For most people, fighting the effects of aging might include eating right, exercising, and slathering on the sunscreen.
The most important factor in how well a person ages might just be how we think about growing older. After hearing for years how young he looks, doctor and author Chryssanthos Chryssanthou put pen to paper and recently published How to Keep Young: A Prescription to Achieve Ageless Aging.
The prescription does involve eating right, exercising, no smoking, and moderate alcohol consumption, but it also involves thinking about ourselves and aging in more positive ways. Chryssanthou said, “How to Keep Young is unique because in addition to the important role of exercise in maintaining youth, it emphasizes the pivotal factor of self-perception, mindset, and certain behavioral activities.”
The author noted that, “The gloomy perception of old age is a misconception and people can be active, productive, vibrant and happy in their golden years.”
At age 90, Chryssanthou undoubtedly practices what he preaches, having in the last 10 years published three books including a poetry collection, Cries and Whispers, published in 2006, a short story collection, The Secret Message of the Rooster, published in 2007, and his latest self-help book. How to Keep Young: A Prescription to Achieve Ageless Aging by Chrys Chryssanthou is available online in hardcover, paperback, and e-book editions.
For more traditional summer reading, the kind to enjoy on the beach, the Fantastic Greek Summer Reads: The Greece in Me Box Set includes three e-books to download online starting on June 24. The set includes Greek Expectations by Ekaterina Botziou, Chasing Athens by Maria Tejada, and Girl Gone Greek by Rebecca A. Hall.
Greek Expectations: The Last Moussaka Standing by Ekaterina Botziou is part memoir, part rant, part survival guide. This witty, cautionary tale of Greek love and life is based on Botziou’s experience growing up in a semi-Greek household, defying her father’s wishes for her as a child to learn how to play the bouzouki, and refusing that third helping of moussaka.
Years later, Botziou married a Greek-Cypriot and began writing a blog Ekaterina’s Greek Expectations which inspired the book.
She also wrote a retelling of Greek myths— Theseus & the Mother-in-Law and Other Myths & Legends, and Seraphina— a short story in verse. An actress as well as an author, she has appeared on the big screen and does voice-over work.
Botziou also studied law at University College London, and established a worldwide networking group, The Greek Wives Club, for women with Greek connections to share their humorous stories online.
Chasing Athens by Marissa Tejada was inspired by the author’s own experience as an American expatriate living in Greece.
After a bad breakup, American expat Ava Martin finds herself in Athens on a journey of self-discovery and life-changing experience.
Girl Gone Greek by Rebecca A. Hall follows Rachel as she moves to Greece to escape from a boring life of social conformity.
The quirky characters she meets and the economic crisis help her realize that home is not necessarily the country where you were born, and of course, she falls in love along the way.