What I'm reading and watching about aging right now

(No. 85) Recommended, and sometimes required, by Stephen P. Williams

I am writing from a temporary location in Los Angeles. Jacaranda violet is the dominant color this week. I find that I’m more drawn to garish colors in my sixties than I ever was before. It’s pretty funny.

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Ideas, notes and readings about aging

Required Reading

The other day, by chance, I met Jessie Inchauspé, the author of a new book called Glucose Revolution. I’d long been interested in her Instagram feed, where she posts charts and advice about managing blood sugar under the name @glucosegoddess. By coincidence, I’d lately been contemplating ordering a continuous glucose monitor to see how my lifestyle was effecting my glucose levels, which influence so many aspects of aging well. So we had plenty to talk about. She’s smart and charming (French), and knows her stuff. A few days later I read her book in between checking the numbers on my newly installed continuous glucose monitor. Inchauspé offers very practical advice about things like eating your vegetables and proteins before you eat your starches, to minimize sugar spikes, and more. Between the book and the monitor, I’ve already learned a lot about how to minimize harmful glucose spikes. I’ve lost a few pounds. I feel a lot better. (I’m also pretty obsessive about checking my numbers and thinking about what I eat, which I know is gonna get old soon.)

Better f’ing check it out

Ok, I’m not a woman over 50. Or under. I’m not even a woman at all. Which is why I found Hyperallergic magazine’s review of the book The Second Half: Forty Women Reveal Life After Fifty, so interesting. The book illuminates the lives of a variety of women, such as Luisah Teish, a 60 year old Shaman, Transformation teacher and spiritual anthropologist in San Francisco, and Marina Ma, the 85 year old mother of the cellist, Yo-Yo Ma. Great photos.

Recommended, but not required.

In other news, can foods fight dementia? I would like to think so, though that might be a false hope. I also think that inflammation is a necessary part of the healing process, sometimes. Quanta Magazine has a detailed article about why inflammation is “a dangerous necessity.

Umm, whatever you think

This guy Steven Johnson is known as a smart person. Probably what you call a public intellectual. So if you’d like to hear what a public intellectual thinks about the future of the human lifespan, watch his TedTalk.

Required

Ok. The TedTalk above might be a bit too much for some of us. Especially those who suffer from “sensory overload.” Seriously, this is a thing, and I have a lot of empathy for it. I’m amazed that all of us don’t feel overwhelmed most every day. Here’s how to know if you’re suffering sensory overload, and also a little bit about how to deal with that.