YOU: Being Beautiful: The Owner's Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty [Hardcover]

 

 

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I bought this book after reading YOU Staying Young. I found this book just as interesting, informative, and easy to understand. This book concentrates on looking and remaining youthful. Part 1. Looking beautiful. Part 2. Feeling beautiful. Part 3. Being beautiful. there are many illistrations, tips and facts on beauty such as how to have nice skin, hair, teeth, & body shape. It goes a little more indepth regarding outer beauty than YOU Staying Young.

You: Being Beautiful could as easily have been called You: Being Healthy. Roizen and Oz write: "We all want to look beautiful, feel beautiful, and be beautiful." I'm not sure how many men would admit to that, but substitute "feel my best" and "healthy" for "beautiful," and this describes the book. It is as much a book for men as it is for women, too.

The book is divided into three sections:

* Looking beautiful: ways to improve your external looks; your hair, skin and body

*Feeling beautiful: what's inside counts. How to alleviate lethargy, depression and pain and end destructive behaviors/thinking.

* Being beautiful: how "to find a more authentic and happier you in your life and relationships--and how to use different strategies to do so."
This section includes a guide to finding happiness:
*Being positive and generous
*Feeling empathy
*Finding authenticity
*Embracing emotion
* Exploring spirituality
* Understanding unhappiness

It is obvious that Michael Roizen and Melmet Oz are medical doctors, as they describe the skin, hair, etc. each section contains tips and tools to make you more beautiful (healthy.)

The doctors approach beauty from a holistic point of view and do a good job. However, a few aspects are missing--and this is where who you are (they are doctors) affects what you write. I am an interior designer and I immediately saw what was missing from this book on optimizing beauty (health): that is the environment. Dirt, clutter, toxic substances and more contribute to less than optimal health--or even serious health problems. (I am also chemically sensitive.)

The environmental aspects aside, You: Being Beautiful is a good book. The authors write: "To feel good about yourself because you have a strong self-esteem and a healthy, energetic existence that allows you to appreciate the subtle beauty of day-to-day life and because you know your purpose in life--and to show off that purpose by helping others do the same."

There is a short section on "green living," with basic good tips, like not using throw-away plastic bottles and using reusable bags when shopping. One tip struck me as odd, however--they advise you to save energy by sweeping floors instead of frequent vacuuming. OK--reality check--if everyone vacuumed a little less it will not save the world. Instead, sweeping encourages dirt, pollutants and other allergens to become airborne and increases the likelihood of you breathing them in--not so healthy.

As I mentioned before, the authors are medical doctors and do a good job in teaching us how to be healthy with our bodies. But, the book is not holistic, as it doesn't account for the environment--your home, what surrounds you and what products you use on your body and in your home. The single best book that I know of (and I use it in my practice) that addresses healthy products for body and home and how to create a sanctuary--and will work very well with this book--is HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT: BEAUTIFY, DETOXIFY & ENERGIZE YOUR LIFE, YOUR HOME & YOUR PLANET.

The end of the book includes the "ultimate beautiful day: daily care and maintenance schedule, a yoga guide, exercise guide, and health utensils.

Recommend

"Most people think that beauty revolves around such things as lipstick, sweet eyes, or skinny jeans--all these things that we can see (and obsess over) in the mirror. But the fact is that beauty isn't some superficial pursuit, and it's not some random act that you can thank (or curse) your ancestors for" -- from inner flap of the book.

In "YOU: Being Beautiful" the two doctors discuss "the scientific standards to beauty." They divide them into three levels of beauty:

1. Looking Beautiful. The manes says it all - the authors tell you what to do to look the way you want. That includes:
- taking care of your skin -- how to keep it young and smooth, how to protect it, what to do with acne, eczema, etc.
- taking care of your hair -- proper hair care, hair abuse, hair loss, etc.
- taking care of your mouth -- lips, teeth, gums, bad breath, and more...
- taking care of your hands, feet, nails...
- assuring the proper body shape. (They devoted one of their previous books, "YOU on a diet," to that subject. )

2. Feeling Beautiful. This part of the book is divided into chapters discussing:

- energy levels, and energy crisis resulting from viruses and infections, hormonal imbalances, sleep problems
- aches and pains -- back pain and its relation to the spine and muscles; headache (migraine headache, tension headache, cluster headache); female pains; etc.
- emotional distress

3. Being Beautiful. Love is the biggest beauty boost! We need emotional connection with other people to fill happy. Beauty is the reflection of happiness. The doctors discuss the biology of attraction and love, and the biology of sex life in men and women. They name and talk about the Six Paths to Happiness:

- being positive and generous
- feeling empathy
- finding authenticity
- embracing emotion
- exploring spirituality
- understanding unhappiness

The book ends with "The Be-YOU-tiful Plan for Living the Ultimate Beautiful Day" and other strategies for becoming beautiful.

I think this book is on the level of the authors previous book You: Staying Young which in my opinion is good enough for four stars. However, I think that some ideas (taking care of spine; obesity; internal body hygiene) are better explained in Your Body Maintenance Handbook, which I highly recommend as an addition to this book.

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5.0 out of 5 stars great book and in perfect condition
Looked at this book in the stores and it was a lot more money and not in the greatest condition for being a brand new book - was very pleased with the speed of receiving the book... Lisez davantage

Published on Jan 11 2010 by tucker

3.0 out of 5 stars Your Male Primary Care Physician's Perspective on Beauty as Health, Energy, and a Good Mood
I was disappointed in this book. Here's why:

1. The book had almost nothing to say about looking good (in your own perspective) independent of looking good because you... Lisez davantage

Published on Jan 12 2009 by Donald Mitchell

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