Dieting at 50
MORE: Is the standard five servings a day of fruits and vegetables enough to protect immunity?
SM: "It hasn't been studied."
MORE: Can diet still make a difference after 50 if you ate poorly when you were younger?
AL: "Absolutely. Diet is crucial. It's really after 50 that things get more interesting. As you go through menopause, your LDL goes up. Heart disease kills one in two women in the United States, although we think more about breast cancer. The reality is that you can do more to prevent cardiovascular disease as you get older than almost anything else, including cancer."
SM: "Alice and I did a study and found that women who had moderately elevated LDL and who lost just two kilograms [5-6 pounds] on average, had improvements in their blood fats and immune response."
MW: "It's not an overwhelming amount to lose."
SM: "But it is harder -- when you gain a couple of pounds now, it takes forever to lose them again."
MW: "You have to exercise. I used to do yoga, but when I turned 51, that wasn't enough. I had to hit the gym. I go once a week, but I really need to go twice."
MORE: Are diet and exercise equally important?
AL: "It's a combination, but I think diet is the major factor in terms of health and weight control. It takes less time to avoid eating extra calories than to burn them off."
SM: "Diet is more important to maintaining your immunity, too. Exercise makes you feel good, but it can't really improve your resistance to infectious disease."
