15 WORST Foods to AVOID over Age 50 [Anti-Aging Diet]

This is Tom Brdanke and today I'm going over the top 15 foods you should not be eating if you're over 60 years old and we're starting now. There's a lot of changes recently and it's hard to believe what's true and what's not true. We're going to try and get to the bottom of it with good studies. Number one is processed meats, specifically red meats and natural meats are okay. The big thing now is the carnivore diet and a lot of studies show that maybe fats and meats are not as bad as was once told. And the thing is we now kind of realize, and this is more and more obvious every day, that big companies pay for studies. Big sugar producing food companies were paying for a lot of these diets showing that red meat and natural meat was bad. But here's what is true. Processed meats get rid of the protein, the nutrients, and they fill it up with junk and filler. Specifically, if you look at the label at the back, even though it's meat, it's not real meat. And what happens is there's sugar that gets burnt. There's byproducts. There's crappy unnatural fillers. You know, there was trans fats before in a lot of these. Less nutrients, more preservatives. Studies do show eating more processed meats is increased risk of vascular disease, cancer, stroke. This is any meat that has been smoked, canned, salted, sugar added. These are hot dogs, salami, cured bacon. We're talking like those crappy bottom-of-the-barrel meats that are cheap. Now the one thing is in studies too, historically, the way meat got bashed is usually more poor people that already had more health conditions like alcohol and smoking were more likely. That's what made these studies look bad. But there's no doubt. These meats are the bottom-of-the-barrel. They're the leftover stuff from the good meats. And the studies do show heart disease, blood pressure, and stomach cancers as well. It also gives you more salt, sugar, and fat. As you get older, it's harder to work this stuff off. The real thing is too, burnt sugar on these products can lead to cancer risk. Studies do show this. Don't eat those processed foods. So they're number one on the list. Number two is fried foods. Fried foods essentially have some good meat in the middle. Basically a seed oil and vegetable oil. This leads to increased saturated fat, historically trans fat. And these fried foods have led to increased rates of heart disease, high calories, weight gain. So that abdominal fat, it's harder to work off from these fried foods. And specifically seed oils, such as canola oil, stuff like that, that's used to make these fried foods lead to an imbalance of your inflammatory fats, which are omega-6s and a decrease in omega-3. There's good oils and bad oils, but it's never black and white. But the idea is most of the bad oils are pretty high in omega-6 fatty acids. So most people have heard of omega-3 fatty acids, but not so much omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 fatty acids contribute to inflammation. And inflammation is good, but it should be omega-3 and omega-6 in about a one-to-one ratio. The average American diet is about 25 omega-6 to one omega-3. So we're not getting enough omega-3s. That means it's getting too high in inflammation and too low in anti-inflammation. This is a list of good fats. This is by Dr. Kate Shanahan. So her website's drkate, but she does a pretty good breakdown. This is a board-certified physician who analyzed this. You got some good ones right here. You got your bad ones. I looked at like 10 to 20 different charts. All are by physicians or specialists or people certified to talk about this kind of stuff. The lists kind of flip-flop back and forth for different reasons. There's good fats. There's bad fats. Stuff burns in heat. There's a lot of different reasons why you should and should not eat these oils. The best bet, in my opinion, is to avoid them altogether. They did a study in rats. And if rats were over 20 to 1 in omega-6 to omega-3, then those rats had increased inflammation markers like C-reactive protein, and they had much higher rates of cancer. These oils are not black and white because you have trans fats versus omega-6 fats. You have saturated fats versus unsaturated fats. You have fats that basically create toxic compounds when they're on the frying pan. So there's a lot of levels because some people love certain oils, even though they hate other oils. Number three is foods with empty calories. This is one of the most common things we see, but these are easy and fast foods. You got your donuts. You got your sugar-loaded chocolate bars, even the sugary granola bars, fancy coffees. If you go get a Frappuccino with a ton of whipped cream and sugar on it, you'll notice a lot of these things, if you look at the back, it's like 8 to 10 spoons of sugar. They're delicious, but there's no nutrients in there. This includes things like French fries and check the sugar label. If it's just sugar on the back and like one or two grams of fat and like one or two grams of protein, this is not a good food. That's kind of what it comes down to. And if it's not a natural food, there's no nutrients in it, most likely. And as you get older, it's harder to work off that abdominal fat and you don't feel full. There's no fiber. So you're going to get hemorrhoids. You're going to get diverticulitis more likely. So you want to cut down on that stuff. When you look at the nutrient label, if it's just mostly sugar, don't eat it. Grapefruit is actually unbelievably healthy, but there's a lot of medications, specifically blood pressure, anxiety and insomnia medications where grapefruit interacts with it. Check your interactions on your medications. If you're not taking any medications, eat all the grapefruit you want. It's absolutely healthy for you. The next one is alcohol. So listen, alcohol can be good, but as you get older and you develop chronic illnesses, it can be associated to diabetes, peripheral neuropathy. So if your fingertips and your toes are numb and achy, alcohol is one of the biggest contributors to this. With blood flow, it can lead to increased inflammation and it can interact with all your medications like antihistamines, painkillers, medications for hypertension. Three drinks should be the maximum for men and two drinks for women is according to guidelines and no more than 10 to 15 drinks per week. So that's 15 for men and 10 for women on average. Number six is raw and undercooked food. So listen, eggs, meat and poultry are great for you. Just make sure they're cooked well. I use one of those thermometers. Our friends at Callaway Cooking, which I'll link below, is a great friend of mine, but