The Not Old - Better Show

By Paul VogelzangSociety & Culture Health & Fitness

The Not Old - Better Show episodes

October 14 Would You Have Followed Joseph Smith? Faith, Power, and the Price of Trust
Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) was one of the most successful and controversial religious leaders of 19th-century America, publishing the Book of Mormon and starting what would become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He built temples, founded a city-state in Illinois, ran for president, and married more than 30 women. This self-made prophet thrilled his followers with his grand vision of peace and unity, but his increasingly grandiose plans tested and sometimes shattered their faith. John G. Turner, professor of religious studies and history at George Mason University, presents Smith as a consummate religious entrepreneur and innovator, a man both flawed and compelling. He sold books, land, and merchandise. And he relentlessly advanced doctrines that tapped into anxieties about the nature and meaning of salvation, the validity of miracles, the timing of Christ's second coming, and the persistence of human relationships for eternity. His teachings prompted people to gather into communities, evoking fierce opposition from those who saw those communities as theocratic threats to republicanism. Drawing from his 2025 book, Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet, Turner illuminates Smith's stunning trajectory, from his beginnings as an uneducated, impoverished farmhand to his ultimate fall at the hands of a murderous mob, revealing how he forged a religious tradition that has resonated with millions of people in the United States and beyond.
35 min
October 05 Snack Smarter, Spend Less (healthy bites that won't bust your grocery budget)
You know the moment. You're standing in the grocery aisle with a small bag of snacks in your hand. The front says "high protein." The price says seven dollars. And you're wondering whether it will actually taste good, fill you up, or be worth buying again. I'm Paul Vogelzang, and this is The Not Old Better Show. Welcome to another conversation in our Good Better Best series with Good Housekeeping. Stef Sassos is back with us. She leads Good Housekeeping's Nutrition and Fitness Lab, where food claims and popular trends get a closer look. Today, I'm asking her to help us shop with a little more confidence. We'll talk about satisfying snacks, what's worth paying for, and what a viral recipe might leave out. And with the holidays ahead, I want to spend time with Stef's High-Protein Mediterranean Cookbook. Stef and the Good Housekeeping team put real work into those recipes. I'll ask what she's proudest of, and what she'd bring to a holiday table. So, Stef, let's start with trust. A diet or fitness tip can look convincing in a thirty-second video. What does your team do today to earn our listeners' confidence?
32 min
October 01 Before We Knew the Ending: America, Fascism, and the Warnings We Were Still Learning to Hear William I. Hitchcock on A Shadow Over the World
⚠️ History looks obvious after we know the ending. Living through it is another matter entirely. That idea shaped my conversation with historian William I. Hitchcock, author of A Shadow Over the World. Americans in the 1930s were not reading a history book. They were listening to radio broadcasts, reading competing newspaper accounts, hearing political speeches, and trying to decide whether events overseas represented another European crisis or something far more dangerous. 🎙️ Our conversation asks some uncomfortable questions. Why were intelligent Americans so divided? Why did some warnings break through while others were dismissed? What made propaganda persuasive? And how did Franklin Roosevelt judge when the country was ready to move? For those of us over 60, there is another layer. Many of us grew up close to the World War II generation, then lived through Vietnam, Watergate, the Cold War, 9/11, and a dramatic change in the way Americans receive information. 📚 Which leads to perhaps the biggest question of the episode: Does living through more history make us better at recognizing the next turning point, or simply more confident that we know what we are looking at? William I. Hitchcock joins me on The Not Old Better Show for A Shadow Over the World.
36 min
September 30 🎙️ Your Home, Your Taste: Good Housekeeping's Lis Engelhart on Timeless Style, Holiday Smarts & Ignoring the Influencer Noise
