Ageing is available from the Null's bookshop.
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