Deep-fried Snickers bars? Disgusting! Other “Worst Foods”

Gee, I’ve been missing all the fun! Guess I was too busy organizing tele-seminars, coaching self-described sugar addicts and going to school at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to catch these two intriguing articles last month.

First came Sue Gilbert’s informative article, "The Ten Absolute Worst Foods You Can Eat," which came from iVillage and appeared on MSN.com.

For those of you in the dark about what foods to avoid, check out her story for a quick lesson on some of the major additives or food products to avoid, including hydrogenated fats, Olestra and nitrates.

The writer also comes down on raw oysters (yeah, she says they "can carry deadly bacteria that can cause severe illness or death"), alcohol, saturated animal fats, soda, home-canned foods, high-fat snacks and chips and liquid meals.

The article did contain some good selections although that’s tricky to tell people to "consume alcohol wisely and safely."

But whatever was this writer thinking? Gilbert completely and totally omitted sugary foods — ones containing lots of fat or not. Whatever happened to candies, cookies, cakes and ice cream?

Next came a very clever un-scientifical list of no-nos from Slashfood‘s Nicole Weston, who offered a much more fun taboo list.

She blasted deep-fried Snickers or Mars bars (whoah! more later); shelf-table "creamers"; pasteurized, processed cheese food; instant ramen noodles; movie theater popcorn; super-sized soft drinks and a couple of fat-and-calorie-laden, fast-food offerings from Burger King and McDonald’s.

But, this Slashfood entry contained some confusing and potentially misleading information. On the one hand, Weston described ramen noodles as "very high in both sodium and saturated fat," but then stated as a "plus" that "there is little, if any sugar in these, though you’ll be reaching for something sweet to get the salt out of your mouth."

Kudos, Slash Food, for putting ramen on the list, but you’ve overlooked something important. Guess I need to do some explaining here. While sugar might not be added per se, ramen is a highly refined carb, which is digested quickly into your bloodstream, thereby operating as what I call a "much-like-sugar food." Not only that, but in all likelihood all the fiber, minerals, nutrients, etc. have been processed right out. So, while you may not find the sweetener on the ingredient list, this quickie carb food really works in our bodies in a manner similar to sugar.

Despite the minor oversight, I loved Slashfood’s list, especially the deep-fried Snicker’s bars. How incredibly disgusting, as you can see in this candy addict’s blog.

To get grossed out and educated, check out both "The Ten Absolute Worst Foods You Can Eat" on MSN and Slashfood Ate (8): Worst foods you can eat.

By the way, as one person remarked on SlashFood, whatever happened to Twinkies?

As this person wrote, "why weren’t Twinkies listed? I left one in the yard for 1 month, and it didn’t even dry out. And nothing ate it. (including me, I don’t touch the stuff anymore)."

And I’d like to know why these empty-calorie, nutrient-robbed items never made the Slashfood list:

• Cotton candy
• Hard candies
• Red licorice (my former favorite)
• Rich ice cream
• French toast (using white bread), drowned in butter and powdered sugar, and cinnamon toast (piled with sugar, butter and cinnamon) — (my favorite ways to "sin" as a child)
• Ice cream floats that combine soda and fatty, rich ice cream

I’m getting a little nauseous! How the heck did I used to eat all this stuff? No wonder I developed hypoglycemia!