The (surprising) worst foods.

Archeron

Just a quick question. What foods are ye alll aware of that are really bad for you, and that you would never touch, but which most people dont seem to realize?

I mean, I know a big giant chocolate eclair and a bag of chips is bad for you, but are there other things out there that people should try to avoid for health/weight management reasons?
I heard years ago that a Mcdonalds chicken burger thing was one of the single worst things in the world that you could eat (dont know if thats true or not) but it surprised me to hear it.

Any other common foodstuffs its advisable to avoid, despite what the marketeers tell us?

g'em

Most things that come in a cardboard box tbh

justsomebloke

actimel and cereals (seriously they are trying to make coco popos a healty breakfast in the adds)

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

TerrorFirmer

Plan rice cakes are bad? ****, ive been eating them alot lately

rubadub

"Healthy" bars, like the breakfast ones, or "go-ahead" buscuits.

Then there are other things that people are under the illusion are "good for you" or low-fat or low calorie since they are a bit bland e.g. cream crackers, bread, super noodles (over 500kcal per pack!)

yomchi

HavoK wrote:

Plan rice cakes are bad? ****, ive been eating them alot lately

Not all of them are bad. There are ones that have added salt etc. Try get the no added salt organic ones and the're not too bad

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

TerrorFirmer

I have eating the non salted organic ones. Ideally I want to use them to eat before workout with a banana, and then after workout again before big meal.

because_I_can

them steroid drinks i see all the beefcakes in my gym swigging out of a bottle must be bad for you. And that creotine too.

Degsy

I was looking at museli recently which promised no added sugar..i quick look at the back showed 28 grams of sugar per 100 grams,f uck knows what it would've been if they'd added any!!!

t-ha

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

How much do each of them weigh though? I'd say there's near nothing (including taste) in a few rice-crackers? The chocolatey and yogurty ones are probably a different story though.

Baraboo

Spinach - Surprisingly, for all you Popeye fans out there, is not good for you due to high amounts of oxalic acid which is an Iron and Vitimin C antagonist.

because_I_can

it *could* be true that there's no added sugar. It could be the sugar from fruit. But the fruit itself has been preserved in a certain way and they may not have to say how.

The phrase "no added sugar" is very ambiguous though and there's all kinds of things they can add that arent exactly sugar...

justsomebloke

Degsy wrote:

I was looking at museli recently which promised no added sugar..i quick look at the back showed 28 grams of sugar per 100 grams,f uck knows what it would've been if they'd added any!!!

ye some museli's are worse then others Lifeforce is the best one I have come across, however as the sugar is purely coming from fruit it isn't as bad as you may suspect

BrianD3

Any food that is advertised as being "pro biotic" or having "healthy bacteria". Not that these foods are necessarily bad just that they are total marketing hype. I hate the way some women go mad for these things
"oh I'm feeling so bloated I better take my bifidus digestivum"

Of course the fact that they do no exercise and eat no fruit or veg has nothing whatsover to do with them feeling bloated and tired :rolleyes:

rubadub

because_I_can wrote:

it *could* be true that there's no added sugar. It could be the sugar from fruit. But the fruit itself has been preserved in a certain way and they may not have to say how.

The phrase "no added sugar" is very ambiguous though and there's all kinds of things they can add that arent exactly sugar...

Yep, I am sure Degsy knew that too, but many do not and simply believe the marketing and inferences they make. I think to be legally called "low-fat" foods must be below a certain fat %, but it ignores portion size. So milk at about 4% fat is techincally "low fat", though many peoples portion might be half a kilo!
Many muselis are very high in fat too, due to nuts and added oils.
You will see muffins saying "only 5% fat", and not mention that they are 75% sugar!

Tesco value museli is fairly good, dirt cheap and it is cheap since there are no fancy added fruits, oils, nuts etc, it is mainly oats.

Dragan

Degsy wrote:

I was looking at museli recently which promised no added sugar..i quick look at the back showed 28 grams of sugar per 100 grams,f uck knows what it would've been if they'd added any!!!

