15 foods you should never eat after 40

Refined and processed carbs, like pasta, pretzels, bagels and many cereals, have a high glycaemic index level.  This means their high carb load rapidly spikes blood sugar, and can be a contributing factor to heart disease, weight gain, and diabetes. In addition, they’re not doing any favours for your skin. “Of all the potential dietary culprits to bad skin, refined carbohydrates rank among the highest on the list, if not at number one,” Dr Bowe says. “The effects that refined carbs have on spiking blood sugar can also increase hormones that stimulate oil production,” she says. “These hormones can even change the composition of your skin’s oil, making it more prone to acne formation,” including adult-onset acne.  High-GI foods also cause the release of a hormone called insulin-like hormone growth factor 1 (IGF-1). “If you have too much of it, it can work against you by fuelling the biological cascades that ramp up inflammation and lead to certain diseases such as cancer and skin disorders like acne,” Dr Bowe says.

Before you turn in your white bread for a gluten-free variety, think again. Instead, swap out refined grains for whole ones. “Many whole grains containing gluten offer health benefits, such as fibre and magnesium,” Palinski-Wade says.  Research shows fibre helps colon and digestive health as we age, in addition to reducing cholesterol and slowing absorption of carbs to keep blood sugar and weight down. Magnesium is an anti-inflammatory, and so may reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer; it also helps prevent osteoporosis. “There is no need to remove gluten from your diet unless you have an allergy or intolerance,” Palinski-Wade says. “Focus on adding a good source of whole grain to each meal to help meet your daily fibre goals and promote a healthy gut, which is essential to a well-performing immune system.”

As we age, our slowing metabolism simply can’t handle the extra calories that come from greasy food like hot chips. The Australian Government Department of Health’s guidelines reflect the reduced need for kilojoules as we get older, and research has shown that energy processing in older subjects might actually be more efficient with fewer kilojoules per day. Although Dr Bowe says that some healthy dietary fat is needed for plump, youthful-looking skin, hot chips will likely have the opposite effect. “When you don’t incorporate enough fats in your diet, you starve microbes that consume the oil found naturally on your skin and leave behind a thin antimicrobial layer of beauty-boosting fatty acids,” she says. But, “not all fats are created equal, and the fats in French fries are not good for your skin.”

Coffee-flavoured ice cream is a triple-whammy when it comes to health effects for older people: it has saturated fat, sugar, and caffeine. Java does have some health benefits. In fact science says coffee can protect your brain from dementia. But when consumed in the form of an after-dinner dessert, it runs the risk of keeping you up at night. According to the Sleep Health Foundation, older adults tend to have a harder time falling and staying asleep. For women, this can be partly due to hormonal changes as menopause approaches, and if that’s the case, the Australian Department of Health advises avoiding caffeine late in the day.

We’ve talked about how cooking over high heat may lead to cancer, but the process causes other undesirable effects as well. “When you brown the outsides of foods using high heat [such as a hamburger on the barbeque], it creates flavour and changes the colour of the food. But in the late stages of the reaction, harmful advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are formed,” Dr Bowe says. “To get a glimpse of AGEs in action, simply look at someone who is prematurely ageing – a relatively young person with a lot of wrinkles, discoloured skin, and a loss of radiance.” Grilling can increase the total daily AGE intake by 25 per cent compared to the average adult daily intake, she says. In addition, the University of California Berkeley says AGEs accumulate in cells with age, and are associated with not only premature ageing but diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cataracts and cancer.

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Source: RD.com