Think it’s too late to start adopting healthy eating and fitness habits? Not so, according to researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina. In a recent study, they found that picking up healthy lifestyle habits, even in your 40s and 50s, could lower your risk of heart disease and premature death. Middle-aged adults who increased their intake of vegetables, exercised at least 2.5 hours a week and stopped smoking dropped their heart disease risk by 35 percent, and the risk of premature death by 40 percent, in the four years following the change.