Health Rules Your Mom Missed (But You Don't Have To)

We outlined the building blocks of the New Middle Age here and show you how to imbue your second act with more personal contentment, joy, and vibrancy than you ever thought possible.

 

It’s the engine that drives an active lifestyle, essential to your ability to maintain healthy muscles and bones, a sharp mind—even an upbeat attitude.

 

Your Mom’s Middle Age: It was all about cholesterol. If it was normal, she’d ignore it; if it was high, she’d control it with a low-fat diet.

 

The New Middle Age: Get a heart scan after menopause. Even women with normal cholesterol levels can have heart disease, so “talk to your doctor about getting a CT coronary artery scan,” says Mehdi Razavi, MD, a heart specialist at the Texas Heart Institute. The test, which measures calcium accumulation in arteries (a predictor of heart attack risk), can spot trouble even when other tests, such as those that check cholesterol levels, are normal.

 

Embrace the Mediterranean diet. Not all heart-healthy diets are created equal. The hands-down winner is the Mediterranean diet, which prevents and even reverses heart disease. Patients whose diets feature monounsaturated fats from olive or canola oil, nuts, and fish, along with abundant fruits and vegetables, reduced their recurrence of heart problems by 50 to 70%, according to the Lyon Diet Heart Study in France.

 

>> Don’t skimp on these heart smart foods