Book Review: Healthy At 100

I’ll start off by saying that this book was written by the son of the late Robbins half of Baskin-Robbins, the last person on earth you would expect to write about health and nutrition. Let’s face it—he doesn’t exactly come from health-conscious stock, if you know what I mean.

Growing up, this boy (now man) watched his uncle and father both die of ice cream-related diseases, namely heart disease and clogged arteries from the saturated fat and sugar within the ice cream. When it came his turn to rule the empire, he wisely turned his back on it and pursued medicine instead—presumably to find the cure to what killed his father and uncle, and maybe prevent a few more deaths along the way. Marion Nestle did pretty much the same thing when her family’s chocolate empire began killing off loved ones.

John Robbins, M.D., brought forth this latest tome through Random House in 2006. It’s a 400-some-odd page book of very intriguing information and research about nutrition, the nutritional history of peoples who live to be 100 or older, and what their common dietary and lifestyle denominators are. Best of all, he tells us what we can do ourselves to extend our health and lives beyond the confines of the Western diet and lifestyle.

He makes it sound so easy, and does not expect us to shirk convenience, technology, or modernity in order to do it—just make some comparatively small changes (mostly in attitude) for an exponentially better outcome down the road. It just so happens that with the exception of Okinawa, the other centenarian-plus societies have very little in the way of modernity, technology, and convenience (or rather, HAD until the last few years where the 21st century managed to creep in via fast food outlets, roads, and motor-driven vehicles). He even lets us keep our meat—just asks us to limit our intake.

It's not just about living longer--it's about living longer with a good quality of life: no hearing, eyesight, memory, muscle function, mental function, or organ function problems. It's hard to believe that there are people 100 years old or older with such excellent quality of life on this planet, but John Robbins brings them (and their presumed secrets) to us in this book. These people have a better quality of life than most of us have at our respective ages NOW!

Genetics isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when longevity is concerned. It plays a small part, but most of longevity comes from lifestyle, attitude, and social interaction. This book will teach you what you need to know and do about living longer and healthier than you’re setting yourself up to do right now. Wenchypoo says “Put down that burger and pick up this book!”

You too can have longer, healthier living without chemistry and dealing with the cost (and failures) of our health care system by reading and heeding this book’s advice. What you do to yourself TODAY affects the next two generations of offspring.