Ask a Dietitian

Lima Beans: Just a handful of raw lima beans can make you violently ill.  Raw lima beans contain limarin, a toxic cianoglycoside.  The beans must be boiled for 10 minutes to ender the poison harmless.

Cassava Root: (AKA yucca) contains cyanide.  The bitter root contains more than the sweet variety.  Both need to be soaked for several hours or cooked in some way to reduce the cyanide content. Consumption of raw cassava can lead to partial paralysis, cyanide intoxication and goiters.

Nutmeg: this spice contains myristicine which is psychoactive.  Consumption of 1 Tbsp or more can lead to vomiting, seating, dizziness, hallucinations and severe headache.

Kidney Beans: contain a lectin called phytohaemagglutinin which is a toxic protein and will make you very ill.  The beans, like lima beans must be boiled for 10 minutes before use in a recipe or adding them to a slow cooker.  The temperature of a slow cooker is not high enough to detoxify the beans and in fact render the beans 5 times more toxic.  The temperature must reach greater than 100 degrees Celsius.  White beans and fava beans also contain this lectin.  Canned beans are safe to use in the crockpot.

Chocolate: Contains theobromine and can be poisonous to your pet.

Tomato leaves and vines: contain alkaloid poisons such as atropine that causes dizziness, headache and upset tummies.  Avoid teas made with tomato leaves.

Cherries, apricots, peaches and plum pits contain cyanogenic glycosides.  Swallowing one or two pits is ok but if a child eats a whole bowl of cherries and their pits and happens to chew the pit they can become very ill.

Rhubarb leaves: contain oxalic acid salts which can cause kidney problems and coma.

Canned tomatoes: Bispehenol A, a synthetic estrogen is used in the resin lining of tin cans.  Due to the acidic nature of tomatoes, the BPA is leached out of the lining and into the tomatoes which we then consume.  Excess consumption of BPA has been linked to reproductive problems, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.  Best solution is to buy tomatoes in glass bottles or tetra packs.

Microwave popcorn: contains perfluoroctanoic acid or PFOA in the lining of the bag.  It is part of a class of chemicals that may be linked to infertility in humans.  In animal studies, PFOA’s cause liver and pancreatic cancer.  Microwaving causes the chemicals to vaporize and migrate into your popcorn.  Solution: air pop your popcorn, use a skillet or microwave in a brown paper bag.

Green Potatoes: The green skin on potatoes means they were improperly stored.  When potatoes are exposed to light they produce a chemical called solanine.  Consumption of green potatoes can lead to digestive problems and even death.