Worst Foods to Eat and What to Have Instead (2024)

One of the easiest ways to improve your diet is to learn how to identify the most unhealthy foods to eat — and how to replace them with better options.

However, viewing foods through a lens of “good” or “bad” can make decisions even harder, says Brogan Taylor, RD, registered dietitian at Banner Health in Phoenix, Arizona.

If it were as easy as knowing which foods were good or bad for our health, most people wouldn’t still be eating them, she says. Many of the most addictive (and unhealthy) foods are a tempting combination of carbs and fat — along with some added sugar, salt, or both — that are designed to keep us munching.

Here are 10 commonly consumed foods and drinks that Taylor and other experts recommend limiting:

  • Processed meats like bacon, hot dogs, and cold cuts
  • Sodas
  • White bread
  • French fries
  • Fast food burgers
  • Donuts
  • Processed cheese
  • Potato chips
  • Processed snack foods
  • Alcohol

When it comes to “the worst” foods, though, Taylor doesn’t forbid anything, but instead works with her clients to find long-term solutions for decreasing or replacing those foods. She encourages her clients to eat more of certain things — items packed with nutrients such as fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds, and lean proteins. Focusing on the positive can help decrease the amount of low-nutrient food they consume, she says.

“It’s about understanding how different foods can impact our health and making informed choices,” she says.

Keep reading to find out more about the worst foods to eat, along with suggestions for healthier alternatives.

1. Processed Meats Like Bacon, Hot Dogs, and Cold Cuts

Worst Foods to Eat and What to Have Instead (2024)

FAQs

What is the #1 unhealthiest food? ›

The Top 10 Worst Foods to Eat
  • Processed meats like bacon, hot dogs, and cold cuts.
  • Sodas.
  • White bread.
  • French fries.
  • Fast food burgers.
  • Donuts.
  • Processed cheese.
  • Potato chips.

What are 15 unhealthy foods? ›

List of Unhealthy Food that you must avoid
  • White bread. White bread is one of the most commonly consumed food by Indians. ...
  • Ready-to-eat Breakfast Cereals. ...
  • Fried Food. ...
  • Bakery Products. ...
  • Pizzas. ...
  • French Fries and Potato Chips. ...
  • Processed Meat. ...
  • Ice creams and Frozen Yoghurt.

What are the 5 P foods to avoid? ›

Italy's youth are facing obesity because of what Longo calls the “poisonous five P's—pizza, pasta, protein, potatoes, and pane (or bread),” Jason Horowitz writes. Longo fears Italians will live long but not healthfully if this pattern continues to dominate the culture.

What is the one food we should all stop eating? ›

1. Processed meat. Processed meats contain added nitrates and other chemical substances that are bad for your health. Certain processed meats like sausages are made from leftover unwanted parts of animals and often contain high amounts of salt and fat.

What foods not to eat after 50? ›

8 Foods Older Adults Should Avoid Eating
  • Raw or undercooked eggs, meat and poultry. ...
  • Grapefruit. ...
  • High-sodium foods. ...
  • Caffeine. ...
  • Sodas and sugary drinks. ...
  • “Sugar-free” drinks. ...
  • Alcoholic beverages. ...
  • Foods with empty calories.
Jul 24, 2022

What are the worst carbs to eat after 50? ›

Cookies, candies, cakes, ice cream, and packaged sweet bakery items qualify as processed desserts. They share common traits like added sugars, refined flour, and unhealthy fats that make them problematic for health after 50. The added sugars and refined carbs in sweets and desserts cause rapid blood sugar spikes.

What is the riskiest food to eat? ›

The top 10 riskiest foods ranked include:
  • Leafy greens.
  • Deli cheese and meat.
  • Ground beef.
  • Onions.
  • Turkey.
  • Chicken.
  • Papayas.
  • Peaches.
Mar 31, 2023

What is the most unhealthy fruit? ›

Raisins, dates, and similar fruits generally contain more carbs, calories, and sugar in one handful than their fresh fruit counterparts. For instance, 150 grams of dried dates contains around 101 grams of sugar and 451 calories.

What foods must be eaten everyday? ›

Here are the top 15 foods you should be eating according to our experts:
  • Fish. ...
  • Broccoli or any of the cruciferous vegetables. ...
  • Beets. ...
  • Spinach and other leafy green vegetables. ...
  • Kale. ...
  • Peanut butter. ...
  • Almonds. ...
  • Mangos.
Apr 5, 2019

What is the #1 most hated food? ›

The most hated food title goes to the anchovy, with 50% of those polled saying they hated the fish. Of that number, 58% of anchovy haters were women and 43% were men. With Halloween coming up, it might be prudent to stock up on any candy other than black licorice.

What is the most harmful food in the world? ›

8 of the World's Most Dangerous Foods
  1. Fugu. Fugu is the Japanese word for pufferfish and the dish prepared from it can be lethally poisonous. ...
  2. Ackee fruit. Ackee, the national fruit of Jamaica, is a delicious but dangerous treat. ...
  3. Sannakji. ...
  4. Hákarl. ...
  5. Cassava. ...
  6. Rhubarb. ...
  7. Elderberries. ...
  8. Red kidney beans.
Dec 7, 2019

What's the worst food to eat on a diet? ›

Generally, it's a good idea to limit deep-fried foods, baked sweets, ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks, refined grains, processed meats, artificial sweeteners, alcoholic drinks, and candy.

What was the first unhealthy food? ›

Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the first "junk drink" was launched based on fruit juice, sugar, water with carbon dioxide and citric acid, a sort of ancestor of Coca Cola , and the first was marketed junk food called Cracker Jack , which is a sweet-savory mixture of popcorn, molasses and ...

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