22 Foods You Should Never Eat Raw

Raw foods get a lot of hype for their nutritional power, and it's deserved in many cases. While a 100 percent raw diet's health value is questionable, cooking or overcooking does destroy some of the vitamin content in certain foods.For a person eating the standard American diet heavy on meat, dairy, and overcooked vegetables, adding more raw fruits and veggies will certainly do more good than harm. But don't raid the farm just yet – some foods should never be eaten raw. Many of the compounds that make plants on this list too toxic to eat raw are part of their defense mechanisms. Toxins like deadly ricin in castor beans or hydrogen cyanide in almonds are designed to deter pests.