The One Thing Almost All Doctors Won't Eat

Previously, we spoke with five doctors across the country in various stages of their careers and lives to find out what foods they won't eat, why they don't eat them, and how they feel this information can help you. After all, you ask a doctor's opinion on everything about your body, so why not ask what they do to keep healthy?

"The dietary habits of doctors range from quite unhealthy to fairly unhealthy," explains Dr. Rohit Chandra, child and adult psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital-Chelsea and psychiatry instructor at Harvard Medical School. "Doctors are notorious for not taking care of themselves, especially [when it comes to] exercise and overwork[ing], but perhaps diet as well. So one should keep in mind that doctors as a whole may not eat as well as one might imagine."

That said, in general the doctors we spoke with all commented on how they see patients daily who are in a compromised state of health because of the foods they consume.

The problem, unanimously, begins with a lack of education, from kindergarten to, in some cases, medical school. While there are resources out there like Choose My Plate, there are barriers to self-education, ranging from low economic status to the unavailability of and plain ignorance regarding food labeling.

While the doctors we consulted naturally have differing opinions on what foods they would never eat themselves, there were a few unanimous choices that showed up in nearly every response. For instance, "processed meats [like] bologna, ham, and hot dogs, all of which are high in nitrates, fats, and salt," says Dr. Joseph Maroon, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center neurosurgeon and vice chairman of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's department of neurological surgery, were all on the do-not eat list. But the number one thing?

Ice cream.

In Fact, Dr. Michael Hirt says it is "The worst food for humans. It is chock-full of chemicals, hormones, and pasteurized dairy. Pasteurization changes the proteins of milk. It has saturated fats and, worst of all, sugar in it." And as for frozen yogurt? "Not much better at all. It all has sugar, which has ruined more of human civilization than any ingredient."