Who is Michael F. Roizen

RealAge: Are You as Young as You Can Be?

by: Michael F. Roizen

Your biological age may be a lot different from your chronological age--for better or worse. Dr. Michael Roizen, a preventive gerontologist at the University of Chicago who appears perennially in the "1,000 Best Doctors in the U.S." listings, says that with the help of his RealAge program, you can reduce your biological age by up to 20 years.

He's compiled a list of 100 health-related factors, among them tobacco and alcohol use, diet, prescription and over-the-counter drug use, your parents' health, even pet ownership and the highest educational level completed by your spouse, and worked all these into a quiz to determine your "real age." If you've taken your health for granted, be prepared for a shock. He then explains how to follow a personalized age-reduction plan using a range of methods, from quick fixes (use a helmet while bicycling), to moderately easy changes (avoid sun and radon exposure), all the way to the most difficult changes (reduce the stress in your life). Emotional issues are given as much attention as physical ones; Roizen says, for example, that seeing a psychologist to help work through serious personal problems can reduce your chronological age by 8 to 16 years alone.

RealAge may appeal to Fountain of Youth seekers, but will be especially useful for folks who are out of shape and too overwhelmed to start a fitness plan, and for those who are understandably confused by the wealth of contradictory health reports in the news. Dr. Roizen has done an excellent job of organizing and explaining essential health information, from defining health concepts such as blood pressure (and explaining how to lower it) to distilling facts about diet, supplements, and herbs. Far from faddish, RealAge clearly presents only advice that's been proven effective in clinical trials. This is preventive medicine at its best. --Erica Jorgensen

A REAl eye opener
It was this book that opened my eyes on how well I was or wasn't taking care of myself. I was motivated after the first chapter to do things like taking aspirin, limit cell phone calls, taking vitamins, watching diet, etc. I have reduced my realage from my chronological age by 15 years now. If a book can influence people to take care of themselves based on medical science, why not pick up a copy? It's an investment in your life! -- Richard Danchik, Florida, US

Release Date: 04/24/2001

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The RealAge Makeover: Take Years Off Your Looks and Add Them to Your Life

by: Michael F. Roizen

Dr. Michael Roizen hopes to discover a cure for the common birthday. The author of the bestselling book RealAge and Oprah guru, Roizen translates groundbreaking medical research into a series of calculations and choices that promise to reduce age-linked symptoms and diseases. The RealAge Makeover begins with a self-test of 132 health factor questions that compare your calendar age with your "real age"--based on healthy habits plus heredity, he rounds up the usual suspects (sun exposure, sleep patterns, good fats) as well as the unusual (the kind of chocolate you eat, the number of nagging unfinished tasks, your catsup consumption). Although Roizen flags heredity, he focuses on the three key factors of aging: arteries (heart attack, stroke, memory loss), immune systems (prostate and breast cancer), and environmental stresses (lung cancer, STDs). He offers a sliding scale of difficulty in his "younger every day suggestions." Whether talking about stress, diet, or disease, Roizen offers case examples and subtle and engaging strategies such as describing the role of living beyond your means in aging or the difference between "four-legged" and "no-leg fats." Readers looking for a quick fix will benefit less than those who follow the recommendations that require focus and commitment. As Baby Boomers age and books about turning back time increase, Roizen's will remain a standout. --Barbara Mackoff

Great if you need to make some lifestyle changes
This review is written from the perspective of a former hospital adminstrator, with just under 2 decades of experience in the healthcare system. Too often by the time a patient gets to the hospital, the cumulative damage of years of uninformed choices has taken its toll. If you follow the recommendations in this book, you can reverse the effect of many of your prior bad choices.

If you have been studying nutrition and health for a while this book probably doesn't have anything new to offer. Much of the information contained in this book is also covered in "You the Owner's Manual" by the same author, and Dr. Oz. If you are just beginning to investigate lifestyle changes this book is solidly sourced, and easy to read.

