I think this indicates something that the doctors do not want to hear—that cardiovascular risk factors are far less voluntary than they are involuntary.
To start with, genetics and metabolism. If people in your family have a habit of dying of cardiovascular problems, you will likely die of them as well, no matter what you do. Likely, severely restricting your lifestyle, eating unpleasant foods, exercising a lot, and avoiding pleasure at all costs will probably buy you a little time, but not much. Is a lifetime of misery worth a few extra months?
Equally important, and interrelated, people vary tremendously in their metabolism. Some people get married at 17, are grandparents at 36, and are old at 50, right when some of their peers are finally getting married for the first time. It is far better to plan your life based on your metabolism than to hope that medical science allows you to see your great-great grandchildren.
Far less fair are diseases and pathogens. It is known that some common viruses will quietly live in your body for years, before nailing you with secondary, and sometimes deadly effects when you are older. An excellent example of this is Shingles. But there are viruses that can mess up your heart many years later. Lifestyle changes will have little or no effect on this.
Youthful excess will catch up with you, even if you live a healthy life after 30. Drinking, smoking and drugs have done their damage, and weakened you in ways that won’t show up for many years. Even over-exercise that causes hidden damage can kill you years later.
And then, of course, there is “bad luck”. Lifestyle changes will again be useless against this.
They also always ignore the #1 risk factor for heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases - aging! Everyone will die of something eventually. The idea that we can all be 95 and as healthy and spry as we were at 20 is absurd.
Married at 18, never divorced, grandma at 46, not old by any standards now that I’m 50. My loving family keeps me young, happy and content. What kills you is stress. Those common viruses that you talk about will attack when you are under extreme stress. I have seen the effects of stress and healthy eating and exercise don’t seem to make a difference.
If the hot dog I eat today means one less day in the nursing home, so be it!