🏡 What happens when home design stops being about trends and starts being about judgment? That question is at the center of my latest conversation with Lis Engelhart, Visual Styling Director at Good Housekeeping, for our Good Better Best Interview Series on The Not Old Better Show. Lis has spent years creating beautiful spaces for magazines and real people. But what interested me most was her belief that a home should work for the people who actually live there. Not the imaginary version of ourselves we think we're supposed to become. Not the algorithm. Not the latest design trend. 🎄 We talk about holiday decorating, family traditions, clutter, budget, organization, and a question that matters especially to adults 60+: How do you edit a home without editing your life out of it? There's a bigger media story here too. In a culture driven by influencers, affiliate links and fast-moving trends, trusted editorial judgment still matters. Good Housekeeping has built its reputation over generations by helping consumers separate what works from what merely looks good online.
30 min
September 22 🔧 One Month Became Eight Years: Tim Leatherman and the Tool That Built a Life 🧰
A loose bolt. A leaking pipe. A car that refuses to cooperate. Most of us see aggravation. Tim Leatherman saw an invention. In 1975, Tim and his wife, Chau, were traveling through Europe on a tight budget in a temperamental $300 Fiat. Tim carried a scout knife, but every roadside repair and questionable hotel sink left him wishing for one more thing. Pliers. He wrote down four words: "Add pliers to pocketknife." Simple idea. Brutal journey. Tim thought he could build the prototype in one month. It took three years. Then came rejection after rejection. Knife companies said it was a tool. Tool companies dismissed it as a gadget. For years, the market had no category for what Tim had created. Then, in 1983, Cabela's ordered 500 Pocket Survival Tools. A new product category was born. More than four decades and 90 million multi-tools later, Tim Leatherman has built something new. This time, it has pages. The Leatherman Book, written with journalist Chris Kornelis, turns Tim's story into a field guide for anyone carrying an unfinished idea, starting a second act, or wondering whether the door has already closed. Today, we'll talk about persistence and its price. We'll ask how to tell commitment from stubbornness, what rejection teaches that success cannot, and why usefulness may be one of the finest legacies a person can leave. Our guest today is inventor, engineer, author, and Leatherman founder Tim Leatherman. Tim, welcome to The Not Old Better Show.
34 min
September 12 No Power. No Pharmacy. Now What? 🔦💊 Dr. Sue Anne Bell on Emergency Preparedness After 60
🚨 NO POWER. NO PHARMACY. NOW WHAT? 🔦💊 We tend to think about emergency preparedness as bottled water, flashlights and a go-bag. But after 60, preparedness can become much more complicated. What happens when the systems supporting our everyday independence suddenly aren't available? For this National Preparedness Month edition of The Not Old Better Show, I speak with University of Michigan disaster researcher and experienced disaster responder Dr. Sue Anne Bell. Her work asks us to think beyond the emergency itself and consider what happens when healthcare, medications, electricity, transportation and communication are disrupted. ⚡ What happens when someone depends on powered medical equipment? 💊 How do you prepare for interruptions in prescription access? 🚗 When should you evacuate rather than shelter in place? 👥 What changes when you're caring for an older spouse or living alone? 📱 And what happens when the smartphone containing so much of your life no longer works? One finding from Bell's research particularly caught my attention: among older adults surveyed who used electricity-dependent medical equipment, only about one-quarter had backup power in place. That turns a power outage from an inconvenience into something potentially much more serious. Preparedness is also about independence. The goal isn't to live frightened about what might happen. It's to identify the weak points while we still have time to do something about them. 🎙️ No Power. No Pharmacy. Now What? Dr. Sue Anne Bell on Emergency Preparedness After 60 The Not Old Better Show 🔦 Prepare now. Protect your independence later. #NationalPreparednessMonth #EmergencyPreparedness #HealthyAging #OlderAdults #AgingWell #Caregiving #NotOldBetter
37 min
August 28 Small Home Fixes, Big Peace of Mind 🏠
🏠 Small home fixes can bring big peace of mind. Dan DiClerico, Home Improvement and Outdoor Director at the Good Housekeeping Institute, returns to The Not Old Better Show with practical advice for making home life safer, brighter, and easier. We talk no-electrician kitchen lighting, including under-cabinet upgrades, simple mosquito protection without a science lecture, indoor air quality basics, and smart water leak detectors that can warn you before a small leak becomes a costly mess. For adults 60+, this is about comfort, confidence, and staying ahead of problems at home. 🎙️ Listen to the full conversation on The Not Old Better Show.
36 min
August 21 Still in the Groove: Martha Reeves Keeps Searching
Still in the Groove: Martha Reeves Keeps Searching

