# \[Number\] Foods You Should Never Eat **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158 "2016-01-04T15:20:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/1 "2016-01-04T15:20:39Z")
We’ve all been seeing these ad on the internet for years: “4 foods you should never eat!”, “For a flat belly avoid these foods!”, etc. etc. What are those foods, and why do they say you should avoid them? Also, what do they usually show bananas in the clickbait? Are bananas now supposed to be bad for you? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/2 "2016-01-04T15:27:44Z")
Bananas have more sugar in them than most people expect. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/3 "2016-01-04T15:37:00Z")
I have seen lists that tell you to stop eating sugar, or artificial sweeteners, or salt, or stop eating anything that has flour in it, but the list of food items usually changes based on what the diet is trying to accomplish. Here’s a [common example](http://cspinet.org/nah/10worstfoods.html?gclid=CP3kr8W-kMoCFQgGaQodfRAC5w) of such a list. I think overindulging is just about anything is probably a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/4 "2016-01-04T15:42:47Z")
I don’t know that there a single definitive list, as most clickbaity diet sites are just trying to peddle one variety of snake oil or another. That said, there are some things that are definitely bad for you. I wasn’t averse to eating raw potatoes, for instance. I equated them with any other vegetable, like carrots or something, so I expected them to be healthy. Apparently there is such a thing as “antinutrients,” and so eating a raw potato is not just unhealthy but actively injurious. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/5 "2016-01-04T15:49:00Z")
nm - didn’t realize this was GQ ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/6 "2016-01-04T16:41:20Z")
> [@Chihuahua](#): > > I don’t know that there a single definitive list, as most clickbaity diet sites are just trying to peddle one variety of snake oil or another. > > That said, there are some things that are definitely bad for you. I wasn’t averse to eating raw potatoes, for instance. I equated them with any other vegetable, like carrots or something, so I expected them to be healthy. Apparently there is such a thing as “antinutrients,” and so eating a raw potato is not just unhealthy but actively injurious. Ok, so raw potatoes. also… certain mushrooms pufferfish uncooked bitter almonds and if you include parts we normally throw away… cherry pips apple seeds tomato stems and leaves and possibly rhubarb > **[Top 10 Poisonous Foods We Love To Eat - Listverse](https://listverse.com/2009/01/06/top-10-poisonous-foods-we-love-to-eat/)** > > Everyday we chow down on food produced from plants that carry deadly poisons. Most of the time we don't need to be concerned with this as the mass But, I’m pretty sure that none of these are what the clickbait articles are talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/7 "2016-01-04T19:07:32Z")
Most of those lists are for people who don’t want to use measurements and spreadsheets to check what they’re eating. They want very simple ‘don’t eat this’ but ‘eat all you want of this’ statements. We have two type 2 diabetics in the house who are constantly arguing with the third cohabitant that potatoes and corn don’t count as vegetables. A meal with corn and potatoes is not full of vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/8 "2016-01-04T21:32:35Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Most of those lists are for people who don’t want to use measurements and spreadsheets to check what they’re eating. They want very simple ‘don’t eat this’ but ‘eat all you want of this’ statements. > > We have two type 2 diabetics in the house who are constantly arguing with the third cohabitant that potatoes and corn don’t count as vegetables. A meal with corn and potatoes is not full of vegetables. Look at the bright side. If the diabetics keep eating massed quantities of corn & potatoes thinking they are veg they’ll soon enough not be living with you. Or anyone else. Then you can say “I told you so.” Few things in life are as satisfying as being proven right by events. ETA: on the off chance I’ve parsed this backwards … In diabetic scorekeeping, potatoes and corn are starches, not vegetables. Yes they are plants, but they aren’t classified as vegetables. All plants (except nuts) are one of three categories: fruit, starch, or veg. And veg is essentially the catch-all category for those plants which are neither sweet nor starchy. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/9 "2016-01-04T22:14:34Z")
They could be eating the potato plant leaves and count that towards their vegetable consumption. You can eat anything that’s sold as food. Just don’t eat too much of it. (And for the record, that does NOT include the leaves of the potato plant, which are toxic.) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/10 "2016-01-04T22:43:22Z")
Yeah, I’m not buying the banana thing. Not only did I lose 25lbs incorporating bananas into my deit, it helped with my energy levels and anxiety issues as well. Along with helping me with an essential tremor that I suffer from. Bananas are a miracle fruit as far as I’m concerned. And this is coming from someone who likes to dip his banana into melted peanut butter! ( heh, there’s a sig line in that last bit somewhere.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/11 "2016-01-04T22:58:08Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > They could be eating the potato plant leaves and count that towards their vegetable consumption. > > You can eat anything that’s sold as food. Just don’t eat too much of it. > > (And for the record, that does NOT include the leaves of the potato plant, which are toxic.) _snicker_ I got so pissed off at someone at my last workplace who was damned near violent about trying to keep me from taking a donut because I am diabetic about stroked out when I walked over to the coffee area, took 4 sugar packets, tore them open and dumped them into my mouth. I then calmly explained that as a diabetic I could eat anything I damned well wanted to if I took it into account with the rest of my food for the day and my medication, and if I wanted to grab a bag of sugar and a spoon and dig in to fuck off and let me because I probably had already done the calculating to allow me to have a treat that day. [A much better experience than the poor coworker who so wonderfully made me a cake for my birthday taking into account my diabetes so she melted diabetic chocolate to make the ganache icing it, and kept the department bathroom _ahem_ busy with the rest of my coworkers … maltitol makes an absolutely wonderful laxative:smack:] ---
