Hey, you’re a masculine specimen, right? You’re generally taller, more muscular and, well, less prone to crying jags than the feminine gender. But when a long-legged, long-haired woman slinks across your TV screen, does your heart skip a beat? Well, let that image of your sputtering heart serve as a life-and-death reminder.

The differences between the sexes go a lot deeper than what you see on the outside. To put it bluntly, men are engineered from birth to be much more susceptible—at any given age—to heart attacks, chronic disorders, the ravages of time and, ultimately, to death than their more shapely counterparts. So just which is the weaker sex, macho man?

Having designed male bodies to die off in greater numbers at every age than female bodies, Nature helps even the score by consistently ensuring that more males are conceived than females. In fact, 106 boys are born for every 100 girls. As time passes, male deaths increasingly outnumber women’s. By the time these babies have reached their 30s, the sexes are approximately equal in number. From that point on, the continuing higher male death rate leaves more women at any given age than men.

Face it, guys, the deck’s stacked against you. So to give you half a chance of beating the odds and living to a ripe old age, we’ve done your research for you. Because this is a matter of life and death. This is war. And if living longer doesn’t motivate you, consider this: If you make it to 95, there will be four women for every man your age.

eat your veggies
The single biggest step men can take to live longer is to adopt a vegetarian diet. Statistics are quite clear on this point.
Vegetarians, male and female, outlive everyone else. They automatically eat more foods that promote longevity—vegetables, fruits and whole grains—to make up for the hole in their diet caused by avoiding the fat-laden meat that all-too-soon brings the male pump to a dead stop.

Think of all the vegetarians you know. Are they men or women? Chances are they’re women; men constitute only one-third of adults who consider themselves vegetarians. That’s too bad for men.

By age 23, many men are already developing blockages in the arteries to their hearts. The biggest reason is the fat and cholesterol in all that prime rib and roast beef they’ve been eating.

And simply switching from red meat to chicken and fish doesn’t help much, if at all. Both have plenty of cholesterol and a lot more fat than you would guess.

The good news? Your arteries begin to clean themselves as soon as you start topping your pasta with marinara instead of meat sauce. Research by Dean Ornish, MD, director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, shows that a vegetarian diet in which only 10 percent of calories are derived from fat actually reverses artery blockages in more than 80 percent of patients studied.

And eating less meat might also preserve your sexual potency. By age 60, about one in four North American men has experienced impotency, and, in most cases, blocked arteries are to blame. Tofu anyone?

Being overweight is also a risk factor for heart disease and cancer—and the average man who starts a vegetarian diet becomes 10 percent leaner. Vegetables and most plant foods are low in calories because they’re low in fat and sugar, and high in fiber. These foods also readjust your body chemistry: Their natural starches activate two hormones in the body—noradrenaline and thyroid hormone—that boost metabolism. So don’t toss away that old softball jersey. A meatless diet could get you back into itliterally and energetically.

lower cancer risk
To top it all off, vegetarianism may actually make you a nicer person. A study conducted by Boston University’s School of Medicine from 1987 to 1989 found that the more fiber in a man’s diet, the less likely he is to be overly aggressive and domineering.

The reason? Fiber prevents testosterone excess, and animal foods don’t contain fiber—plant foods do.

Eating less meat cuts your cancer risk. Cooking creates carcinogens on meatespecially chicken. Vegetarians—even french-fry-eating, soda-guzzling, couldn’t-care-less-about-health vegetarians—are 40 percent less likely to develop cancer than meat eaters. Vegetables, fruits and legumes furnish phytonutrients and anticancer properties, so vegetarians’ white blood cells are twice as vigilant against cancer cells compared to those of omnivores.

Blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine, which is linked to increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, drop about 13 percent after just one week on a strict vegan dietone that contains no meat or dairy products at all.

Vegetarian foods can also reduce cholesterol and lower blood “viscosity,” or resistance to flow—allowing the heart to pump more efficiently and with less effort.

A vegetarian diet that’s low in fat helps many diabetics throw away their medicine, sometimes within a few months. And it’s far more effective in controlling blood sugar than a low-fat omnivorous diet. Keep in mind that diabetes is also a risk factor for heart disease.

enhance your image
Can’t imagine a meatless diet? Think of vegetarianism as a goal, and take steps toward it over time, giving up red meat for a start. After a period of adjustment, drop the poultry then the fish. But ultimately, the key to a longer life is to minimize your intake of animal products and maximize your intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Those who follow a vegetarian lifestyle have lower blood pressure than people who consume meat less than once a week. The further and sooner you travel down that meatless road, the greater your chances of living as long as you would if you were, say, a woman.

One caveat: Plant foods can be low in vitamins B12, B3 and zinc. If you go completely vegetarian, keep in mind that you’ll probably need to take “insurance” supplements to counter this loss.

And if you’re worried about losing your tough-guy image, keep the phrase “strong as an ox” in mind. After all, oxen are vegetarians. Human vegetarians include such examples of masculinity as Hank Aaron, Carl Lewis and Peter Falk.

And do you want women to see you as a really nice guy? Any man ordering pasta marinara comes across as a more sensitive prospect than a guy who inhales a steak. Compassionate females—whether vegetarian or not—will look at you with real respect as an eco-friendly animal lover. After all, the four billion chickens and 110 million cattle, pigs and sheep that are slaughtered every year in the United States and Canada aren’t exactly volunteers. And because raising livestock is devastating to the environment, women will know that you’re not just an environmentalist wannabe. You’re the real McCoy— and a healthier real McCoy at that.

the bald truth
With all those female eyes focused on you, you’ll probably want to keep your hair. Baldness depends largely on genetics. But the more meat and fat a man eats, the higher his testosterone level and the more it converts within the hair follicle to dihydrotestosterone, which is basically follicle poison. So going veg now can greatly increase your chances of keeping your hair.

No matter your age, men, it’s never too late. Drop meat from your diet and beat the odds. A healthy 70-year-old man has more in common with a 30-year-old male than he does with an unhealthy man his own age. And remember: The longer you live, the more you’ll find yourself outnumbered by women.

Michael Downey