Cured Meats

The quick answer:  Besides eating meat sparingly, it’s a good idea to enjoy cured meats as an exception rather than a regular practice.

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Johanne’s Back

Generals who win great wars are often remembered with statues; not so much for the losing side.  But it’s a special day when an ordinary man who simply lives a good life gets a statue.  Take Johannes Huber, a founder of little Midway, Utah, for example.  Johannes raised apples, wrote poems and hymns, taught choral music, and lived a quiet life.  But we celebrate him as the great-grandfather of the beautiful wife. 

So when we had to cut down an overgrown tree up in Midway, it only seemed proper to carve a statue of Johannes.  We found an exceptional chainsaw artist, John Pettit, now known as the Famous Wood Carver.  Time takes a toll, even of statues, so Johannes has been missing from his perch in our yard for a year or so while repairs were made, but he’s back.  Check him out—7' tall, pretty big for the Swiss.

The Smell of Bacon

Before we condemn cured meats, I must make this disclosure:  I love the smell and taste of bacon.   This summer we had some great BLTs, with juicy tomatoes and fresh spinach on toasted whole wheat bread.  We sometimes have bacon with a Saturday night omelet.  And the beautiful wife makes a delicious spinach and bacon salad.  Like most of you, we enjoy bacon.

We also like ham.  You can enjoy several dinners and a bunch of sandwiches from one of those spiral-cut preserved hams, and then make a great split pea soup with the bone.  (Check our recipe here.)  Sometimes I slice a fresh pineapple to cover the ham and bake it in the oven.  This keeps the ham from drying and the carmelized sugars taste great.  I’d rather not think about life without cured meats.  

Preserved Meats

Here’s the problem:  Like humans, the pathogens—including botulism, Staph aureus, and the listeria family—also enjoy meat.  They can be deadly but there’s a protection tested by time:  preservation with nitrites.  In olden times meat was cured with salt but the salt actually included nitrites.  The nitrites were there because plants—rich in nitrogen, the source of nitrates and nitrites—decayed and were carried by water to the ocean.  The time-tested use of sea salt in preserving meat was largely due to the nitrites.

A century ago nitrites were added to meat without proper limits.  In 1926 the FDA set a nitrite/nitrate limit of 200 parts per million (ppm).  Through continual progress, today the actual content has been significantly reduced.  Still, it should be remembered that nitrite is a toxin—a few grams taken directly can be fatal. 

Pregnant women—some authorities recommend—should avoid, or at least minimize, cured meats.

Nitrites are carcinogens—remember the discovery of nitrosamines in the ‘70s?  Though the exact mechanism is unknown, there does seem to be a cancer risk with nitrates and nitrites.  There is also a greater risk for asthma (short term), hypertension and diabetes.  Risky stuff.

Some preserved meats, like those labeled organic, don’t show nitrites or nitrates on the label, but unless refrigerated they all contain nitrites in some form.  For example, nitrates can be slipped in via nitrogen-rich plants, like celery, shown as added flavors in the ingredient list. 

A 2009 Texas A & M study looked at cured meat around the country, including naturally (sometimes called organically) preserved meats.  Bottom line:  They all include nitrates and/or nitrites—about 37.1 and 4.5 ppm respectively.  Nitrates, by bacterial action, become nitrites.  Nitrite effectiveness can be improved by adding salt or vitamin C, which allows a reduction. 

The Lunch Problem

What about the meat sandwich so common in our lunch bags?  This was a big source of comments when we discussed cured meats a year ago.  Here are some alternative ideas to a steady diet of cured meat sandwiches:

• Tuna fish is probably the healthiest meat choice, unless you like sardine sandwiches.  I like my tuna with a lot of chopped celery, pickle relish, and some chopped green onion.  If you add some dark greens, like spinach, and use whole wheat bread, you’ve got a pretty healthy meal. 
• The soup and salad combos available at most lunch places are a good alternative to the cured meat sandwich.
• Try a boiled egg or (canned) chicken salad sandwich, with emphasis on the salad ingredients. 
• Bring leftovers from home in a microwaveable plastic container—this is probably the best possible lunch value.
• Limit your ham and cheese on rye, or whatever cured meat you prefer, to once a week.  When you have a BLT, add lots of tomato and dark greens.

Healthy Change

Healthy Change #48: Enjoy processed meats as an exception, rather than a regular practice.

This completes our meat-related Healthy Changes for the year.  There's more to talk about, like how to buy affordable pastured meat from healthy animals, but these four changes make a good start:

Healthy Change #9:  Define as a family a “sparing” amount of meat and get most of your protein from plants.  To build support, this Healthy Change required family discussion and agreement.  The basic idea was to get about 1/3 of your protein from meat, the rest from plant sources.