Maybe it just fell in???

Two of the guys on the MA board have a pretty good theory behind food. They basically have a theory of human involvement in food. If humans are involved a lot, then eat a little and vice versa.

For example, fresh fruit? Sure thing! Get it down you. Fruit juice? Nope!!!

It's a pretty basic plan but makes sense when combined with the other basics.

Degsy

And be wary of "fresh" foods from supermarkets.I've often been at the fish counters in certain places and seen mussels with open shells,mackerel that had turned white(fresh mackerel is reddish purple) and other stuff that would either taste foul or sicken the hell out of you.If you're going to by fresh fish,buy it from a fishmonger and keep the small business going too.Also,if you can avoid it dont by meat from supermarkets unless its organic.Chicken fillets and chickens themselves can be up to a third thier weight in added water,meat is never aged properly and can contain all sorts of nasty crap like dyes and never tastes nearly as good as from a butcher.

Archeron

On what I've been reading here, I've dropped fruit juice completely, and replaced it with Kia Ora cordial drinks. I guess that they're okay as its 90% tap water, but what do ye reckon? I drink a lot of it, maybe 3-4 pints a day (of prepared drink, not in its pure bottled form:) ) Anybody think that this type of drink is good or bad?

Degsy

Archeron wrote:

On what I've been reading here, I've dropped fruit juice completely, and replaced it with Kia Ora cordial drinks. I guess that they're okay as its 90% tap water, but what do ye reckon? I drink a lot of it, maybe 3-4 pints a day (of prepared drink, not in its pure bottled form:) ) Anybody think that this type of drink is good or bad?

Velly velly bad!Artificial flavourings,colourings and preservatives,sugar and god knows what else!Linked to all kinds of problems with kids btw

TerrorFirmer

I drink alot of both water and kia ora (or ribena or whatever), maybe up to 6 pints a day. Its fine - tastes better then drinking water all day and the nutritional content is minimal, which is what you'd want from a water substitute - not that this is an actual water substitute as such given its 90% water as you say, but you know what I mean. I think its about 5kcal in some of them per 250ml - so about 10 calories a pint, hardly going to make or break you.

Edit: I realise that like most things they probably come in heavy and lite versions - the ones I drink practically have nothing in them that is actually bad for you. In light of degsys post.

Archeron

Interesting to hear that. thanks Degsy and Havok. I must check the bottles and see what sort of crap IS in it. (presumption is a dangerous thing)

g'em

Baraboo wrote:

Spinach - Surprisingly, for all you Popeye fans out there, is not good for you due to high amounts of oxalic acid which is an Iron and Vitimin C antagonist.

That's taking it a little far. You'd need to eat buckets of the stuff in order for the oxalic acid levels to interfere with abosrption of iron into the blood and besdies whcih the arnings only really exist for people with pre-existing conditions with their kidneys or gallbladder problems. 1 cup of the green stuff, will however, provide you with about 1000% of your daily Vit K needs, 300% of Vit A, around 80% of manganese and 60% of folate needs, as well as being an excellent source of beta carotene, vitamin C (as opposed to preventing it's absorption), calcium, potassium, iron, sodium, sulphur, folic acid and oxalic acid and has more protein than most veg. It's high in antioxidants, has been linked to reduction in prostate and colon cancers (as well as other cancers), provides cardiovascular protection and strengthens the immune system. And it tastes good

Dragan

g'em wrote:

And it tastes good

Besides, Popeye had big forearms from grip strength training, not spinach!!

Degsy

Dragan wrote:

Besides, Popeye had big forearms from grip strength training, not spinach!!

Thats what you think...olive oyl might well have a different perspective on his abnormal arm development!:D

Vegeta

I think if i were to invent an eating habit it would be called the caveman (or primative man) diet.

You can only eat foods the way a caveman could have prepared them. So as Dragan says the less a man has to do with it the better as a man will process it into other forms and add things that may not be wanted.

