After seeing Snow White tricked into eating a beautiful poison apple, you’d think we’d had our lesson in avoiding tantalizing toxins. But unfortunately, many of us are guilty of indulging in things that look or feel great at first that alone cannot be healthy in the long run.
A curious Reddit user recently asked the question, “What is a modern poison that people willingly ingest?” And the readers had a lot to say. From nicotine to social media, we’ve rounded up some of the most spot-on answers below, so be sure to vote up the toxic things you’d like to have less of in your life. And regardless of what others try to tell you, remember that there is never any obligation to participate in these poisons. Take care, panda!
Edit: Facebook, Instagram, etc. Any social media where you compare your life with the lives of others
Those shorts videos that are now almost on every platform, if you have problems with focus and doing s**t, then you know that if you keep watching, you can finish the next day without even realizing that you didn’t do anything . still
Botox..Botulinum toxin, one of the most poisonous biological substances known
An excess of almost anything (overly) processed. Most people consume too much meat, too much sugar, too much salt, too much saturated fat, too much caffeine, too much nitrates/nitrites, etc. I try to eat relatively healthy but still consume too much sugar and too much. caffeine. It’s so hard to stop once you’re used to it, modern processed foods are quite addictive and it’s scary.
Edit: I am aware that not all types of processing are inherently bad. This isn’t a science forum, it’s an AskReddit thread and I’m sure most people know exactly what kind of transformation I mean.
I would say Vaping. I hit it on the head as my New Year’s resolution. First time I’ve been completely nicotine free, and still going strong, but I really felt like I was going to cough up my lungs about 90% of the time vaping. If I have to be honest, I don’t even miss it, but I started vaping to stop smoking. I hate to see kids and teenagers do it – the ones who wouldn’t even consider smoking.
EDIT: I’m talking about disposable vape, I should have clarified that first.
Those talking videos with like 3 things happening on the screen simultaneously.
Social media is already absolutely atrocious for attention spans, using so many distractions at a 30 year clip only exponentially increases this problem.
Indignation. It’s just poison to your mental health, but we thrive, we crave it. Places like Tik-tok, twitter, and r/PublicFreakout pass as vendors for little more than some attention – poisoning people to feel popular. Worse, it is useful to those in control, so there is no escape. Political parties and activists need you outraged, tracked, immune to real empathy, and motivated to solidify their power, so here we are.
Negativity.
No, don’t be angry or sad for legitimate reasons, but just choose to look at everything in a negative light.
This is coming from an optimist so take this with a grain of salt.
Soda. She drinks a lot. I had terrible health problems and sleep problems. I cut everything. It’s been maybe 2 years without. I feel better, I’m sick less, I sleep better, and I function better in general. Just replace it with water. If you live in the western world, you probably have clean drinking water that is pumped to your home.
I don’t believe in banning something because I don’t like it, but I think shit is poison. It’s also super addictive. The first few weeks I cut out the soda was tough. So we give this to the kids and it clears their systems.
Edit: I’ve never had a comment get this kind of attention. Quickly passing the answers I want to say congratulations to all those who have kicked the habit or others like smoking. Second, there are absolutely people unaffected by this. If you drink in moderation it’s not too bad. I admit I was really bad with it.
My main concern is that there is nothing good about Coke or Pepsi. It’s just sugar, caffeine and addictive ingredients. That is why I use the term poison. It only has negative effects with it. Now that you say if you like soda you go for it. It’s your life. If you can do it in moderation even better. The thing is that the market is so hard on children and many parents just let them indulge. Again not all, but a good chunk. My parents leave me too much.
Also all my stuff is anecdotal. I’m not a doctor, but every doctor I had when I was younger would tell me that I need to stop drinking. I would tell him I did and then I didn’t because I was young. It got me though. If you are young now and drink several cans a day, then it will probably hurt you too. I am no longer a spring chicken and every one of my friends who were like me were in the same boat with health problems. If you can keep it in moderation then great, but watch how much you drink.
In the United States, Red 40. Banned in many countries and restricted in many others. When children have a “sugar rush”, a lot of the time it’s just the effect of the red dye 40.
It has been linked to aggression and mental disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. A review of 34 studies estimated that 8% of children with ADHD living in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada may have behavioral symptoms related to synthetic food colors. Studies in children with ADHD have shown that limiting synthetic food dyes from the diet led to significant improvements in symptoms.
Here’s an article with a ton of Pubmed articles that explain more:
[https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/food-dyes](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/food-dyes)
Here is a meta-analysis with the results:
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22176942/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22176942/)
Feeding.
Just being overweight reduces the average healthy life expectancy by one year. With enough overweight, it is cut by ten years.