Healthy Change #22: Until better milk is available, drink sparingly, if at all.  Dairy is a big part of our animal product intake and milk is the most common form.  Enjoy milk if you choose, but drink it sparingly.

Healthy Change #35: Include long chain omega-3s (EPA and DHA) in your meal most days.  The brain- and eye-healthy omega-3 fats in the long-chain form are found in animal products, especially cold-water fish.

Please Comment:  Share your best ideas for lunches that don’t depend on cured meats.  When you do use cured meats, get the maximum mileage—for example, use bacon to flavor a spinach-egg salad, or a pot of baked beans.  Got a recipe to share?

Comments

[Zarah]

Man, great minds think alike! I just posted some healthy lunch ideas today to help people avoid the daily deli-meat sandwich in their lunch bag. I linked to your post! http://www.beautyschooldropout.net/?p=1229

[Lindsey]

Did you read anything in your research about which type has the most nitrates (ham, turkey, or roast beef)? For some reason, when I am pregnant I really crave sandwiches made with deli meat. I limit them to about once a month and only use fresh sliced meat (my midwife thought this was safer than the stuff in the packages.) I recently bought some pastured bacon from a local farmer and it was amazing!

Also, do you feel like the "organic" cured meats are better and worth the money? I've been buying grassfed, organic hot dogs for my son once in a while, but they are so expensive.

[skip hellewell]

Hi Lindsey. So you crave deli meat sandwiches when pregnant but you limit them to once a month, and to fresh-sliced rather than packaged meat. But you wonder, are some types of meat (ham, turkey, or beef) safer? Other than the bias against red meats, I haven't read that any cured meat is better than another. My guess is that the safest meat would come from a turkey breast or roast that you cooked and sliced yourself. But like many things in nutrition, no one knows for sure and everyone is different. What you are doing seems prudent to me but, as everyone knows, I'm neither an MD or PhD.

Here's a further thought: The most interesting thing about preserved vs fresh foods is this: In the last century, with the rise of home refrigeration, people are generally eating more fresh meats and less cured meats. During the same time the cancer that took the most lives at the start of the 20th century—stomach cancer—has become a minor cancer. We hear a lot about the rise of breast, prostate, colorectal,or lung cancer, but the best cancer story of the 20th century is the dramatic decline of stomach cancer.

And one more thought: Because nitrogen is prevalent in the air, and thus in plants, why is there concern about the nitrates in cured meats but not about the same in celery or spinach, which have much more nitrates? (Bacteria convert nitrates to nitrites.) No one seems to know exactly why, but food just seems to be safer when less processed. Or better said, food is generally safer when eaten closer to the way it was first created than when processed in factories.

Best to you, Skip

[LizA]

Skip -
Your research and advice are tip top.
For our friend wondering about cured lunchmeat, we were given specific instructions about said items prior to my Husband's stem cell transplant. Great attention is given to foods handled outside the home because of the risk of contamination and the risk to someone with a compromised -- or non-existant immune system. We were coached to use single serving packages (salad dressings, chips, beverages and anything else normally served in bulk) and to stay away from public service items, like fountain beverages and Deli counters. You simply can't trust that the person using the machines before you were as concerned about Public Health and Safety. So perhaps that occasional lunchmeat sandwich is better from prepackaged ingredients, but as always, nothing trumps home cooking when you can.

[Kristi Brewer]

It was nice to meet you this afternoon at the birthday party. I am happy to find your blog, information and to make some daily changes.

Regards
KB

[skip hellewell]

Hi Liz A Thanks for your comment. Because nutrition is so complicated, it's refreshing how you put it in the simplest terms possible: "For best health, do your own cooking." If you add that to "Eat food as close to its natural form as practical," you have a time-tested guide that's in harmony with the Word of Wisdom. Merry Christmas and our best to your husband.

[Laura]

Skip, I really enjoy reading your blog. I feel like my family is doing really well with eating a complete, whole foods diet, but I look the challenges you give. After being pretty much a vegetarian for years, our family has recently reintroduced meat in small quantities and from local sources. One of my favorite meats is uncured bacon or fresh sausage. We normally use it like a seasoning instead of a main meal item. I love adding a little cooked bacon to a pasta dish or a rice dish. We do the same with the sausage. I'll add it to soup or a warm white bean dish I make with green onions, sundried tomatoes, and chopped cooked sausage. A little bit can go a long way.