by Molly Triffin

It’s BBQ season—which supposedly makes healthy eating faster and easier than ever. You can just throw sliced veggies, a chicken breast, even fruit on the grill, and voila! Uh, yeah, about that… Hate to break it to you, but charred food can, surprise surprise, give you cancer.

1. Vitamins

Just shoot us now, why don’t you. Vitamins, yes vitamins of all things, can destroy your health: A and E in particular have been linked in numerous studies to increased mortality (from cancer, heart failure, etc.). The reason? Their high levels of antioxidants—which, WTF, have always been hailed as the holy grail of health—weakens your immune system.

2. Yoga

Torn tendons and cartilage. Destroyed hips. Arthritis. Retinal tears! Back and neck trauma! Blood clots!! Permanent nerve injury!!! Brain damage!!! STROKE!!! Turns out all that downward-dogging might be more of an extreme sport than a Zen-inducing soul massage. Thanks to all that exaggerated bending and contorting, the number of yoga-related emergency room admissions more than doubled from 2001 to 2002. We’re not saying stop namaste-ing, but tread carefully…

3. Neti Pot

Touted by the likes of Oprah, Dr. Oz, and Molly Sims, this holistic nasal cleanser seems like a quaint, harmless home remedy to clear up allergies, colds, and congestion. Until, that is, it turns around and gives you a freaking deadly brain infection! Several people in Louisiana died after flushing out their nose using tap water containing a fatal amoeba. (Curse you, Naegleria fowleri!) According to the FDA, use bottled water or boil H2O and let it cool before a nasal douche—or, what the hell, just pass the Claritin.

4. Brown Rice

Carbs are bad, wheat makes you fat, potatoes are empty calories, etc. But the one starch we still have on our side is brown rice, right? …Right? Not so much. A Consumer Reports investigation tested hundreds of different brands of rice and discovered measurable amounts of arsenic in all of them. Rice eaters had arsenic levels that were 44 percent greater than people who don’t get their rice on—and what’s more, the “good for you” brown kind had significantly higher levels of the toxin than the white variety. So, make quinoa your new BFF, okay?

5. Grilled Food

It’s BBQ season—which supposedly makes healthy eating faster and easier than ever. You can just throw sliced veggies, a chicken breast, even fruit on the grill, and voila! Uh, yeah, about that… Hate to break it to you, but charred food can, surprise surprise, give you cancer. You know those blackened bits? They indicate the presence of the carcinogen HCA, which can damage your DNA and kickstart the big C. You don’t have to ban barbecue outright, but minimize HCA by cooking at lower temps, removing the skin from chicken or salmon, and using smaller pieces of meat so it’ll be done faster.

6. Spray-on Sunscreen

Don’t get us wrong—we worship sunscreen for its amazing ability to stave off skin cancer…but not all types are created equal. Sunscreen sprays are crazy popular (makes sense: they’re convenient and easy to apply, they coat your skin evenly), but they might not be the safest bet. The FDA is currently investigating some potentially dangerous side-effects of spritzing on your SPF. There’s a concern that not enough of it actually gets on your skin, and that you’ll inhale the chemical-filled product as you mist it on—and now we can’t even use a neti pot to get that crap out.

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Read this article in Cosmopolitan

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.