The chapters are titled as follows:
1. Look Younger, Live Longer
2. What's Your Real Age?
3. Get Younger Every Day
4. Keep the Blood Pumping
5. The Immune System
6. Live Smart in the Aging Environment Around You
7. Stress Less
8. Eat Real Chocolate
9. Three Workout Choices to Age Less
10. Vitamin Power
11. Daily Dose of Goodness
12. A Doctor's Note
13. Be Eighty, Feel Fifty-Two

The author includes an easy to use table that allows you to calculate your "real age". The benefit of this table is that it allows the reader to easily pinpoint what specific behaviors they partake of that are the most detrimental to their health. For example lets assume that you consume a particular number of 4 oz cups of brewed tea every day. If you drink 6 cups everyday you get to deduct 1.5 years, for 3 to 5 cups deduct 1 year, and for 1 to 3 cups deduct 1/2 of a year.

The doctor also gives the reader 78 quick fixes to reduce their real age and gives them the "real age" benefit of making those changes. For example if you start to both floss and brush everyday you get a real age benefit of 6.4 years.

The doctor explains that the three most important factors that affect aging are:
1. Aging of the Arteries
2. Aging of the Immune System
3. Social and Environmental Factors
The book also tells you what to do about the factors above that affect our aging. The doctor does a nice job of explaining why he makes the suggestions that he does for improving your arteries and immune system.

The book is full of "Real Age Makeover Success Stories" that are very motivational.

Overall, I think this is a very solid book. The author has developed an original methodology for putting health and nutrition science into a measurable system. If you are new to the study of health and/or nutrition this is an excellent addition to your library. -- Amalfi Coast Girl, Mid-Atlantic, USA

Release Date: 06/28/2005

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Cooking the RealAge Way: Turn Back Your Biological Clock with More than 80 Delicious and Easy Recipes

by: Michael F. Roizen, M.d., John La Puma

Roizen and La Puma, who previously joined forces on The RealAge Diet, feature more than 80 recipes full of fresh produce and whole grains. As Roizen originally posited in 1999's RealAge, biological age can differ from chronological age; here the authors argue that eating certain types of foods, particularly healthy fats, whole grains and vegetables and fruits, will slow, halt or even reverse the aging process. (Eating an ounce of nuts per day, for example, "keeps the average 55-year-old man 3.3 years younger.") The authors encourage readers to increase their "Kitchen IQ"-purchasing and using a steamer, "retraining" themselves to like healthy fats and preparing more than one meal at time are a few of the strategies. Divided by season, and prefaced by a comprehensive explanation of the healthiest foods available at different times of year, the book includes recipes such as Roasted Pepper and Fresh Mozzarella Panini, Cajun Couscous-Crusted Monkfish and Apricot Breakfast Polenta. Information about healthy cooking methods and uses for produce, herbs and spices are also incorporated. The book is repetitive in spots (that handful of nuts reappears often) and the authors are not specific enough about the studies they reference. They may also underestimate the ease of getting the family on board, and their recommendations for eating out-bring fresh vegetables to snack on, have your dishes specially prepared-may be a trifle unrealistic. Little mention is made of the role exercise can, and should, play in a healthy lifestyle, and red-meat lovers are out of luck. Buy for the healthy and very appealing recipes; consider skimming the text, which makes big promises and seems to turn a blind eye to the inevitability of natural aging.

Excellent recipes geared to cooking and nutrition beginners
To put my review in perspective for you I have been focused on food and cooking for the last 25 years. I have been reading anything about nutrition and health for the last 10 years. Additionally, I was a hospital administrator for just under 2 decades. So I know the effect that unhealthy lifestyle decisions can make on the human body. If you are a new student of health or nutrition this is an excellent place to begin your research.

I enjoyed the predecessor to this book "The Real Age Makeover". I appreciated the doctor's unique approach to healthy food and lifestyle and the way that he tried to quantify specific changes on your health by using age. This book is a great tie in to the original book.