🎙️ What does a life of creative longevity sound like? In Martha Reeves' case, it still has plenty of rhythm, purpose and joy. 💃🏾🎶

Martha Reeves has spent more than six decades giving people reasons to dance. Her voice powered Motown landmarks like "Dancing in the Street," "Heat Wave," "Jimmy Mack," and "Nowhere to Run," songs that still spill from radios and playlists with enough spark to lift a room. Now, as she approaches her 85th birthday, Reeves isn't interested in nostalgia. She's still chasing the next song. "The word retirement doesn't mean a thing to me," she says with a laugh. That outlook fuels Searching, her first new album in 22 years. Recorded in New Orleans and co-produced by acclaimed trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and her longtime manager Chris Roe, the project blends Motown soul with jazz, blues, gospel, and rhythm and blues. Rather than revisiting old triumphs, Reeves sounds energized by fresh collaborators and a new musical setting. Ask her about the recording sessions and she laughs before finishing the first sentence, as if she's still standing in the middle of them. "It was a magic carpet ride," she says. "The collection of musicians, the place, the studio—it was just beautiful." Players arrived from Cuba, New York, Alabama, Georgia, and beyond, gathering in New Orleans to build a sound that lets Motown shake hands with the Big Easy. Horns rise in bright bursts, the rhythm section settles deep into the beat, and Reeves' unmistakable voice ties it all together with warmth that hasn't faded. She lights up when talking about Marsalis, recalling the quiet authority he brought to the sessions. "He was very, very serious," she says. "Anything he said he was going to do, he did it." Having watched legendary producers at work during her Motown years, Reeves knows disciplined musicianship when she sees it. She remembers watching Marsalis conduct the horn section and seeing the respect he commanded from every player in the room. "To see Delfeayo work with those horns and the magic that happened with these arrangements—I can't wait for people to hear it." The experience also gave Reeves something she deeply appreciated: a genuine creative voice. "I was asked my opinion. I was asked to add lyrics or add songs that I had written," she says. "It's like I've graduated."
34 min
August 12 Your Cells Are Changing: Roxanne Khamsi on the DNA We Acquire as We Age
Right now, inside your body, cells are dividing.

Each time they divide, they must copy an enormous instruction manual: your DNA.

Most copies are remarkably accurate. Some acquire changes.

We tend to think of DNA as fixed. You receive it from your parents, carry it through life, and perhaps pass part of it to your children. But scientists are finding that inheritance is only the opening chapter.

As we grow older, our cells collect mutations. Sunlight can leave its mark on skin cells. Tobacco smoke can alter cells in the lungs. Inflammation, infection, copying errors, environmental exposures, and simple chance can all play a part.

Most of those changes may never matter. Some help our immune system recognize new threats. A few give one population of cells an advantage over its neighbors. And some are associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease, or other health risks.

That means the cells in your body do not all carry precisely the same genetic story.

For those of us in our 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond, this raises a fascinating question: How much of our health is inherited, and how much continues to be written as we live?

Our guest is award-winning science journalist and Smithsonian Associate Roxanne Khamsi. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, WIRED, The Economist, and other leading publications.

Her new book is Beyond Inheritance: Our Ever-Mutating Cells and a New Understanding of Health.

Roxanne Khamsi, welcome to The Not Old Better Show.
35 min
August 05 From Peacocks to Penguins: Chloe Chapin on the Sartorial Revolution
👔 The most powerful costume may be the one we stopped noticing. In Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men, fashion historian and former Broadway costume designer Chloe Chapin follows an extraordinary transformation. Men moved from colorful coats, patterned waistcoats, and elaborate display to the plain, dark suit. That change carried political meaning. During the early American republic, restrained clothing came to represent democracy, rationality, masculinity, seriousness, and public authority. Plainness became a choice that looked increasingly natural. Chapin also asks us to consider the cost. As men presented themselves as standing outside fashion, fashion became more closely associated with women, frivolity, and cultural unseriousness. Around the world, the Western suit also displaced traditional forms of male dress. Our Smithsonian Associates Interview Series conversation ranges from George Washington's badly fitting trousers to cotton technology, domestic manufacturing, race, gender, and the visual signals we still use to decide who looks credible. 🎙️ Listen to The Not Old Better Show and ask yourself: Why does power still dress in dark wool? #TheNotOldBetterShow #SmithsonianAssociates #ChloeChapin #Suitable #FashionHistory #AmericanHistory #Democracy #Menswear #CulturalHistory
41 min

About The Not Old - Better Show

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The Not Old – Better Show is a radio show that is broadcast over the Internet using podcast technology discussing the hottest issues and topics that fascinate and inform those 50+ age Americans and are of interest and concern to boomers.