The High Performance Journal Written By Dan Go - March 10th, 2026

My client Brandon came to me frustrated. He was 43, ran a successful business, and had been in decent shape most of his life.

"I don't get it," he said. "I'm doing the same things I've always done and eating the same way, but nothing seems to work".

When I looked at his food log, I saw the usual suspects. Bacon and eggs for breakfast. A sandwich on white bread for lunch. Pasta for dinner. A protein bar in the afternoon.

None of it had changed in ten years. But his body had. His sleep was choppier. He was gaining fat around his midsection. He was training the same, but his body looked worse than it did five years ago.

Something in his system had shifted. The foods that used to work for him were now working against him.

He was experiencing what we call The Midlife Tipping Point.

Researchers at Stanford tracked over 100 adults from ages 25 to 75, measuring around 135,000 molecules in their blood, gut, and microbiome. What they found was that we don't age in a smooth line.

Aging happens in 2 major waves: The first wave hits around 44, and the second wave around 60.

Hitting your mid-40s is a big deal. Your circadian rhythms become less functional. The pathways tied to cardiovascular health and lipid metabolism shift how your body processes caffeine and alcohol.

This is why people feel like they can't handle the late nights or a few drinks the way they used to. Your body is changing how it processes these inputs as you get older.

To add to this, the food environment has moved in the opposite direction. In the past 25 years, ultra-processed foods have made up half of the average adult's daily calories.

Portions have ballooned by up to 25%, sometimes 50%. If you were born in Generation X, you know that the foods we eat have changed, and this is coinciding with the fact that your body is changing.

We just can't eat the same way we did in our 20's as we do in our 40's.

So in this newsletter, I want to share with you the top 5 foods to avoid (or eat less of) when you hit the age of 40.

An Important Note Before We Go Any Further

There are no good or bad foods in isolation.

I wrote ​here​ that I got my abs back at 46, eating pizza and, on the rare occasion, drinking alcohol.

What made this possible was the 90/10 Rule: 90% whole, nutrient-dense foods. 10% whatever I wanted.

But you have to be honest about which category foods belong in. Most people think bacon is part of their 90%. They think a protein bar is a smart choice. But those foods are not as healthy as they think.

And if you're ​metabolically unhealthy​, which 88% of the population is, these foods hit harder and stick around longer.

The blood sugar lingers longer than it used to. Your inflammation doesn't clear like it did when you were in your 20s. Instead of bouncing back, your body slows down, and each hit stacks on top of the last one

So, as you read this list, understand that the goal is to get ​metabolically healthy​ first, and these five foods are the ones to cut the most while you're getting there. Not forever. Just until your body can handle them again.

Here's the first one...

#1 Worst Food Over 40: Sugary Drinks and Alcohol

When liquid sugar hits your bloodstream fast, it gets shuttled straight to ​visceral fat.​ The dangerous kind that wraps around your organs.

Alcohol is where you really feel that mid-40s shift. The liver is slow to clear it than usual. The same number of drinks can give you higher blood alcohol, worse sleep, and an even worse hangover than you felt in your 20s.

The swap: Sparkling water. Unsweetened green tea or black coffee. For a cocktail replacement, do what I call ​the Sober Margarita, or as Mexicans call it, "The Suero​": sparkling water, fresh lime juice, sea salt on the rim.

#2 Worst Food Over 40: Fried Foods

When you cook starchy foods at high heat, a compound called acrylamide forms. It's a known neurotoxin. Most commercial frying uses refined seed oils that turn into trans fats when heated.

After 40, your body is already running with a higher baseline inflammation. Fried foods pour gasoline on a system that's getting worse at putting out fires.

The swap: If you love crispy things but don't want the toxins, switch to an Air fryer or oven with olive oil. You get 90% of the texture at a fraction of the damage.

#3 Worst Food Over 40: Processed Meats

The combination of sodium, saturated fat, and nitrates can drive up blood pressure, increase saturated fat in your arteries, and has been linked to colorectal cancer. The WHO classified these as a Group 1 carcinogen back in 2015.

I'm talking about all processed meats: bacon, sausages, hot dogs, deli meats, even prosciutto.

The idea of bacon has become quite popular, especially with people in the carnivore camps saying you can eat it ad libitum without any consequence, but they're wrong.

Bacon and processed meats like bacon have been linked to speeding up the pace of aging.

The swap: Ground beef, chicken, fatty fish. An underrated option is canned sardines in olive oil. High in omega-3 fats and is one of the healthiest quick snacks on the planet.

#4 Worst Food Over 40: Refined Carbohydrates

I'm talking white bread, pastries, instant oatmeal, and most breakfast cereals (even the ones with the health claims on the box).

These types of carbs have been stripped of fiber. They hit your bloodstream almost as fast as pure sugar, spiking your insulin. While most people blame the lack of energy they feel at 3 p.m., it's most likely the drop in blood sugar from the foods that they eat, specifically refined carbohydrates.

At 20, you had more muscle to soak up glucose and higher insulin sensitivity to clear it. By mid-40s, most people have less of both.

The swap: Steel-cut oats. Quinoa. Sourdough. For snacks: fruit and nuts, Greek yogurt with berries.

