Avoid Bringing These Foods To The Beach

With sunshine and high temperatures in the forecast, it's getting harder for anyone to deny that summer is here. This means that it's time for everyone to open up the pool, host a few barbecue parties, and head on over to the beach. But before you make your way to the shore, don't forget to fill your beach bag with some snacks. After all, you are bound to get hungry while you're building sandcastles and soaking up the sun. However, before you just start throwing random things from your pantry into your beach bag, you might want to check out our list of foods to avoid bringing to the beach:

Ice Cream: Before you start stocking the portable cooler with your favorite pints of ice cream, step outside for a minute. Feel how hot it is? If you are covered in a layer of sweat within five minutes, how long do you think your frozen ice cream is going to last in the hot sun? Even with the most advanced cooler, your ice cream is bound to start melting.

Limes: Too much sun will do more than melt your ice cream. Spending time outdoors without sunscreen normally results in sunburn. But you probably know that already. Did you know that certain foods increase your sensitivity to the sun, increasing your likelihood of getting sunburnt? Coming into contact with a lime peel may produce an intense burn. Celery, dill, fennel, parsley, figs, and carrots are also classified as sunburn boosters. However, these foods are more threatening when touched, not eaten. For that reason, you don't have to avoid limes completely. Just remember to avoid touching the ones that are in your margaritas and mai-tais.

Hard Salted Pretzels and Other Salty Foods: Yes, too much sun melts your ice cream and gives you sunburn. However, it can also make you dehydrated. While you drink water to stay hydrated, make sure to avoid eating foods that are packed with sodium. Eating hard salted pretzels, french fries, and other salty foods will likely accelerate the rate at which you become dehydrated, and no one wants that to happen.

Sandwiches: Sandwiches are easy to make beforehand; it takes little effort to squeeze them into a Ziploc bag and tuck them away in a cooler. Yet, bread, cold cuts, and cheese topped the Centers for Disease Control's list of the top sources of sodium. While sodium, as we just explained before, can lead to dehydration, it can also lead to bloating. Who wants to feel bloated while wearing a barely-there bathing suit on the beach? Not us.

Five-Course Meals: Yes, you're building sandcastles, complete with trenches and towers. That doesn't mean that you have to eat like royalty, though. You are at the beach to play in the sand, swim in the ocean, and work on your tan, not to spend time eating a five-course meal. Besides, cutting a piece of steak while balancing a plate on your lap and sitting on a beach blanket can be quite challenging.

Doritos and Other Snack Foods: Here's what happens. Right as you get yourself situated on your beach chair, you open up the bag of Doritos. After a while, you lose interest and seal up the bag for later. An hour or so later, your little one reopens the bag to grand a handful of chips. This wouldn't be an issue, except for the fact that she has been spending the past half hour digging a moat in the sand, and filling it up with ocean water. Once it's your turn to grab a Dorito, her sandy hands have already contaminated the bag. You toss the chip into your mouth, take a bite, and feel the crunch of sand between your teeth. Sandy snacks are delicious? Not really.

Coconuts: You have spent your day at the beach slathering on tanning oil, sipping on a beach cocktail that has coconut rum, and staying hydrated with some coconut water. Now you're thinking about snacking on coconut candy bars. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and that is the case here. After all, you don't want to turn into a walking, talking coconut.

Burgers, Ribs, and Other BBQ Treats: Bringing your own portable grill to the beach can be both a good idea and a bad one. Some beaches absolutely forbid outdoor grilling, while others encourage it with designated BBQ pits. Don't bring burger patties and ribs to the beaches that explicitly ban barbecues. When heading to a barbecue-approved beach, just make sure to bring enough food to share — otherwise the delicious smells will only serve to make everyone jealous.

French Fries and Pizza: We can't talk about food at the beach without mentioning the birds that are infamous for stealing everyone's food. French fries seem to be a favorite of the seagulls, since they are smaller and easier to grab from picnic tables and beach blankets. However, seagulls steal any food that is near them. When they spot a pizza pie left in the middle of the beach parking lot, they all flock. For this reason, make sure that you don't leave your leftovers out on the beach when you're done eating. Otherwise, you'll be starring in the sequel of Hitchcock's The Birds.