Product Description

Discover the Art of Aging Gracefully

At age sixty-eight, cover model Valerie Ramsey is the new face of beauty. She has appeared in magazines and ad campaigns and on runways and television. Now, in her wonderfully inspiring new book, Valerie shares a lifetime of hard-earned wisdom, insider secrets, and practical advice on how to look and feel your best--inside and out--at any age.

Gracefully includes:

• Proven nutrition secrets for staying slim and healthy
• Professional beauty tips for looking your best
• Personal visualizations for living your dreams
• Positive workouts for your body, mind, and soul

"Gracefully is simply wonderful. Valerie Ramsey is living proof that being older than fifty can be exciting, healthy, and sexy."
--Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Mother-Daughter Wisdom, The Wisdom of Menopause, and Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

"Valerie Ramsey is the new face, style, and attitude of aging. In Gracefully she inspires us to bring out the best in ourselves--physically, mentally, and spiritually--in order to make the fifty-plus years the best years of our lives. A terrific, uplifting, and informative book."
--Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., president and CEO of Age Wave and author of Bodymind, Healthy Aging, The Age Wave, and The Power Years

"I like the snappy way this gal thinks. She sends out a powerful message!"
--Rue McClanahan, Emmy Award-winning actress and author of My First Five Husbands . . . and The Ones Who Got Away

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106067 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Ramsey's best friend in high school was the beautiful Ali MacGraw, who hopscotched right over the gawky stage of adolescence. With such a friend, Ramsay says, you couldn't help but feel insecure. Readers might be tempted to feel the same as Ramsey describes hopscotching over her own gawky, aging stage. Beautiful and accomplished, she has gone from happy stay-at-home mom of six (of whom coauthor Hummel is one) to older career woman and runway model in her 60s. But while few women have her genes, or her success, they may benefit from Ramsey's frank advice and beauty tips. She includes such useful information as how to pose for a photograph, strategic uses for Botox, what to eat, how to exercise, what makeup to use, the advantages of meditation and how to stay sexual in a long-term marriage. None of it is particularly original, but it is heartfelt and admirably health conscious (except perhaps for the Botox). Not everything has been roses for Ramsey. She's a survivor of uterine cancer and was diagnosed with a weak heart. How, then, does she do it? Ramsey attributes much of her success to the power of positive thinking. And then, of course, there are those genes. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Back Cover

A true inspiration for women of all ages, sixty-eight-year-old Valerie Ramsey lives the kind of life most of us only dream of. As a homemaker and mother, she successfully raised six wonderful children before entering the corporate world in her mid-fifties. Then, when most women would be planning their retirement, Valerie launched a brand-new career in modeling--at the seasoned age of sixty-three!

How does she do it? How does she stay so beautiful, so fit, and so vibrantly alive?

The answers are right here, in Gracefully. The perfect all-in-one guide for women in their forties, fifties, sixties, and beyond, it's filled with Valerie's best-kept secrets on how to look great and feel your best--at any age. Her invaluable three-part program includes her greatest insider secrets, professional tips, and time-tested advice on how to make the most of every aspect of your life:

In "The Body," she reveals the hair, makeup, and beauty tricks she learned in the modeling world, plus she offers her own personal regimen of nutrition, exercise, health, and skin care.

In "The Mind," she shares the motivational tools that gave her the courage and strength to meet life's challenges with a positive attitude.

In "The Soul," she demonstrates how to nurture your own spirit and shows the uplifting power of family and friends to make your life richer and more fulfilling.

With a little help from her friends in the health, beauty, and medical industries--as well as her own daughter and cowriter Heather Hummel--Valerie Ramsey has discovered a truly beautiful approach to aging, one that combines practical advice and personal insight with heartwarming anecdotes and inspiring guidance. Gracefully is so much more than a how-to book, diet guide, or exercise program. It's a complete, inside-and-out lifestyle plan that addresses many of the issues we face throughout every stage of our lives. Best of all, Valerie gives us the tools we need to continue our journey and build our dreams--to grow, live, and love . . . gracefully.

About the Author

Valerie Ramsey is a highly sought-after model who has graced runways, print ads, and television, modeling for Lexus and St. John's Knits and appearing on “Today” and “Extra,” among other shows. She is the media and public relations manager for Pebble Beach Resorts, the mother of six, and the grandmother of seven. Valerie resides with her husband, Wally, in California.

Heather Hummel, Valerie's daughter, is a writer whose work has appeared in Blue Ridge Anthology (along with David Baldacci and Rita Dove) and Messages of Hope and Healing. Heather is a graduate of the University of Virginia and is an active member of the International Women's Writing Guild. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Customer Reviews

Gracefully
This book Heather Hummel and Valerie Ramsey is full of wonderful advice for women of all ages. I found Valerie Ramsey's lust for life inspirational; she is a woman with a lot to teach. The book also gives practical tips such as how to look great in a photograph, and I will use it as a reference tool for years to come. It is an easy and interesting read, and I would highly recommend it.

Motivational and Practical
I found this book to be so easy to read with practical useful advice on creating a life that you want. It was inspirational at the same time, making me reaffirm my beliefs that one can accomplish whatever one puts one's mind to. I have passed this on to my mother and recommended to my girlfriends and aunts, but the over-riding message of this book is applicable to both genders. Worth the read. I took away tips to apply in daily life as well as future planning/dreaming.

Wonderful and inspiring!
This is a book that is as fresh as a glorious spring day! Valerie Ramsey and Heather Hummel are two special women who share not only an inspiring mother-daughter relationship, but also a zest for life that touches and inspires others. Beautifully written, it's a book that you'll want to read more than once.