Shocking Food Combos That Do More Harm Than Good

There is a saying, “If a disease cannot be cured with food, it cannot be cured with medicine either.”

This underscores the significant impact food has on our health. However, did you know that how you eat can turn food into either a remedy or a disease?

Consuming food combinations that don’t match can not only lead to weight gain but also potentially cause chronic gastritis or intestinal diseases.

Some food combinations that we thought were perfect matches may be the worst, so caution is necessary. Instead of blindly eating because it tastes good, it’s best to avoid the worst food combinations. Check out what some of them are below!

1. Chicken + Beer

When thinking of Friday nights, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the chicken and beer combination. This combination is a classic.

However, chicken and beer are not a good match. The combination of chicken and 500cc of beer amounts to 1400Kcal, which is double the recommended caloric intake for a single meal of 700Kcal.

Moreover, eating high-calorie chicken with beer can cause fats to synthesize with each other, increasing the likelihood of fat accumulating in the body.

Excessive indulgence in chicken and beer can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and stroke.

2. Pork Belly + Fried Rice

Fried rice after eating pork belly has become such a staple in South Korea that it could be called K-Dessert. However, for the sake of your health, it’s better to resist this temptation.

Frying rice in the leftover seasonings or oil from grilling meat is considered one of the worst combinations for health as pork belly contains a lot of saturated fat.

Excessive intake of saturated fat can increase low-density cholesterol levels, negatively affecting vascular health. Moreover, eating fried rice after filling up on meat can lead to excessive carbohydrate intake.

Excess carbohydrates that aren’t used for energy can easily convert into fat, leading to an increase in visceral fat and causing abdominal obesity.

3. Tomatoes + Sugar

There’s nothing like a refreshing, crunchy tomato sprinkled with a heap of sugar as a summer treat.

However, it’s best to only eat tomatoes this summer, or try stevia tomatoes instead.

The reason is that a large amount of minerals and vitamin B1 is needed for sugar to be digested in the body. Consuming tomatoes and sugar together uses up all of the nutrients from the tomatoes for sugar digestion.

In other words, it’s more beneficial to only eat tomatoes if you want to absorb their nutrients. It’s also good to eat them cooked.

4. Red Bean Porridge + Sugar

Following tomatoes, another food that doesn’t pair well with sugar is red bean porridge. Red beans are rich in saponin, which aids in boosting immunity and preventing cancer.

However, sugar destroys the saponin in red beans. Therefore, it’s better to season red bean porridge with salt instead of sugar.

Also, since red beans react with iron, avoid cooking red bean porridge in an iron pot.

5. Purple Sweet Potato + Milk

When eating sweet potato, there’s nothing like milk to relieve the dryness in your throat. However, if you’re eating purple sweet potato, it’s better to drink water instead of milk.

Purple sweet potatoes contain anthocyanin, a polyphenol pigment that gives them their red color. When anthocyanin enters the body, it removes oxidizing substances produced by active oxygen and prevents inflammation.

However, if consumed with milk, the calcium in the milk binds with the anthocyanin in the purple sweet potato, preventing it from being absorbed into the body and instead being excreted.

Therefore, you won’t be able to absorb any nutrients.

6. Bread + Juice

Bread and juice, the welcome food that used to be served when visiting a friend’s house as a child is actually one of the worst combinations.

Eating bread and juice together can slow down the digestion process, leading to indigestion.

Bread made from starch begins to digest with ptyalin, an enzyme in saliva, but the acidic components in fruit juice destroy ptyalin, disrupting the digestion of bread.

7. Hamburger + Soda

To feel complete, a hamburger must come with fries and a soda. However, these are the worst combination of instant foods.

A hamburger is high in calories but low in nutrients. The carbonation in soda can even flush out the little calcium and minerals in the hamburger from the body.

This can weaken the bones and lead to faster weight gain.