[FullRangeMan]

1º place: Diet Soda.
"The worst food of all time," says Dr. Michelle. According to her, as if all problems were not enough of sodas, diet versions contain Aspartame, now renamed as "AminoSweet" - producing "effects that can be confused with Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue syndrome, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis." Not to mention being able to cause anxiety, binge eating, depression, migraine, hyperactivity, insomnia, heart palpitations, hearing loss, dizziness.

2º: Soda.
According to research by Dr. Joseph Mercola, "a can of soda has on average 10 teaspoons of sugar (150 calories), between 30 and 55 mg of caffeine, artificial colors and sulphites." There were not enough, "the drink is too acidic, bad for the kidneys and bones."

3º place: Donuts.
They have an immense amount of trans fat, "the worst kind of fat you can eat", cause heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

4º place: Hot Dogs.
The villain here is the sausage, a processed meat rich in sodium nitrite - carcinogenic substance that "may increase the risk of cancer of the pancreas and the intestine." In addition to hypertension.

5º place: Bacon.
Consumption "increases the risk of heart disease by 42%, and diabetes in 19%." Columbia University study found further that can cause lung diseases.

6º place: Snacks Potato.
It has no vitamins and no minerals, just fat. "They have no nutritional benefit."

7º place: Crisp.
Rich in trans fat and acrylamide, "one of the most potent carcinogenic substances, which appear when the potatoes are heated at high temperatures."

8º place: Pizza.
Despite entering this list, not all pizzas are harmful to health. Only frozen, sold in supermarkets, because they are rich in preservatives. The villain of this pizza is the white flour used in its mass, "so absorbed by the body and converted into pure sugar."

9º place: Corn Chips.
Because they are all fried, cause obesity and increase the level of blood sugar. And do not use corn fiber, so beneficial to health.

10º : Ice Cream.
Usually contains sugar, artificial flavorings, colorings and trans fat, increasing the level of bad cholesterol.

From a local news site:
http://terramagazine.terra.com.br/interna/0,,OI5413336-EI6614,00-Os+dez+piores+alimentos+de+todos+os+tempos.html

[Folsom]

I don't eat any of those...

Besides I don't even quantify food that way. My list would go more like...

1. Processed Foods (your entire list)

2. Wheat.

3. Pork. All forms. ALL HUMANS MAKE ANTIBODIES AGAINST IT.

4. Poor ratio of Omega oil 3 vs. 6&9 meats (anything industrial)

5. Potatoes. (Not including sweet potatoes)

6. Milk. (not dairy products, most of them can be beneficial if given to the person who can benefit from that specific one, whey cheese for insulin reception, hard cheeses for bacterial overgrowth/imbalance issues)

7. Corn (all forms, including HFCS/corn sugar)

8. Tropical oils (palm, coconut, etc). No research anywhere signifying health benefits. The only good thing in coconut oil is capyrlic acid which can be taken without the oil. Only other place it is found in quantity is breast milk, at least naturally.

9. Will add more if I think of them.

[Tyson]

It's funny, if you look historically at populations that were isolated and ate a diet based on their local environment, they very rarely had stuff like heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, etc.... But the INSTANT they adopted a western style diet based on sugar and "healthy whole grains", they started to get these diseases en-masse.  WHEAT and SUGAR.  These are your killers.  The rest of the candidates are just splashing around in the shallow end of the pool.

Caveat  - one possible addition is Trans Fat - that is some truly nasty sh!t and will probably kill you post-haste as well.

[Folsom]

All tribes that were coastal or river based and ate a lot of fish were always leaner than those farther inland. At least when food was plentiful.

Funny how western idea of whole grain just means whole wheat, which really means mixed non-whole grains "9 grain bread".

Tyson, sometimes adopting high red meat diets are just as lethal for heart disease. For some it is a blessing for others they can not digest it properly. Here is an explanation of why, the enzyme for processing saturated fat (in all red meat) is found in vastly different levels in different people.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7449139

In some small towns in the USA cancer rates are very low where everyone eats grass fed meat from within the area. To the point where some of the towns are known to the outside world with confusion on how the people are so healthy. For some the high quality CLA and Omega 3 balance can never be overstated (if you can digest it). However no place you go do you find carboholics doing well.

[Tyson]

Without question, fish is one of the best things humans can eat.  And I agree that ALL grains are bad for humans.  I just pick on wheat because it's been crammed down our throats as being healthy in the USA. 

I'd say cutting all grains and all sugar is a good start, and the rest of the diet can be "adjusted" based on individual response after that.  I had a heart attack already when I was 34, thanks to a diet heavy in grains and sugar.  I get blood work twice a year now, so I can see plainly what affect any changes in diet have on me. 

I don't eat a lot of pork, especially since I started eating liverwurst at breakfast instead of bacon, but I'm curious to know more about us producing antibodies against it?

[Goosepond]

What a depressing thread!

Here's my list:

1. When the husband comes back from his doctor's appointment, his wife says, what did he say?

The husbands reply: If it tastes good, don't eat it, if it feels good, don't do it.

2. Don't take life seriously, no one gets out alive.

 

Gene

[Pez]

Question, does this qualify as 'bad for you'?

[audioengr]

Interesting learnings from Dr. OZ on fish:  Cold water species is best, and not farmed. They tested fqrmed salmon and found that they had fairly low levels of omega 3 fatty acids.

Also, I belkeve the thinking on Coconut oil has changed.   They feel that it is much healthier than animal produced fats.

Steve N.

[rollo]

I don't eat any of those...

Besides I don't even quantify food that way. My list would go more like...

