Do you eat too many beige foods? Can you run up a staircase without getting winded?

Don’t be embarrassed. I went to a third-floor meeting in the office recently. By the time I got to the top of the third staircase, I was red-faced and exhausted. And on a good day, I eat maybe three foods that are brilliant enough in color — and natural enough to qualify as life-extending fruits and vegetables.

But after watching last night’s edition of “Larry King Live” (“click here to read a transcript of the show”:http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/09/lkl.01.html) I vowed to change everything.

King’s panel of longevity experts included alternative-medicine guru Deepak Chopra, author of “Grow Younger, Live Longer”:http://www.amazon.com/Grow-Younger-Live-Longer-Reverse/dp/0609810081 ;
cancer survivor and Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong; exercise physiologist Bob Greene, author of “The Best Life Diet”:http://www.amazon.com/Best-Life-Diet-Bob-Greene/dp/1416540660/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-129731 ; and CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who’s just come out with a book titled “Chasing Life”:http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Life-Discoveries-Search-Immortality/dp/0446526509/ref=sr_1_1/.

As it turns out, we really can control many aspects of aging. There are numerous foods that have cancer-preventing properties. And there are techniques in which we can block out the toxic people in our lives — or at the very least work on reducing negative interactions that can increase stress.

I know I plan to work on weeding out people who make me feel bad, as corny as that may sound. And there’s no time like spring to get moving on a new diet and exercise plan, especially if it promises to extend your life.

If you need an extra push, you may want to check out an upcoming program at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan.

On April 22, the Y will host “Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: Life After 50”:http://www.92y.org/shop/category.asp?category=Programs888Events888Lectures+and+Conversations888Healthy%2C+Wealthy+and+Wise888.

The daylong event, which costs $59, will feature health screenings, presentations from two Westchester residents (Martha Stewart and Jean Chatzky) and include a talk from Mount Sinai School of Medicine geriatrics professor Dr. Robert Butler, head of the “International Longevity Center”:http://www.ilcusa.org/who/mission.htm.

For more information, or to register, call 212-415-5500.

In a way, I guess a midlife reassessment of our lifestyle habits is analagous to the annual New Year’s resolution. But this time, we need to make it stick.

What about you? Have you made any lifestyle changes to fight aging?