**Author:** ![smokermoney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@smokermoney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokermoney)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/12 "2016-01-05T02:11:16Z")
I’d say fried foods and some fast foods are good to avoid if you are trying to stay healthy. By that I mean stuff like McDonalds and KFC. As for actual foods- some people say to avoid milk and gluten but I’m sure that can vary by person, depending if they have sensitivities to these foods or not. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/13 "2016-01-05T14:25:54Z")
I’d say a safe rule of foods to avoid are those that comprise second, third, or fourth helpings… But moderation doesn’t tend to be a consideration in fads. People get so weird about foods. My dad used to feel all virtuous that he ate turkey bacon instead of the real stuff. Then he fried it in olive oil to add to the health benefits… yeah… ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/14 "2016-01-06T03:11:51Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Look at the bright side. If the diabetics keep eating massed quantities of corn & potatoes thinking they are veg they’ll soon enough not be living with you. Or anyone else. . . . . Sorry, I’m one of the diabetics. We’ve learned that it’s no use to argue with K over categories. And that we can’t let her plan meals - which means that we have to do most of the cooking and shopping. No, she’s not doing it on purpose to get out of cooking. She used to be offended when she’d put out dinner and we’d say we couldn’t eat 2/3 of it and go into the kitchen to steam some frozen vegetables and/or slice some raw veggies. We had the same problem with plastic grocery bags (they’re recyclable! I’ve read that! the grocery store has a bin!), which are specifically forbidden from our recycling pickup. We finally set up our own bin, saving them for re-use. That worked. Reminders, lists, and flash cards didn’t work. (How can they be not recyclable when they’re recyclable?) Simple, immutable categories. She want’s simple, immutable categories . . . that match the first category concept she grabbed and can’t let go of . . . and that let her eat potatoes as a vegetable. Love the turkey bacon story **FCM**. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/15 "2016-01-06T04:04:59Z")
If you are interested in longevity, the main foods you should never eat are the ones with calories beyond the well-balanced diet you already ate to keep yourself a few percent underweight. Also, avoid burned fat. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/16 "2016-01-06T04:20:41Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > They could be eating the potato plant leaves and count that towards their vegetable consumption. > > You can eat anything that’s sold as food. Just don’t eat too much of it. > > (And for the record, that does NOT include the leaves of the potato plant, which are toxic.) Sweet potato leaves are not toxic, and in fact are a near-staple food in some parts of the tropics. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/17 "2016-01-06T04:23:33Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > _snicker_ I got so pissed off at someone at my last workplace who was damned near violent about trying to keep me from taking a donut because I am diabetic about stroked out when I walked over to the coffee area, took 4 sugar packets, tore them open and dumped them into my mouth. I then calmly explained that as a diabetic I could eat anything I damned well wanted to if I took it into account with the rest of my food for the day and my medication, and if I wanted to grab a bag of sugar and a spoon and dig in to fuck off and let me because I probably had already done the calculating to allow me to have a treat that day. > > [A much better experience than the poor coworker who so wonderfully made me a cake for my birthday taking into account my diabetes so she melted diabetic chocolate to make the ganache icing it, and kept the department bathroom _ahem_ busy with the rest of my coworkers … maltitol makes an absolutely wonderful laxative:smack:] Several people have told me that the must be allergic to diabetic candy, because it gave them diarrhea. Of course it did; you’re not supposed to eat the whole bag in one sitting! :smack: “Diabetic” DOES NOT mean “allergic to sugar”. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/18 "2016-01-06T08:20:12Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Sweet potato leaves are not toxic, and in fact are a near-staple food in some parts of the tropics. What does that have to do with anything? Potato = solanum tuberosum Sweet potato = ipomoea batatas Two completely different plants. ---
**Author:** ![Postariti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Postariti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Postariti)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/19 "2016-01-06T22:25:21Z")
To answer the OP - If you click on one of those links, they often don’t answer that question at all. The link says “Avoid these four foods to lose weight!” If you click, you get an advertisement for a weight loss supplement. It won’t say anything about avoiding any food. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158/20 "2016-01-06T23:08:18Z")
> [@Postariti](#): > > To answer the OP - If you click on one of those links, they often don’t answer that question at all. > > The link says “Avoid these four foods to lose weight!” If you click, you get an advertisement for a weight loss supplement. It won’t say anything about avoiding any food. Exactly so. These are advertisements - they want you to buy something. The are not advertising to you to “not buy” something. Otherwise, you’d see these ads listing the four things you should never let pass you lips as soda, soda, soda, and soda. I am not sure anyone will pay for an ad trying to get you to give up sodas, but there are plenty of ads trying to get you to buy more of it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-foods-you-should-never-eat/742158.md?page=2)