I found this book to be very scientific. And I love health books and am okay with science, but it was a bit slow going for that reason. A lot of great information, and I enjoyed the recipes. Lots of good stuff, and also things I didn't care for. Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to read and review.

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette for a copy of Younger You in exchange for an honest review. This was the first time I've read from Dr. Fitzgerald and I really enjoyed how informative this book was. Aging is something we all do, why not do it in a better, healthy way? This book covered a study on a program that the study subjects were able to shave two years off of their age. There were times where the technical science speak was a little overwhelming. But overall, it's a good book to dive into if you are looking to take your health more seriously.

While filled lots of valuable information, the book delves into the science so closely that at times it just seems like more than I really could grasp. The real-life stories, however, were a nice addition and the fact that the author shared techniques for optimal health and ways to lower your biological age were also welcome.

There were elements of this book that I liked and others that I found lacking.

The good:

~ Dr. Fitzgerald does this work for a living and has worked with thousands of patients. She and her colleagues have also led a number of large studies backing this, so she is definitely an expert in the field.

~ She goes into a lot of the science and is also relatable as an older mother of a young child who wants to stay active and healthy for as long as possible.

~ There's good advice about how foods, exercise, sleep, etc. can dramatically affect our health and aging.

~ She's reassuring that genes are not our destiny. It is much more important what we do with what we're dealt.

The not-so-good:

~ The technical science speak was a lot even for me, and I read science books like other people scroll Facebook. I don't want to see the words epigenetics or methylation for at least a month. It just went on and on for hundreds of pages.

~ At times, I really thought Fitzgerald was stretching. She talks about a set of twin women who were raised together and one of them developed breast cancer with a very large tumor. She wrote that they were fed the same and had the same lifestyle and all the mother could think of is that when they were babies the grandmother had come over and started painting the toenails of one baby regularly so the mother could tell them apart and tell who she'd fed, bathed, etc. She suggests that this led to a softball sized tumor in that child decades later. Oh come on! Human beings make millions of small choices throughout their lives, and sometimes things just boil down to bad luck too. My eyes could not have rolled any farther into my head at that story. Also, she talks about the thrifty epigene theory as medical fact, and that has been pretty well debunked. No, we do not get fat if our ancestors faced starvation. Numerous studies across cultures have shown that it's a nice thought but doesn't hold up.

~ She advocates a pretty extreme change in your diet for most people. It's sort of paleo, keto-light, very plant based. She recommends daily beets, seeds, tons of non-starchy vegetables, small amounts of organic meat, lots of organic liver and some supplements. You also give up a lot -- no more alcohol, no caffeine, no sugar, etc. Then she talks about how this can shave 3 years off your "biological age." I think she needs to sell it as more than 3 years to convince people to make these huge changes. I personally think that these changes will make a much bigger impact than she acknowledges. She should focus less on those three years and more on the fact that they can reverse disease, radically help with inflammation, pain and vascular issues, and so on. I'm not sure how many people will adopt her diet unless they're already facing a serious health crisis, in which case it's kind of like shutting the barn door after the horses have escaped.

All in all, it's a very good book if you want to get serious about your health. I'd recommend it in combination with some of the other excellent health books that have been released lately. They all boil down to some basic advice -- get rid of processed carbs, grains and sugar, prioritize sleep (at night -- timing matters), adopt intermittent fasting to regularly get at least 12 hours between food and drink besides water, get regular exercise (this is a must), eat organic healthy foods with lots of greens, veggies and healthy fats, lean towards a clean keto (very low carb, moderate protein, high healthy fat) diet, and adopt regular practices to minimize stress like meditation. This book will give you a much more in-depth look at all of this, and recipes at the end to help.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

There is definitely a lot of thought and work put into the recommendations in this book. Medical studies and research findings are documented to a degree that would satisfy most any nutrition wonk. The principles are documented in an accessible way and the author includes both fixed meal plans and more general guidelines to accommodate different approaches to eating plans.

That said, while this may represent an "ideal", it's wildly impractical. I don't know many people who will actually eat 7 cups of vegetables, 3 beets, and liver, among other things, every single day for 8 weeks straight. Even after the initial plan, the nutritional guidelines are ambitious, at best. Also, I'm always suspicious of plans that insist you eliminate categories of whole plant foods. I don't think there's anyone on earth who is unhealthy because they eat lentils and bananas.

This is not to say there isn't valuable information in here, and several of the lifestyle ideas are quite do-able. After reading this I'm definitely going to be more mindful of my bedtime, make time to meditate, choose a big salad for a meal more often, and maybe brew some green tea. I'm still not eating the liver, though.

As with most advice and guides, take what you can use and leave the rest.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

As nutritionist I was familiar with the author Dr. Kara Fitzgerald. I am personally interested in living a long, healthy life and so was interested in reading this book. This book discusses what is currently known about how people age as well as the diet and lifestyle influences on how fast we age. A whole foods diet, exercise, stress reduction and sleep all contribute to health and reduced aging.
The initial intensive diet is a Paleo-type whole foods diet heavy on vegetables with no grains, no dairy, no sugar or legumes. It is high fiber and lower carbohydrate. It is different from a typical Paleo diet because Fitzgerald emphasizes including beet, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, eggs and liver. After the first thirty days, you can add in organic dairy products, beans, legumes, grains and very small amounts of alcohol and sugar, making it a more traditional whole foods diet.
The book includes an eating plan, a number of recipes as well as a self-test to help the reader determine his/her current biological age. This book would be an ideal reference for anyone interested in nutrition as well as the general reader who is committed to serious diet and lifestyle improvements.
I received a complementary advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Younger You.

Unlike many women, I don't mind getting old. Why fret over something you can't deny or escape from?

Getting old is a blessing; not many people do especially during COVID, but I plan to age as gracefully and elegantly as possible.

That's why I was excited my request was approved.

There are some groundbreaking research and myths being busted in Younger You and I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to read this.

Dr. Fitzgerald spells it out for you in the simplest of terms: it's not your genes that determine your age and level of health. It's your epigenetics.

I've never heard the word before; I have heard your genes don't determine your fate and you do need to exercise and eat healthfully to live a long and active life, but the term epigenetics is very new to me.

Basically, you are what you eat and how you exercise and your lifestyle choices, something that many doctors have pointed out recently.

The good doctor shares the copious research she has done, laying out the facts and statistics and helpfully including a diet and lifestyle plan that shows you how to influence your epigenetics for a younger you.

As we age, naturally, we're more susceptible to illness, disease and poor health but Dr. Fitzgerald disputes that inevitability.

Eating carefully and mindfully and exercising just the right amount can ward off dementia, aches and pains and the dreaded C word; as long as we take care of our bio age, our bodies will take care of us. But, first we need to do the work.

There is a basic test in the book you can take to gauge your bio health and though I'm pleased to say I'm doing most things right, there are always ways to improve.

Since I finished reading Younger You, I've begun tweaking my diet and routine and incorporating some of the changes Dr. Fitzgerald recommends.

It's going to take some time to adjust my habits fully, though I doubt I could go all the way as her plans outline, but tweaking here and there is also beneficial and who knows, I may go all the way one day!