The author does cover the basic information from "The Real Age Makeover" in this book. If your don't want to read about the science of how the specific changes work, you can simply purchase this book "Cooking the Real Age Way" and skip the prior book. The author outlines the 27 practices for food choices that can bring about at Real Age reduction of 14 years. Many of these practices are common sense, like eat food that isn't processed. But some of the practices are less obvious, like eat 10 tablespoons of tomato sauce every week.

This book is geared to those that are kitchen beginners. The doctors explain many cooking techniques that experienced cooks think are second nature. But for those that are accustomed to relying on carry out these sections are critical to their success. The doctors also discuss how to effectively use the freezer so that ingredients are readily available for quick weeknight meals.

The authors do a nice job of detailing what should be included in a healthy pantry. If you are new to healthy cooking a healthy pantry is key to being able to make fast healthy meals for your family. Without healthy quick options at the ready it is so much easier to call for pizza or Chinese, and neither of these delivery options are particularly healthy.

The doctors also created tables of vegetables by season and detail what to look for in the specific fresh vegetable, how to use them, and why they are good for your health.

The recipe section of the book begins on page 155. The doctors also provide an exhaustive nutritional analysis. Every possible item is detailed included milligrams of specific vitamins and minerals. The recipes themselves are good, but not too exotic for the standard American palate. The directions are clearly written. The ingredients are available in your standard mega mart (Wegman's or Whole Foods) anywhere in the US.

If you need a go-to cookbook that is healthy this is a good choice. There are many other options available that you might also consider, my personal favorites are "The Professional Chef's Techniques of Healthy Cooking" by the Culinary Institute of America, and "Conscious Cuisine" by Cary Neff.

If you are new to cooking, and more specifically healthy cooking this is great book to get you started. If you have been cooking for a while, but want to cook more healthy meals for your family you should consider the two books I referenced in the last paragraph.-- Amalfi Coast Girl, Mid-Atlantic, USA

Release Date: 06/03/2003

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The RealAge(R) Workout: Maximum Health, Minimum Work

by: Michael F. Roizen, Tracy Hafen

Dr. Michael F. Roizen has empowered thousands of Americans to take control of their own destinies. How? His best-selling books, RealAge, The RealAge Makeover, and YOU: The Owner's Manual, have helped people reverse their chronological aging by ten, fifteen, and up to twenty-nine years by revealing simple lifestyle changes that have profound effects that control their genes -- and thus control their health and the aging process.

Chances are you picked up this book because you, too, want to be healthier and younger. The RealAge Workout explains the importance of gradually phasing exercise into your everyday routine, because even the smallest changes in behavior can make you feel, look, and be younger. No matter how busy your schedule, Dr. Michael Roizen will show you how to gain the maximum age-reduction benefits from a minimum amount of time and effort.

Before you take your first step, The RealAge Workout offers a series of calculations that factor in age, genetics, and lifestyle so you can determine your overall status of health and create a program to help you plan and execute your goals. The RealAge Workout then begins with a simple, yet life-changing premise -- just by walking 30 minutes a day, every day, you can roll back the years, significantly improve the status of your overall health, and have more energy to work and do the things you love.

After you've adjusted to this change in your lifestyle, The RealAge Workout will guide you through a series of training phases during which you will steadily develop your foundation muscles and eventually add a stamina-building program to help you maintain improved health. You will learn how to lift weights safely and effectively through step-by-step instructions with photographs and easy-to-understand explanations. Additionally, there are charts that help you determine the RealAge effect -- the number of biological years younger you become with each change you make.

Along the way, The RealAge Workout dis-cusses common myths, addresses frequently asked questions pertaining to age and lifestyle choices, and offers tips to actually enjoy, yes, even love, exercise. So get ready to achieve optimal health and be as young as you can be!

