Skip to content
Getting older gets a bad rap.
After all, with each passing birthday, we get to enjoy one more year with our friends, family, and careers, living our lives to the fullest. I love to see people in their seventies, eighties, and beyond staying active, doing what they love, and thriving.
But often, those people have figured out a few things that too many people sadly never do. If you ask healthy, thriving seniors what their secret is, they’ll probably tell you they eat right, they stay active, and they have avoided pitfalls like smoking, drugs, and alcohol.
You might be surprised if you questioned them further to find out some of the foods they are NOT eating.
You see, as we get older, foods that don’t bother us or affect us much as kids start to cause a different reaction with age.
Here’s why… By the time you get to 30 (and compounding from there as you reach 50, 70, and beyond), your body has ingested boatloads of toxins. And for a while, the body is pretty efficient at processing these chemicals, acids, and toxic substances.
But eventually, they catch up to us. Hormones start to change. The metabolism gradually slows. Digestion becomes less efficient. And that means some of those toxins and acids stick around, especially if you’re ingesting a lot of them.
And why does that matter? It makes the body more toxic, more acidic, and more susceptible to serious diseases from heart disease, to Alzheimer’s, to cancer.
It also leads to weight gain. Your body gets a signal when you eat these foods to hold on to fat to protect you from being harmed by the food your body senses as toxic. It’s a self-preservation mechanism that’s important. But if you wonder why it’s hard to lose weight, this could be your culprit.
Before we get into this list of foods to avoid over the age of 30, it’s important to stress that eating these foods is cumulative. In other words, if you eat one of these foods rarely – like a slice of cake on your birthday, for example – it’s not going to do much damage (although you might not feel great after all of that sugar).
It’s eating these foods day after day that’s going to build up, create toxicity, produce inflammation, and lead to health problems.
7 Foods to Avoid Over 30
Sugar
What happens when you eat sugar is that blood glucose levels spike. In order to maintain healthy blood sugar levels, the pancreas releases more and more insulin. If this happens often enough over the years, it becomes a chronic inflammatory issue, leading to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and more.
This effect is increasingly important as you age, because it taxes the pancreas, one of the most important organs in charge of maintaining alkaline balance. Chronic, low-grade acidosis increases body toxicity over time, making you more vulnerable to diseases from the common cold all the way to heart disease.
What to eat instead: If you feel a sugar craving coming on, opt for dark chocolate, or better yet, raw cacao. Pairing fruit with healthy fats is a great choice, such as apple slices with almond butter or peach slices with chia seeds.
Grains
All grains, even grains marketed as nutritious – rice, wheat, oat, amaranth, farro, barley, rye, and so on – can cause inflammation. And over 30, that’s increasingly the case for many people. What you can get away with in your youth just won’t fly any longer. All of you who have developed gluten sensitivity post-30 know what I’m talking about.
Now, do you notice what “grain” I did not list above? Quinoa, because it’s a seed, not a grain. It functions as a grain in many recipes, but because it is a nutrient-dense seed, it does not cause inflammation.
What to eat instead: If you want bread or tortillas, opt for sprouted Ezekiel options instead. They are much better than the typical versions, although they are still grains. If you’re missing rice or pasta, go for quinoa or spiralized veggie noodles for a better choice.
Milk
Despite boatloads of cash poured into marketing campaigns that say otherwise, there’s absolutely no need to drink milk as an adult. It’s not even a top source of calcium!
And along with other dairy products like sweetened yogurts, milk is highly acidic. Dairy products actually leech your bones and other body parts of minerals like calcium, which is the opposite of what you want as you age.
What to drink instead: Easy! Swap unsweetened coconut or almond milk for cow’s milk. They actually contain MORE calcium and they are much cleaner for your digestion. Just be sure to steer clear of brands that contain carrageenan.
Be sure to eat plenty of leafy greens and broccoli too – top plant sources of calcium.
Artificial Sweeteners
You might think, “I know sugar is bad for me. So I’ll stick to sugar-free alternatives instead.” Guess what? Those foods are often WORSE than their sugary counterparts.
Many sweeteners, like Splenda for example, are known carcinogens that have been linked to cancer. Even those that haven’t been linked to scary health problems lead to you craving MORE sugar, which may explain why drinking diet soda corresponds to a 41% increased risk of obesity.
And to make matters worse, you often have to look very closely at labels to even tell if a food contains artificial sweeteners. Beware of any ingredient that contains any part of the following words:
- Aspartame
- Equal
- Erythritol
- Isomalt
- Maltitol
- Nutrasweet
- Saccharin
- Sorbitol
- Splenda
- Sucralose
- Sugar alcohol
- Sweet One
- Sweet’n Low
- Tagatose
- Xylitol
What to eat instead: If you’re looking for a sugar-free way to sweeten things up, use organic liquid stevia in a dropper bottle. A little goes a very long way, and it’s not as bitter tasting as some types of stevia.
Processed Foods
This is another case where you can get away with processed foods when you’re young, but as you start to get older, you really notice the effects of eating this kind of junk.
A large part of the reason for that is the types of fats found in processed foods. They are often filled with inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. They also rarely contain enough anti-inflammatory fats, which fight brain fog, boost mental health and wellness, and stave off the effects of aging on the brain and body. We all need more of that as we age, right?
Be especially wary of any processed foods that market themselves as diet or health foods. These play tricks on our brains, convincing us they are good for us, when actually, many of them are junk food in disguise.
What to eat instead: Over 30, you want to load up on foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as:
- Wild-caught Alaskan or Pacific salmon – the Mayo clinic recommends eating salmon twice per week
- Wild-caught Atlantic mackerel
- Walnuts
- Chia seeds
- Herring
- White fish
- Sardines
- Anchovies
Beer
All alcohol is acidic, but beer is among the worst kinds of alcohol you can drink. It contains fungus, mold, and whea.
The wheat in particular makes beer acidic because it spikes insulin levels, causes massive leaky gut, and contains pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. If that weren’t bad enough, here’s the worst part: Grains are stored, and most likely will become contaminated with mold and fungal mycotoxins, which are carcinogenic.
What to eat instead: If you want to enjoy an alcoholic beverage, a rare glass of wine is a better alternative, or better than that, gin, tequila, or rum, which contain no grains, sugar, or yeast.
Soda
If your days of drinking Diet Coke or even artisanal sodas are not behind you, they should be. Whether your soda of choice contains high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, or cane sugar, it doesn’t really matter.
It’s all dangerous garbage food that creates insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes that is often accompanied by weight gain and difficulty losing weight.
Oh, and you can add fruit juice, sports drinks, and energy drinks to this same category. They all work the same way.
What to eat instead: Good old water with a slice of lemon can’t be beat. Filtered water with a pH between 8.5 and 9 is ideal. You can also add berries, cucumbers, limes, or grapefruit if you are missing the flavor of your former favorite. Herbal tea and fresh green juices are two good alternatives.
Another drink I don’t want you to forget about as you transition away from sugary beverages is a scoop of Alkamind Daily Greens in water. It delivers 5 whole servings of raw super foods in less than 30 seconds.
The fan favorite is the Berry Greens, but people love the Citrus and Naked Greens as well. Naked Greens taste like green tea. All 3 flavors taste great and they are going to wake you up, energize your day, and alkalize your body.
Outstanding
“I can’t believe the difference. In just a few days, my gut feels so much better. My energy level is higher and I feel like I am pointed in so much better direction health-wise.” –Ed H. (Verified Buyer)
GET OFF YOUR ACID!
Dr. Daryl
