# What is the worst food for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755 "2009-09-27T16:31:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Never\_Say\_Dice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee59a6/32.png) [@Never\_Say\_Dice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_Say_Dice)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/1 "2009-09-27T16:31:32Z")
Seems like people intentionally try to make worse and worse, but at some point it must backfire. KFC made a sandwich with bacon and cheese and chicken instead of bread. Every chain seems to have a double patty, double cheese bacon burger with mayo. We got deep fried candy bars and now we have deep fried butter. Does deep frying really make butter worse? Would the worst be pure lard with all the salt that doesn’t make you hurl? ---
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/2 "2009-09-27T16:54:02Z")
I don’t know the answer to your question, but there are some pretty strong candidates pictured on [This Is Why You’re Fat](http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/3 "2009-09-27T17:14:45Z")
It’s hardly surprising. People will buy it, so they’ll make money from it. Money matters more than how healthy your customers are. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/4 "2009-09-27T17:24:59Z")
Doesn’t the question resolve to determining where the line separating edible from inedible, or food from poison, is? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/5 "2009-09-27T17:26:34Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Doesn’t the question resolve to determining where the line separating edible from inedible, or food from poison, is? I was about to make this point. Everything is a posion… it’s all about the dosage. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/6 "2009-09-27T18:07:33Z")
And who says a sandwich with bacon, cheese, and chicken instead of bread is bad for you? Try saying that to a starving African… or even a moderately-fed one. > [@](#): > > [http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/](http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/) Damn… that site is good ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/7 "2009-09-27T18:09:48Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > Everything is a posion… it’s all about the dosage. I can never say that enough, and there’s just so few sane/smart people in America who understand this! It’s not all that hard to get brain damage from drinking too much water. (No, not drowning in it, drinking.) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/8 "2009-09-27T18:46:33Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > I can never say that enough, and there’s just so few sane/smart people in America who understand this! I think it’s more a case of lacking will-power than lacking understanding. Unless things are worse than I hope they are - most people will know that eating big portions contributes to being big. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/9 "2009-09-27T18:51:22Z")
Except for foods that contain toxins and can only be consumed in moderation, I don’t think there are such things as ‘bad’ foods - there are bad diets. Eating a pound of butter every morning would be a bad thing, spreading a bit on your wholemeal toast _isn’t_. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/10 "2009-09-27T19:41:42Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I think it’s more a case of lacking will-power than lacking understanding. I mean not just in the context of portion control. The principle has bearing for all sorts of health concerns (eg, about lead or radiation). And it goes far beyond that too, to almost any question. Anything can only be bad in the context of a particular dose, and below that it is either good or irrelevant. > [@Mangetout](#): > > Except for foods that contain toxins and can only be consumed in moderation, I don’t think there are such things as ‘bad’ foods If a food contains toxins and must be consumed in moderation, why would it still be “bad”? See, even people who understand don’t grasp it fully. It’s just too ingrained in us to label things as bad or good, rather than to strictly label doses good and bad. ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/11 "2009-09-27T19:47:51Z")
Please don’t tell me it’s Cheetos. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/12 "2009-09-27T22:10:54Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > If a food contains toxins and must be consumed in moderation, why would it still be “bad”? I mean toxins at levels of concentration that start to be risky at single-portion level - where the value as food is almost overwhelmed by the detrimental effect of eating it. That would be bad, unless we’re playing some semantic game in which nothing can ever be defined ‘bad’ - not even being slowly eaten alive by hyenas. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/13 "2009-09-27T23:19:16Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Except for foods that contain toxins and can only be consumed in moderation, I don’t think there are such things as ‘bad’ foods - there are bad diets. > > Eating a pound of butter every morning would be a bad thing, spreading a bit on your wholemeal toast _isn’t_. That is what I kept telling people - I do not make it a secret that I am diabetic, and I am allowed 185 calories of anything I want a day per my nutritionist [and literally I can grab a bag of sugar and a spoon if it trips my trigger, I asked her :eek:] You would not believe the shock that would happen if I actually sat down with a cookie in the breakroom - you would have thought I was eating rat poison or something. Granted, I do not have anywhere near the sweet tooth I used to have when I was a kid, I am more the salt and vinegar type but now and again I do like me a good gooey meltey warm chocolate chip cookie with milk. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/14 "2009-09-27T23:30:34Z")
It’s also one reason people fail when they try to diet - they categorise burgers, pizza, fries, chocolate (all the things they like) as ‘bad’ and imagine this means they have to lay off them entirely, eating only ‘good’ foods such as salads, bran and green tea. But that turns out to be a miserable existence and after a while, they rebound, binge on the things they really want to eat - and end up worse off than before. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/15 "2009-09-27T23:36:37Z")
Arsenic, lettuce and tomato on rye bread. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/16 "2009-09-27T23:46:17Z")
Of course. Caraway seeds are just nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/17 "2009-09-27T23:53:35Z")
> [@hammos1](#): > > I don’t know the answer to your question, but there are some pretty strong candidates pictured on [This Is Why You’re Fat](http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/). Holy mother of Og. I’d love to know the calorie counts on those things. I’ll bet some of them are well into 5 figures. Some of them look like fresh road accidents. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/18 "2009-09-28T00:04:51Z")
If you want a simple answer, many nutritionists point to soft drinks. They have virtually no nutrients besides sugar, and portion control is very difficult for some people – people can and will drink soda more often, for longer periods of time, than they will eat any food. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/19 "2009-09-28T00:08:54Z")
Worst food for me is shellfish. When I had chicken pox, I scratched less:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755/20 "2009-09-28T00:36:38Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > If you want a simple answer, many nutritionists point to soft drinks. They have virtually no nutrients besides sugar, and portion control is very difficult for some people – people can and will drink soda more often, for longer periods of time, than they will eat any food. That’s a good one. Soda can be drunk almost continuously, since it goes right through the stomach. But, there is a benefit. All that urinating does you good. > [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s also one reason people fail when they try to diet - they categorise burgers, pizza, fries, chocolate (all the things they like) as ‘bad’ and imagine this means they have to lay off them entirely, eating only ‘good’ foods such as salads, bran and green tea. > > But that turns out to be a miserable existence and after a while, they rebound, binge on the things they really want to eat - and end up worse off than before. Sort of like drinking? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-food-for-you/511755.md?page=2)