Book Review: 'A Better Second Half' by Liz Earle

Welcome to the fourth in my series of book reviews of books to help you through Perimenopause, Menopause and Post Menopause, with nutrition, exercise, sleep and relationship hacks galore!

As with the Lisa Snowdon book ‘Just Getting Started’ that I reviewed last time, I was swung by the title of this one. I absolutely love the idea that post 40-50-60 is not a decline but a golden era in our lives, where, if we can get our health right, we can flourish and be happy. And this book is all about getting your health right.

Liz Earle is pro HRT - but this is only a small chapter - unlike Davina. The majority of this book is about the basic blocks of building good health post 40-50-60 and preventing disease and health conditions. There’s a lot about nutrition, exercise, sleep and social connections/relationships. And Liz has really done her research. A lot of this echoes the knowledge I learned from Goldster, the healthy ageing platform. For example at this age it’s very important to eat enough good quality protein each day (Liz recommends grass fed meat, fish and shellfish, dairy and legumes) and to hydrate sufficiently - Liz is a big coffee evangelist but also suggests electrolyte water and herbal teas. I’m not with her on the coffee. I used to love coffee but have given up caffeine to get through the Menopause - apart from the occasional cup of decaf.

And there’s not much for you here if you’re vegan, she’s a bit sceptical of plant based diets (personally I prefer the Tim Spector Zoe approach of 30 plants a week), viewing 5 a day as a marketing gimmick originally promoted by fruit and veg farmers and she doesn’t see plant milks as having as much nutritional value as dairy.

Another thing I disagree with her on is good fats. She’s very pro butter, EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), Olive Oil and other good quality oils after her research whereas I beg to differ. I view too much fat as artery clogging, I’ve given up dairy, including butter and cheese and even for the most part vegan butter and cheese. I use EVOO spray when cooking and try to minimise (or totally eliminate) my consumption of anything fatty. Coronary Heart Disease is a bigger killer of women than Breast Cancer.

But if you’re an eater of meat, fish and dairy, there is a lot of wisdom in this book, and a lot of detail too. Especially on biohacking (supplementation) on which she’s very knowledgable indeed.

There’s definitely a lot of information and good advice in this book with regard to nutrition, bio hacking, exercise, sleep, cognitive function and relationships and whether you’re on HRT or not, obviously lifestyle is crucially important for general health. She’s very good, for example on why we should all take up meditation and yoga (or pilates or Tai Chi) post 40-50-60 and on this one I do agree with her, having done both myself in the last 10 years (Thank you wonderful yoga teacher Tony Marcus and his zoom yoga classes!).

To illustrate some of her inspiring offerings I’m going to precis her routine on starting the day - from which I think we can all learn.

Waking Up the Liz Earle way - 30-60 minute routine

• wake up followed by quick stretch in bed and thoughts of gratitude

• go to bathroom and check weight

• rinse out mouth with water and use tongue scraper

• drink glass of water

• Brush teeth with electric toothbrush and floss (with a waterpik)

• Rehydrate with electrolyte water - filtered water with a squeeze of lemon juice and dash of salt. (I omit the salt - bad for blood pressure)

• Journalling 1. What am I grateful for? 2 A few positive words of affirmation - how am I feeling? 3. Note down weight, pulse, blood pressure.

• 10 mins meditation with app like Calm or Insight Timer

• Take Supplements - in Liz’s case NMN nicotinamide mono nucleotide - a white powder under the tongue to give energy levels a boost.

• Get outdoors for ten minutes, weather permitting, with a cup of organic Earl Grey or homemade chai tea.

• Get moving - do a workout. There’s an early morning routine on You Tube just look for lizearlewellbeing.com

• Shower time finishing with a minimum 60 second blast of icy cold water.

With massive thanks to Lyn Alderson who bought me this book for my birthday. Thanks Lyn!