A winner; recommend without reservation
First some context: My wife and I have been reading, applying, and reviewing physical fitness books for about nine months now ("see All My Reviews"). We didn't plan to carry on so long but with appreciative feedback from friends and acquaintances we haven't been able to stop! As always, keep this in mind ... we aren't gunning for the Olympics or super-model status. We're just average, middle age people interested in life-long fitness for health and weight control reasons. Your goals may differ from ours.

The RealAge Workout is a new release and we rate it somewhat higher than another book we like, Harley Pasternak's Five Factor Fitness. In fact it's the first book to come along that we can rank as high as our long running favorite, Joe X by Avery Hunicutt. There's a lot of philosophical similarity to RealAge and Joe X, but the presentations are vastly different. RealAge is excellent for fitness beginners and those that are very "numbers-driven," while Joe X will be appreciated more by those with some fitness experience and may now struggle with boredom or burnout.

If by chance you are familiar with the popular health guru and author Andrew Weil, both RealAge and Joe X provide workouts that are consistent with Weil's Healthy Aging message.

If you click on "search inside" you'll see the RealAge workout is made up of four phases, each 30 days long.

Phase 1: Walk 30 minutes/day
Phase 2: Add 7-10 minutes of core strength training, every other day
Phase 3: Add 8-10 minutes of non-core strength training, every other day
Phase 4: Add 21 minutes of aerobic exercise 3 times/week

The book details modifications to the phases for people that are not beginners but is adamant that everyone start at phase 1 and progress in sequence.

The author prefers dumbbells over barbells or weight machines. Both free-weights and weight machines are presented in the exercise descriptions. The descriptions are good and a nice reference for whatever program you subscribe to.

The book details a comprehensive pre-test that is recommended before beginning phase 1.

In addition to detailed descriptions of strength exercises, warm-up/stretch exercises are also provided.

A significant difference between RealAge and Joe X is Joe X puts more focus on breathing technique to the point of synchronizing it to your exercise form. (It probably doesn't make a physiolgical difference but it does seem to help with the mental challenge of staying fit.)

A RealAge workout, if followed to the letter, will on average be somewhat longer than a Five Factor or Joe X workout. All are typically 5-day/week regimens.

Almost no question will be left unanswered. Instructions are detailed and complete. Though RealAge is actually a collaboration of authors, the presentation is consistent, clear, and concise. We liked the professional writing style but at times found the fixation on linking the workout to Dr. Roizen's numbers driven "real age" concept irritating. It smacks of being a marketing gimmick, though we have to admit it's a pretty effective one! Who doesn't want to be told their real age is actually younger than their chronological age?

We don't plan on changing our own routine as we are quite satisfied with results but The RealAge Workout is a great and safe way to get started on your physical fitness program. -- Cal Dougherty, Madison, WI, USA

Release Date: 04/11/2006

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The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself Younger with What You Eat

by: Michael F. Roizen, John La Puma

Roizen, a physician and author of the bestselling RealAge: Are You as Young as You Can Be?, teams up with La Puma, also a physician and a professionally trained chef, to offer a new approach to eating based on the premise that, by making even small changes (e.g., starting every dinner with an ounce of nuts), we can become biologically younger than our chronological age (e.g., Roizen is 55 years old but has calculated his "RealAge" to be 38). Roizen and La Puma begin with a variety of quizzes so readers can assess their current diet and determine where they need to make changes. While many of the self-assessment tests are in the book, the authors frequently refer readers to their Web site for more detailed quizzes and additional nutritional information, which limits the book's value. On the other hand, this work does an excellent job of analyzing specific foods and explaining their benefits or risks to readers. Less appealing and comprising a large section of the book is the analysis of other well-known diet programs (e.g., the Atkins diet, the Carbohydrate Addicts diet, the Zone) and how to modify them using the RealAge principles. Although there is a reassuring validity to Roizen and La Puma's criticisms, readers may also find them somewhat smug. Overall, though, the RealAge diet is a refreshing and accessible approach to an age-old problem. (May)Forecast: Given the huge success of RealAge, readers' continual concern with dieting (particularly in pre-bathing-suit season) and a five-city author tour, this book should reach bestseller status.

