Heart disease can creep up on you.

Byline: HOLLY AUER

PHOTOS:Clinton jogs in Washington 10 years ago.

Former President Clinton at McClard's Bar-B-Q in Hot Springs, Ark., with waitress Wyona Rowton, Rowton's granddaughter, Trista Covey (partially hidden), and son-in-law David Covey last June.

Dr. Craig R. Smith, chief of the division of cardiothoracic surgery at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, uses a model of a human heart to explain to reporters the bypass surgery he performed on Clinton last week.

Clinton's favorite barbecue joint, McClard's.

When former President Clinton had heart-bypass surgery last week, it sounded a loud wakeup call for a whole generation of Americans.

"I think it has spooked a lot of people," said Dr. Lars Ruhnquist, an interventional cardiologist with Coastal Cardiology in Charleston. "We saw him out running, and then he lost weight, and you figure that as president, he would be getting the best medical care out there."

Although Clinton seemed to be the picture of health and fitness, particularly after his recent stint on the low-carb South Beach diet, he had several strikes against him that no amount of reformed eating and exercise habits could purge. For one thing, Clinton has an ugly family history of heart disease, and he's a man over 50 - the group most likely to be stricken.

Plus, he ate junk for too long, often publicly, chowing down gluttonous portions at church barbecue appearances and McDonald's pit stops while jogging. He smoked cigars and made the mistake of going off his cholesterol medication after his weight loss earlier this year.…