Fruit is obviously an easy thing a caveman might get his hands on.

Meat and fish would also be in plentiful supply cooked in an oven or grilled.

Nuts and seeds would play a big part

Vegetables would be in there big style.

Nothing in a box, except maybe milk (i don't know how a farmer/cow would react drinking from the source) nothing in a tin.

I think you could be perfectly healthy on a diet like that

justsomebloke

Vegeta wrote:

I think if i were to invent an eating habit it would be called the caveman (or primative man) diet.

sorry somebody got there before you, it's called the paleo diet

http://www.thepaleodiet.com/

professore

I have high cholesterol so have a good idea of what is high in saturated fat/salt/sugar. Based on this:

Cheese & Butter are ultimate evil. Flora is also quite bad. Most nuts and seeds also disastrous.

Have a look here:

http://uuhsc.utah.edu/pated/handouts/handout.cfm?id=889

Just because it's natural doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you. Also, what was the life expectancy of the average caveman?

Vegeta wrote:

I think if i were to invent an eating habit it would be called the caveman (or primative man) diet.

You can only eat foods the way a caveman could have prepared them. So as Dragan says the less a man has to do with it the better as a man will process it into other forms and add things that may not be wanted.

Fruit is obviously an easy thing a caveman might get his hands on.

Meat and fish would also be in plentiful supply cooked in an oven or grilled.

Nuts and seeds would play a big part

Vegetables would be in there big style.

Nothing in a box, except maybe milk (i don't know how a farmer/cow would react drinking from the source) nothing in a tin.

I think you could be perfectly healthy on a diet like that

Dragan

professore wrote:

Just because it's natural doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you. Also, what was the life expectancy of the average caveman?

Indeed, thats why an everything in moderation approach is normally good for most people. I would also be curious to know why your cholesterol was so high to begin with? I don't know too many people who eat enough nuts to have such an effect.

Also, the life expectancy of a caveman was quite short, 25 to 30 or so tops....this had a lot more to do with a lack of medicine and far more natural predators etc.

Right now we have all sorts of little pills to fix this and that and are at the top of our food chain and it's our DIET that is killing most of us.

Oh how times have changed.

I wonder what a T-Rex would taste like?

daveirl

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Fruit juices...wha??? you mean concentrate right?

Degsy

Vegeta wrote:

I think if i were to invent an eating habit it would be called the caveman (or primative man) diet.

You can only eat foods the way a caveman could have prepared them. So as Dragan says the less a man has to do with it the better as a man will process it into other forms and add things that may not be wanted.

Fruit is obviously an easy thing a caveman might get his hands on.

Meat and fish would also be in plentiful supply cooked in an oven or grilled.

Nuts and seeds would play a big part

Vegetables would be in there big style.

Nothing in a box, except maybe milk (i don't know how a farmer/cow would react drinking from the source) nothing in a tin.

I think you could be perfectly healthy on a diet like that

Hmm,vegetables wouldnt have featured TOO prominantly in a stone-age caveman's diet.They would've gathered whatever they could during the season but didnt go in for farming in a big way untill thousands of years later,prefering to hunt throughout the year by following mnigrating herds of wildlife.It was only when the ice sheets retreated and the large animals dissapeared that mankind was forced to farm and cultivate land,thus ending his delightfull nomadic existence and condemning him to a life of backbraeking labour,domesticity,trade and listening to the wife all day.Thats why men like to hunt with other men,it reminds them of when they were free.Anyway,back on topic...

t-ha

professore wrote:

Cheese & Butter are ultimate evil. Flora is also quite bad. Most nuts and seeds also disastrous.

I eat all of those except flora. Any second now I'm probably gonna keel over I guess?

Any second now.....

rubadub

Deleted User wrote:

Fruit juices...wha??? you mean concentrate right?

All of them I reckon, though fresh pressed is the best. Why not just eat the fruit. Fruit juice has the same sugar content as most soft drinks.