Useful Applications of Research on Food and Health
The connection between food and health is a strong one. Many diet-obsessed people overly focus on this one element of health though. This book builds from the RealAge research to help you change your eating habits in permanent, healthy ways. The book's weakness is that the recommended solutions require a lot of discipline to get started.

The book's conclusion that these changes will make you physiologically younger may well be a stretch. "To be honest, there's still a lot that scientists don't know about nutrition." That sentence is the most important one in the book. A new diet could be produced every year incorporating the latest research results, and each one would be different. I suspect that this continuing change in perceptions will go on for decades. So I suggest that you not take the results of any one diet book too seriously. Some of the key conclusions of each one will probably be contradicted in the future.

Nevertheless, this book is an attempt to point you toward eating habits that reduce diseases older people get more frequently and extend longevity. On the other hand, this book does not focus on appearance or weight level. Many people who read diet books are more interested in those two areas than longevity. If you are interested in another diet currently, this book probably reviews the other diet and gives you a rating for whether or not that diet will help extend longevity. The book is most positive about Eating Well for Optimum Health and Dean Ornish's Eat More, Weigh Less. The book's advice can be encapsulated as "Eat nutrient rich, calorie poor, and delicious." These foods include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, fish, and the right fats (eaten in moderation early in the meal). If you are familiar with books about nutrition, you won't find any big "'aha's" here. The main news is that eating fish seems to have benefits separate from eating the fats that are in fish. Now, I find that I feel a lot better if I eat fish 2 or 3 times a week. I suspect that listening to your body is often as reliable as the latest evidence.

Like many of the best books about nutrition and Sugarbusters!, this one warns about paying attention to glycemic levels of foods.

I did find its focus on calorie count to be questionable. The weight set-point for people differs a lot, and some people with slow metabolisms may find this approach just another painful way to be overweight. Calories do count, but picking your target is hard to do well. Spending a lot of time measuring calories will reduce consumption. If you have a high metabolism, the effort may well bring weight-loss rewards worth the effort.

The scientific references in the back of the book are impressive, but are not well connected to the text. You would have to do a lot of reading to find out what the research really says. I would like to have seen a closer connection between the footnotes and the text. Both Eating Well for Optimum Health and Live Right 4 Your Type are better in this area.

A clear conflict exists between this book and Live Right 4 Your Type. Both seem to be equally based on scientific research, except that Live Right 4 Your Type attempts to match the advice for your blood type. This book discusses the earlier book, Eat Right 4 Your Type, which does not closely match to research references. Based on my own experiences with both the average and the blood type adjusted approaches, I think the Live Right 4 Your Type method works better for me than the RealAge Diet.

If you have heart disease, you will have to modify some of those diets to reflect that by reducing fat (see Dean Ornish's Reversing Heart Disease).

If you are well read on nutrition, this book will not add much to your knowledge. If you eat poorly and have not read about nutrition, this is a fine book for you.

I would like to commend the section in the book on eating out. There are many good ideas for how to have your food prepared in healthier ways. Even if you know nutrition, you may find the book to be a valuable asset for this reason if you are passive in restaurants.

The book also advises doing a lot of your own cooking. That's not for me. The recipes looked too hard to me to be worth looking into. You may have a different reaction. If you do, enjoy!

After you read this book, you should also think about how much effort it is worth to extend your lifespan. If you spend 10 percent of your waking hours to expand your life by five percent, is that an accomplishment? Depending on how you spend your time, it may or may not be. For example, if you live enough longer than a cure comes along that extends your life by another 10 percent, you're ahead. If you enjoy working on this, you are ahead also. If you have more energy to give to others, you may be ahead also.

Also, you might want to check out Dean Ornish's Love and Survival where he points out that human relationships have more impact on disease and health than diet. Make food a positive part of your life! -- Donald Mitchell, Boston, USA

Release Date: 06/04/2002

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