HEALTH/WELLNESS: Chris Crowley, the memorable patient and coauthor of Younger Next Year, partners with Jen Sacheck, a nutritionist and exercise physiologist from Tufts University in Thinner This Year (Workman, $24.95). The authors spell out a weight-loss plan that will have readers lose up to 25 pounds in the first six months--and keep it off for life. The message is straightforward and based on the most up-to-date nutritional science: Avoid "dead," i.e., nutrient-poor, foods. Design your plate to be 50% vegetables and fruits, 25% whole grains, and 25% lean proteins. Skip the supplements. Never drink your calories. And exercise. Whereas Younger Next Year told you why to exercise six days a week -- Thinner This Year tells you how to eat and how to exercise. Exercise will do more than anything else to put off 70% of "normal" aging until the very end and eliminate 50% of serious illness and injury.