I drink heavily diluted kia-ora type drinks. Tesco high fruit blackcurrant is the best (35% juice compared to ribenas 2-4%)

Has anybody made their own dilutable drinks? it is mostly 10% juice, sugar and citric acid. I have a bag of citric acid at home and might give it a go, omitting the sugar altogether.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

TerrorFirmer

http://www2.coca-cola.com/presscenter/nr_20061011_americas_enviga.html

So if Diet Coke with 0 Calories isn't enough, try Cokes new effort that actually promotes negative calories. :rolleyes:

c - 13

I got to the following line and then gave up

"Atlanta, October 11, 2006 - The drink proven to burn calories"

because_I_can

soy - very bad for you.
oestrogen promoter in males!!

Dan133269

because_I_can wrote:

soy - very bad for you.
oestrogen promoter in males!!

Not necessarily a bad thing

because_I_can

only if you want to have a baby and thats not on my "to do" list

BaZmO*

There's no such thing as "bad" food, there is however, such a thing as a "bad" diet.

yomchi

because_I_can wrote:

soy - very bad for you.
oestrogen promoter in males!!

Thats probably the worst info ever

Soy has a vast range health benifits for both male and female. Its not as if you drink a litre of it you're gonna grow BT's! :rolleyes:

Static M.e.

Soy is this the same as Soy sauce the kind you get with Rice in chinese's?

...I go through a little bottle every two weeks, I use them cooking stirfrys..I also just eat rice and soya sauce sometimes when im in a hurry Are they that bad for you? please elaborate

because_I_can

well i dont really see how any food that can raise your oestrogen level can be good for a lifter? Even if it is only by small amounts. It is a game of inches after all...

I'll not be touching it anyway.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

t-ha

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

I think one of the concerns expressed by folks in the lifting industry is the adding of soy to canned and processed foods as a cheap filler & provider of protein - much the same as corn maize gets stuck in virtually everything in the US. Not sure if it's a particular problem in the EU yet though?

mloc

there definately is a big misconception about fruit juices. the sugar content, imo, makes then prohibitantly calorific and high gi.

Also most breakfast cereals, most canteen food (good food badly prepared, kept moist with oils etc), and most pre-packed "low fat" foods are bad, as whilst they may be low fat they are generally loaded with sugar.

blorg

BaZmO* wrote:

There's no such thing as "bad" food, there is however, such a thing as a "bad" diet.

Exactly what I was thinking. Regarding the (surprising to me) morbid fear of cereals, is the objection just "sugar" or is there something more? What would be the general conception of Corn Flakes as I'm afraid that is what I have for breakfast every morning religiously (with low-fat milk.) Hasn't killed me yet.

Apart from this apparently guilty pleasure for breakfast I tend to cook just about everything myself from the raw ingredients; wouldn't tend to buy ready meals or things in jars. No freezer so none of that stuff either.

rubadub

blorg wrote:

Regarding the (surprising to me) morbid fear of cereals, is the objection just "sugar" or is there something more?

The thread is about surprising foods, I think the objection to cereals is also about the marketing of these foods. Many people do fall for the marketing so are surprised when they hear they are not the super healthy foods portrayed/inferred in the ads. I think weetabix were forced to pull some ad saying kids did 30% better in school or someother statistic.

They are highly processed, lots of fibre removed, salt added, sugar added (sugar puffs are 49% sugar!, anymore and they couldnt put "puffs" on the box)

brianon

I always here about these new breads...with pumpkin seed and all sorts of fancy stuff. Is any of it any good.

Are all breads bad for you ? Does White = bad ... always ?

What specific breadds to you guys eat .. if any. Just I love the odd sandwich

Also, toritlla wraps as a substitute ? good or bad idea?

blorg

Bread is certainly not "bad for you", it's a staple food. The less refined the better though, so white is going to tend to be worse than less refined options. Personally I would only eat bread that is freshly baked that day.

Found this interesting page from the BBC.

Tortilla wraps are lower in calories than bread, primarily because there's a lot less of them, so may be a good idea if you are trying to lose weight.