Most of us think about restricting our calories to lose weight, but a recent study published in a leading cardiology journal demonstrated that reducing your calories actually decreases the effects of aging on the heart. Physicians Assistant Andrea Kuiper explains "The study basically shows that we should follow a healthy balanced diet and increase our physical activity in order to delay the aging process and how it effects the heart."

Cardiologist Steven Longobardi tells us that "This was a study performed over six in a half years, restricting calories by approximately six or seven hundred calories from the standard diet to less than 2,000 calories per day."

Dr. Longobardi says that restricting calories properly and exercise also leads to weight loss, which being overweight alone puts you in danger for various health conditions. "Whether it's obesity or being overweight is correlated with increase risk for diabetes, hypertension and vascular disease."

But it's not just about eating fewer calories, but making and choosing the right ones to eat. The patients in this diet ate what's known as a Mediterranean diet, and that includes lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Dr. Longobardi also says "The people who followed this diet had lower blood pressures, lower weights, lower body fats and less effects of aging on their heart."

One strategy for keeping track of your calories is to keep a food diary and write down everything you eat and drink and add up your score at the end of the day.

For moderately active people between the ages of 31 and 50, recommended calories would be 2,000 per day for women and 2,400 to 2,600 for men. To be healthy you want to balance calories between the amount you eat and the amount of energy you burn.