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Summary
On episode 206 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan breaks from the usual guest interview format to walk through 11 foods he believes people should work on eliminating from their diet, arguing that most of what makes us sick is self-inflicted through what we eat.
Several of the items trace back to the same root problem: sugar hiding in plain sight, whether as fruit juice, high fructose corn syrup, or the dozens of ingredient names food companies use to disguise it, plus foods engineered to spike blood sugar and insulin, like white bread, white rice, and white potatoes.
He closes with a practical, incremental approach: don't try to cut everything at once, cook simple staples like marinara sauce from scratch when you can, and read ingredient labels instead of trusting marketing words on the front of the package.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Sugar is hidden almost everywhere, making the World Health Organization's 25 gram daily limit hard to hit. Most processed foods carry added sugar, so staying under that number takes real diligence, not just avoiding the candy aisle.
- Fruit juice and very sugary tropical fruit are effectively liquid or concentrated candy. Juicing strips out the fiber that would normally slow sugar absorption, and our ancestors did not have year-round access to sugary fruit the way we do today; Allan recommends whole, lower-sugar fruit like berries, apples, and pears instead.
- Refined breads, bagels, waffles, and pancakes spike blood sugar even when labeled whole wheat. Allan suggests testing it yourself: check blood glucose before eating and again 45 minutes later to see the spike directly.
- White rice and white potatoes carry a high glycemic index, with potatoes actually ranking higher than table sugar. He recommends cutting both, especially during active weight loss.
- High fructose corn syrup, and its many disguised names, is worth learning to spot on labels. Because corn is government subsidized, it's a cheap sweetener added widely to processed food, and Allan notes there are dozens of alternate names for sugar that keep it from standing out on an ingredient list.
- Diet soda's artificial sweeteners cause inflammation and retrain the palate toward wanting sweeter food. Allan shares his own history as a heavy diet soda drinker and says quitting was one of the best things he did for his health; the sweeteners also keep the caffeine cycle going.
- MSG and similar additives are engineered to make food more craveable, and they drive inflammation. Like high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, MSG exists to make processed food taste better so people eat more of it.
- Skim milk isn't the health food it's marketed as. Removing the fat from milk blocks the body's ability to absorb the calcium and vitamin D it's known for, leaving what Allan calls sugar water from the remaining lactose.
- Marketing words like “low fat,” “healthy,” “natural,” and “gluten-free” say nothing about actual nutrition. Allan points to gluten-free products marketed as healthy when they simply swap gluten for other, often less healthy, ingredients; the fix is reading the ingredient list, not the front of the box.
“We cannot out-exercise a bad diet.”
Coach Allan Misner
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 224 – The worst part of a western diet – Gary Taubes