Senior super-dudes Sly Stallone, 67, Harrison Ford, 71, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, 66, are mercenaries-for-hire in the upcoming Expendables 3. But they still have a way to go before they can qualify as super-agers.

That honor goes to a hearty batch of 80- to 90-year-olds who have the memory and cognitive skills of 50- to 65-year-olds.

Seems these folks have a larger prefrontal cortex and inner brain, showing they've got bulging neural connections. (Your brain is the one area where size matters - a bigger hippocampus is better.)

How did they get so brain-brawny? They may be less stressed, more motivated and in better control of the life choices they make. That preserves brain size. So does controlling blood lipid levels (triglycerides and lousy LDL cholesterol) to protect your brain from cardiovascular damage.

The good news is that you can acquire similar advantages by making lifestyle choices that reduce your cholesterol and stress levels.

So, we're here to pump you (and your brain) up with these techniques:

1. Banish trans fats (they reduce brain mass!). Found in processed foods and baked goods, they're the partially hydrogenated oils. And eliminate most artery- and vein-clogging saturated fat.

2. Increase neural connections and protect against age-related brain shrinkage with a daily dose of omega-3 DHA. (Deficiency may increase brain shrinkage by 37 percent!) Eat salmon and ocean trout three times a week, and/or take a daily supplement of 900 mg DHA omega-3.

3. Reduce stress by walking 10,000 steps a day and meditating for 10 minutes twice a day. Now you're a super-ager too!

© 2013 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.