1. Processed Foods (your entire list)

2. Wheat.

3. Pork. All forms. ALL HUMANS MAKE ANTIBODIES AGAINST IT.

4. Poor ratio of Omega oil 3 vs. 6&9 meats (anything industrial)

5. Potatoes. (Not including sweet potatoes)

6. Milk. (not dairy products, most of them can be beneficial if given to the person who can benefit from that specific one, whey cheese for insulin reception, hard cheeses for bacterial overgrowth/imbalance issues)

7. Corn (all forms, including HFCS/corn sugar)

8. Tropical oils (palm, coconut, etc). No research anywhere signifying health benefits. The only good thing in coconut oil is capyrlic acid which can be taken without the oil. Only other place it is found in quantity is breast milk, at least naturally.

9. Will add more if I think of them.

  This is exactly what I cannot eat for my blood type "O". Eating for our blood type has changed our lives for the good.


charles
SMA

[xr2]

Aren't there issues with contaminants in fish which limits suggested intake?

[jimdgoulding]

What's the verdict on wine?  Pasta?  I know it's a grain.  Heck, all this time I thought grains were good.  Especially brown rice.

[Devil Doc]

"No vice is worth giving up for a couple of extra years on a geriatrics ward". Rumpole of the Bailey.

Doc

[Tyson]

Best thing to do is get a VAP or NMR and check your lipid profile, particularly your levels of smLDL (small, dense LDL), and your triglycerides.  If you can convince the doc, an HbA1C and C-Reactive Protein tests also give you useful info about your diet's impact on your heart health. 

sdLDL is driven by grain and sugar consumption.  This is the most deadly pattern to have.  Some people are lucky and can eat grains/sugar without affecting sdLDL.  However, the vast majority are not lucky.  The really, really crappy thing is that most people are probably fine with other starches like sweet potatoes, carrots, and rice.  But, once we've developed an sdLDL pattern, we are now sensitized to ALL starches. 

HbA1C levels show how well/bad your body is using glucose as an energy source.  If you eat too much starch, sugar, grains, it will be high.  To lower it, just stop eating those types of foods.  HbA1C is associated more strongly with heart attack risk than just about any other single marker, except sdLDL.

CRP - C Reactive Protein shows the general level of inflammation in your body, particularly in your cardiac system.  If you guessed that grains and sugar aggravate CRP, you'd be right!  But, seed oils (vegetable oils) that are very high in Omega 6 Polyunsaturated fats also drive CRP quite a bit, particularly if you use a lot of it.  And considering how much soybean oil and canola oil is in things like crackers, cakes, potato chips, and every single other processed food, most people are getting a LOT of Omega 6, and not nearly enough Omega 3.  O3 and O6 compete for the same metabolic pathways.  So, part of the reason that taking fish oil and eating fish is so healthy is because it helps to ameliorate the ridiculous amount of O6 we consume.  Another way to address this balance is to simply not eat stuff that has veggie oil in it - ie, canola, corn oil, wesson oil, soybean oil, etc...  Clinically, these oils do 2 things - the increase CRP (very bad), and lower your cholesterol.  But not the bad, LDL cholesterol.  It lowers the good HDL cholesterol!!

Processed foods are usually some form of pressed/formed wheat and/or corn or other grain, held together with a vegetable oil, and loaded with sugar in order to get people to eat it, since removing the fat makes most foods unpalatable.  So eating all those cakes, chips, breads, etc... are all almost perfect little "metabolic bombs" that are great at laying down plaque (by increasing sdLDL and lowering HDL), and setting the stage for a sudden heart attack by increasing CRP. 

Sorry I'm going on a bit here, I just wanted to point out that this is real, actual science, and you can track these scores in your own body as you make changes.  Reducing these few factors (and a couple of others) decreases your risk for heart disease dramatically.  Same for any other disease associated with "Metabolic Syndrome", such as obesity or diabetes.  Gain control of these few factors and the health benefits are sweeping.  And the really cool thing is that you don't have to guess - just ask your doctor to do a blood draw and run these tests, then follow up in 6 months after you've made a change in your diet.  Keep adjusting until you are getting good numbers.

[morganc]

Question, does this qualify as 'bad for you'?

Wow!   Is that really out there at your local market?  Thats impressive. Maybe a bacon wrapped donut hole is next?

[srb]

Maybe a bacon wrapped donut hole is next?

Why mess around with a hole when you can have the whole donut?
 
http://philadelphia.grubstreet.com/2007/08/mmm_baconwrapped_donut.html
 
http://bacontoday.com/bacon-wrapped-apple-cider-donuts-bwacd/
 
Steve

[Larkston Zinaspic]

The problem with wheat is that many people have gluten intolerance or are allergic to wheat due to the consumption of too much refined wheat flour in breads, cakes, pastas, and packaged or processed foods. Focusing on gluten-free whole grains (i.e. amaranth, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, etc.) might be a better option for some.

White rice is almost pure starch. Brown rice becomes white rice when it is stripped of its husk, bran, and germ. When the bran and germ are left intact, brown rice contains thiamine, the B vitamins and iron. With the association between even low levels of alcohol and cancer risk, I would stick with resveratrol and grape seed extract instead, or fresh organic grape juice...which won't give you a buzz unfortunately.

[geezer]

Aren't there issues with contaminants in fish which limits suggested intake?

Yes, there are. A good place to find out which fish are good or bad is montereybayaquarium.org/

[xr2]

Yes, there are. A good place to find out which fish are good or bad is montereybayaquarium.org/

Awesome.  Thanks for the link.

[django11]

Question, does this qualify as 'bad for you'?

I think the real question is :  does this qualify as food?

[SoCalWJS]

No mention of Coffee yet????????