If you’re too lazy to cook or are so desperately hungry that you’ll eat anything, as is, at first glance, you’ll want to pause before chomping into any of these 4 foods.
For a variety of reasons, these are 4 foods that you should always cook or prep before consumption:
Potatoes
Yes, everyone’s favourite side dish is a dinner table staple, but you should try to avoid eating them raw.
“Eating potatoes raw can cause bloating and undesirable gastrointestinal effects, because potatoes contain starches that are resistant to being digested,” says Lisa Davis, PhD, the chief nutrition officer at Terra’s Kitchen.
That’s not all: If raw potatoes spend a long time in a warm or damp area, they can turn green and develop a toxin called solanine. If your potatoes do have those green spots, avoid them all together (cooked or uncooked) as solanine can cause food poisoning-like symptoms.
Apple/mango/peach/pear/apricot seeds and pits
Although the majority of people do discard them, seeds from apples, peaches, and apricots contain a chemical that can turn into organic cyanide.
Cassava
This root vegetable, a staple of South American cuisine, may be packed with vitamins and minerals, but it also hides a sneaky, potentially lethal ingredient: cyanide.
The leaves and roots of raw cassava contain cyanogenic glycosides, chemicals that release cyanide when eaten. Cassava is edible – as long as you wash it thoroughly, rinse it, peel it, and cook it before eating.
Related: Why You Shouldn’t Eat Raw Cookie Dough
Hot dogs
Hot dogs aren’t so great for you in any form, but pushing your luck by eating the raw can be dangerous. The misconception is that since they’re pre-cooked, they can be eaten right out of the package like some sort of glorified lunch meat.
That’s not the case. According to the FDA, packaged hot dogs can become contaminated with the bacteria listeria, which are killed by reheating the dogs.
Photo Credit: Tomophafan/Shutterstock.com; Dmitriy Gutkovskiy/Shutterstock.com
