How to stay young at heart
Before you pick up a greasy bag of fast food from the local burger joint, think about your heart. Your food choices affect a lot more than how your pants have been fitting lately.
A recent study found that a strong heart is built with flavonoids. Researchers fed two groups of lab animals different diets—one group received a food formula that was free of a type of flavonoid called anthocyanins, while the other group received a diet rich in anthocyanins.
The result: The animals that had the anthocyanin-rich diet clearly had greater resistance to a myocardial infarction than those who'd eaten an anthocyanin-poor diet.
While I can't get a food formula pre-packaged for you, I can offer a winning plan: follow the way people living along the Mediterranean Sea eat. Proven to be heart-healthy, it's a plan rich in fresh produce, legumes, grains and fish. A fish sandwich smeared with tartar sauce doesn't count, so toss it.