he showed me that meat thermometer. I always stick it in my meat and it has a guideline. It prevents you from overcooking your food, perfectly gets it cooked up so you're getting all that bacteria out of there. That's been one of the biggest breakthroughs in my barbecuing and cooking. There's a link to his channel for cooking. He does a great job. Be careful on the eggs, the meat, the poultry, the sushi. If you're not using a thermometer, these can keep bacteria and you're less likely to be able to deal with these. Number seven was sushi. Listen, I love sushi. It's high in omega-3 fatty acids. It's high in nutrients. Fish is great for you. But you know what? Maybe order the smoked salmon and the cooked shrimp, for example. What you want to do is be careful eating that sashimi. Just be careful. Make sure it's cooked. If you can handle it well, that's okay. When I was a resident in the ER, I remember there was a man screaming, an older gentleman, and it was coming out the front and it was coming out the back. And he's told me, don't ever eat sashimi. That's what I remember about seniors and sashimi. And on that note, soft cheeses, feta, ricotta, brie, gorgonzola, blue cheese, they're unpasteurized milk. That means there could be some bacteria in there. You wouldn't want a little kid eating it and you wouldn't want somebody over 75 necessarily eating it too. You don't have as much stomach acid and your immune response might not be as strong. You can still eat those hard cheeses. Make sure you get vitamin D. So you can eat your cheddars, your Monterey Jack, and your Swiss, and you should be okay. Make sure it's made from non unpasteurized milk. Number nine is trans fats. So trans fats actually are banned. So in 2018 in America, a bill got passed to ban trans fats. I think in a lot of other countries as well, they banned them. 2020, they should have got rid of trans fats. This was basically fat used to store food for longer, but your body couldn't process it. So it was like literal poison that you could not get out of your body. These are down now, but this was usually in microwave popcorn, pizzas, those types of foods to hold on longer. Number 10, high salt foods. Here's kind of the beauty. Salt gets too bad of a wrap unless you're in high risk condition. Salt is essential for your body and it's not bad for you unless you already have high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, heart issues already, and you're at risk. That's when you should be careful. Just don't go crazy adding salt to everything. If you have those issues, that could put you over the top and lead to hypertension. Add spices rather than salt. I'm a huge fan of turmeric, and we have a video on why turmeric can work just as good as anti-inflammatories like Advil and Aleve. It's a great spice. You can eat as much as you want safely. That's kind of the bottom line. Use some healthy spices rather than salt for your flavoring. Number 11, sugar-free drinks. These are a lot better than sugar-loaded drinks. The bottom line is they could, number one, alter your gut bacteria, which can lead to diarrhea, gassiness, all that kind of stuff. And studies show they actually make you want to eat later. It stimulates your brain to get hungry. So just be aware. It makes you want to crave more sugar even though you're not getting it. Even worse is sports drinks, sugary drinks, and sugar-loaded milks like skim milk. Even though sports drinks are good at reloading your electrolytes, you don't need it. Realistically, you don't need it. You're eating enough as long as you're eating something. As long as you're not running a marathon every day, electrolytes are not needed for you for the most part. These sugary drinks can lead to fatty liver, insulin resistance, putting on that midsection fat. Number 13, juice. 100% fruit juice does still have those phytochemicals. It does have nutrients. Missing fruit's number one benefit, which is fiber. Fiber helps you go to the bathroom easier, keeps your stool softer, helps you feel full. You can drink cups and cups of juice and you won't necessarily feel full even though you're getting some vitamins. So it's not the most horrible. Look at how much sugar is in the back. There's like eight, nine spoons of sugar per glass of juice. It's too much. So don't go crazy. Fruit is great for you, but in moderation like a normal human, not like a maniac eating 20 fruits per day. Candy, same kind of thing. Diabetes, vascular hardening, inflammation. Pastries, candy, any sugar-loaded foods. Just skip all that stuff. I don't even need to get into it. Soda. After 60, your muscle mass, your bone density, this contributes to osteoporosis, increases inflammation, arterial disease, heart disease. Soda is basically poison to your body. That's one of the worst things. You're not full. It's horrible for you. Horrible in every way. Just don't eat it. This is a bonus one. Added sugar and high fructose foods. This is kind of in line with those empty calorie foods. This is the number one contributor to obesity, insulin resistance, sluggishness. Don't buy anything that's loaded with sugar or high fructose corn syrup. This is well accepted in society, but arteriosclerosis, heart disease, insulin, diabetes. There's a lot of corruption where a lot of these companies, because they can make foods and store it forever, they paid for all these studies that show basically no fat was good, but they replaced it with high fructose corn syrup, which is even worse. And that leads to these major issues. Here's what you can do. Six easy things that you can do. Whole produce. Get fresh fruit, fresh veggies. Fruit is good as long as you don't go crazy with it. And these are natural foods with all your nutrients and fiber. Avoid sodas, fruit juices, and sugary drinks. Can drink water, tea. I'm a big fan of water with a splash of apple cider vinegar. You can eat whole grain cereals like oatmeal rather than sugar added cereals. Snack on whole foods. My biggest thing is nuts. So nuts are great. Almonds, peanuts, dried fruits, raw veggies. You know, if you grab a handful of nuts, it will basically make you feel full and it won't add more than like 200 calories. You know, so one and a half ounces. You know, if you have a huge fist, that's a different story. And go for home baked foods. So don't go buy store bought cakes, donuts, and cookies. Eat stuff made at home. So big things you want to focus on are fiber. Gets you feeling full. Gets rid of your hemorrhoids. Gets rid of your diverticulitis. Healthy nuts. Lots of fiber. Tons of nutrients. And vitamins. I'm a huge fan of vitamin D, magnesium, vitamin K2. And I have videos on all this stuff. So see you on the next one.