#5 Worst Food Over 40: Ultra-Processed Snacks and Fast Food

I rarely eat snacks out of a package, and for good reason. Things like chips, cookies, crackers, and even protein bars are built differently than they were 20 years ago.

They contain more refined carbs, more industrial fats and emulsifiers, and more flavor additives. All combined to get you to eat more without feeling full while wrecking your gut.

Protein bars are the sneaky ones. Most are just candy bars with better branding. If you're eating one every day, that's not part of your 90.

The swap: Almonds or pistachios with fruit. Greek yogurt with berries. Vegetables with guacamole or hummus.

After 40, Things Change

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but as you get older, your health habits need to get tighter.

And take it from me. I'm 46 years old, and I feel way better than I did at 26, but I also realize I have to play a different game

We have to realize that at midlife, our biology hits an inflection point, and the food around us has never been more engineered to work against us.

I must reiterate that the goal is not to eat perfectly forever; it is to get metabolically healthy, so your body can handle flexibility again.

Once your system is working properly, the 90/10 rule becomes your long-term strategy.

So, on your path to becoming the healthiest version of yourself, do your best to eliminate or eat way less of the foods that were listed in this newsletter

Onward and upward. 🚀

- Dan

When you're ready, here are 2 ways I can help:

1. The Lean Body 90 System: When you’re ready to get in great shape, Lean Body 90 is the obvious choice. You can get in great shape and reach your fitness goals in just 90 minutes a week. Lose weight and build muscle even without hours in the gym or highly restrictive diets. Join 1000+ students here.

2. Are you an entrepreneur who wants to get lean, boost energy, and get in your best shape? Apply for private one-on-one coaching here.

References

1. Shen X, Wang C, Zhou X, Zhou W, Hornburg D, Wu S, Snyder MP. Nonlinear dynamics of multi-omics profiles during human aging. Nat Aging. 2024 Nov;4(11):1619-1634. doi: 10.1038/s43587-024-00692-2. Epub 2024 Aug 14. PMID: 39143318; PMCID: PMC11564093. 
2. Ma J, Sloan M, Fox CS, Hoffmann U, Smith CE, Saltzman E, Rogers GT, Jacques PF, McKeown NM. Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with abdominal fat partitioning in healthy adults. J Nutr. 2014 Aug;144(8):1283-90. doi: 10.3945/jn. 113.188599. Epub 2014 Jun 18. PMID: 24944282; PMCID: PMC4093984. 
3. A. Wang, X. Wan, P. Zhuang, W. Jia, Y. Ao, X. Liu, Y. Tian, L. Zhu, Y. Huang,J. Yao, B. Wang,Y. Wu, Z. Xu, J. Wang, W. Yao, J. Jiao, & Y. Zhang, High fried food consumption impacts anxiety and depression due to lipid metabolism disturbance and neuroinflammation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (18) e2221097120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221097120 (2023). 
4. Song J, Park J, Jung J, Lee C, Gim SY, Ka H, Yi B, Kim MJ, Kim CI, Lee J. Analysis of Trans Fat in Edible Oils with Cooking Process. Toxicol Res. 2015 Sep;31(3):307-12. doi: 10.5487/TR.2015.31.3.307. PMID: 26483890; PMCID: PMC4609978. 
5. Dietary patterns, food groups, and telomere length in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)1–3Jennifer A Nettleton, Ana Diez-Roux, Nancy S Jenny, Annette L Fitzpatrick, and David R Jacobs Jr
6. Brynes AE, Mark Edwards C, Ghatei MA, Dornhorst A, Morgan LM, Bloom SR, Frost GS. A randomised four-intervention crossover study investigating the effect of carbohydrates on daytime profiles of insulin, glucose, non-esterified fatty acids and triacylglycerols in middle-aged men. Br J Nutr. 2003 Feb;89(2):207-18. doi: 10.1079/BJN2002769. PMID: 12575905. 
7. Brynes AE, Mark Edwards C, Ghatei MA, Dornhorst A, Morgan LM, Bloom SR, Frost GS. A randomised four-intervention crossover study investigating the effect of carbohydrates on daytime profiles of insulin, glucose, non-esterified fatty acids and triacylglycerols in middle-aged men. Br J Nutr. 2003 Feb;89(2):207-18. doi: 10.1079/BJN2002769. PMID: 12575905.
8. Rondinella D, Raoul PC, Valeriani E, Venturini I, Cintoni M, Severino A, Galli FS, Mora V, Mele MC, Cammarota G, Gasbarrini A, Rinninella E, Ianiro G. The Detrimental Impact of Ultra-Processed Foods on the Human Gut Microbiome and Gut Barrier. Nutrients. 2025 Feb 28;17(5):859. doi: 10.3390/nu17050859. PMID: 40077728; PMCID: PMC11901572.
9. Ma J, Sloan M, Fox CS, Hoffmann U, Smith CE, Saltzman E, Rogers GT, Jacques PF, McKeown NM. Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with abdominal fat partitioning in healthy adults. J Nutr. 2014 Aug;144(8):1283-90. doi: 10.3945/jn.113.188599. Epub 2014 Jun 18. PMID: 24944282; PMCID: PMC4093984.  
   
   

Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician.