I have been having a BLT every day. I put two strips of bacon on it. I am totally addicted to them they are so good. I am just wondering how bad bacon is for you.

It's not great that's for sure! If you really like bacon (BLTs) why don't you try the all natural bacon strips with no nitrites or nitrates. Make sure that the bread you use is whole grain (meaning that the first ingredient listed is 100% whole grains/wheat) and use canola mayonnaise or light mayo. If you use all of those things and add a nice slice of tomato and maybe a piece of romaine lettuce....you have yourself a nice healthy sandwich.

If your just having 2 strips a day I would not be too concerned. By no means is bacon good for you....but 2 strips a day is not going to have any real negative impact.

bacon is basically a strip of pork fat treated with chemicals and nitrates. not only are the chemicals, nitrates and fat bad for you, but the growth hormones that they inject live stock with these days is disgusting!! Eating it every day - even just 2 strips is a bad idea. Why do you think that they advise pregnant women to stay away from deli-meats? They are bad bad bad bad!

mmmmmmm...I love that pork fat and the nitrates....lol. Have you ever eaten the bacon without all of the fat and nitrates. Is it any good? Does it get crispy when you make it? I have been using whole grain bread, lots of tomato and two large pieces of leaf lettuce which is dark green. I use regular mayo though. I didn't know they had canola mayo I'll have to look for that. I have seen low fat though and that tastes gross.

bacon is basically a strip of pork fat treated with chemicals and nitrates. not only are the chemicals, nitrates and fat bad for you, but the growth hormones that they inject live stock with these days is disgusting!! Eating it every day - even just 2 strips is a bad idea. Why do you think that they advise pregnant women to stay away from deli-meats? They are bad bad bad bad!

bacon doesn't have to be all that. buying organic back bacon and trimming the fat off (bacon isn't just fat) provides you with quite a lean source of protein that is a good source of B-vitamins, zinc and iron. organic meat won't be full of the the growth hormones that conventially produced meat contains, and contains much lower levels of nitrates also. non-smoked meats are much lower in salt than smoked. but if you have a health issue where you need to keep your sodium intake to a minimum (eg. high blood pressure) then avoid excessive bacon intake. otherwise, organic bacon in moderate amounts, i.e, two smalls pieces a day, in my opinion is fine. just make sure you're picky over the quality of the meat you buy. be wise, be healthy, be happy (aka alex) ;) . :)

alex the smallex :D

I think of bacon in a sandwich as pretty much a layer of lard, though much more delicious.
I don't eat it anymore...not since I got my stent!

try turkey bacon instead

I think of bacon in a sandwich as pretty much a layer of lard, though much more delicious.
I don't eat it anymore...not since I got my stent!

i just don't get why everyone is saying bacon is justr fat! it has fat round the outside, but you can cut that off! you're then left with LEAN meat!

alex.

Wouldn't if you trimmed all of the fat you would be left with just a toothpick size piece of meat. Just kidding. Don't be upset just being funny. I think it does have lots of fat in it though. It looks like tons of it is white fat and there is some pink meat but not much. But maybe lots of the fat melts away when you make it because there is so much fat in the pan when I am done and the bacon doesn't seem super greasy.

try turkey bacon instead

Yup turkey bacon is by the far the best. Way less fat content and I actually preferr the taste better then regular bacon. Organic is best if you can find it.

Does turkey bacon get crunchy when you make it like regular bacon does? Where can I get it? I looked for something leaner the last time I was at the grocery store and all I could find was low sodium.

Turkey bacon does get crunchy like regular bacon. It is practically the same thing minus all the fat. It does taste a lot better. I can't stand eating regular bacon now. Sometimes turkey bacon is tricky to find at the grocery store but I am pretty sure most grocery stores carry it. Ask one of the employees at the store where it is.

I just saw a commercial for the news and they showed bacon and said "healthier bacon, lets see what researchers are doing to make this breakfast item healthier"....lol. I can't believe they happen to have it on the news tonight when I was just asking about it.

i just don't get why everyone is saying bacon is justr fat! it has fat round the outside, but you can cut that off! you're then left with LEAN meat!

alex.

Alex,
I checked the USDA nutrition site. A 100 gram serving of cured bacon is 458 calories. In the 100 grams is 45.04 grams of fat representing 405 calories or 89% of the calories of the bacon.
If you view bacon as all fat, you are not going far wrong.
I'm not sure where you're buying your bacon but the stuff I see is not fat around the outside that can be trimmed...it's all fat with a few streaks of dyed pink lean meat running though. The nitrates make it pink otherwise it would be gray!

To me, 89% of calories from fat is close enough to ALL FAT! The only thing lean in it is the 40 grams of water!

Perhaps you are thinking about Canadian bacon? or a pork chop?:D:D THey are a different story.

No wonder it tastes so good...lol.

Even the turkey bacon at the grocery store has sodium nitrate in it. ALL three brands. I read that eating nitrates is the best thing you can do if you want to have a heart attack.

Alex,
I checked the USDA nutrition site. A 100 gram serving of cured bacon is 458 calories. In the 100 grams is 45.04 grams of fat representing 405 calories or 89% of the calories of the bacon.
If you view bacon as all fat, you are not going far wrong.
I'm not sure where you're buying your bacon but the stuff I see is not fat around the outside that can be trimmed...it's all fat with a few streaks of dyed pink lean meat running though. The nitrates make it pink otherwise it would be gray!

To me, 89% of calories from fat is close enough to ALL FAT! The only thing lean in it is the 40 grams of water!

Perhaps you are thinking about Canadian bacon? or a pork chop?:D:D THey are a different story.
:confused:
thats odd. i'm guessing the reason i seem to have a different opinion to everyone else on here is because the bacon i eat has completely different nutrtional values. i don't know what the lawsa are in the US but in the UK all main nutritional values of foods have to be printed on the back of packaging. i bought some bacon today and this lean back bacon has only 18grams of fat/ 100grams UNCOOKED. considering i then trim the fat off the edges this will then reduce the fat content. i then grill the bacon, during which some of the fat drips down through the gaps in the grill rack, so the fat content is reduced even further, and then finally wrap each rasher in kitchen towel. i'm sure exactly how much fat is in the cooked serving, but i'm guessing after the trimming (most of the fat for the bacon i consume is around the edges) and then the fat reducing method of cooking and draining, i'm left with about 8 grams of fat, maybe even less. this certainly isn't the 45 grams ( :eek: ) contained in the bacon you guys all (don't) eat. so the bacon I EAT isn't fatty at all. as i said, bacon doesn't have to be all bad. my bacon is pretty lean and so i include it occasionally as i provides certain nutrients in good levels. :)

as for the nitates issue. organic, unsmoked bacon has far lower levels of nitrates than other form of bacon. ;)

maybe the bacon i eat is more like the "canadian bacon" you talk of. does it sound like it? :wave:


alex. :D

Alex,

It sounds like that "lean back bacon" is more akin to what we in the States call Canadian Bacon, which is quite lean compared to U.S. "bacon." (I wonder what they call it in Canada :D:D)

Funny the term "back bacon"...in the U.S. bacon is a "belly" cut.

This might shed light:
In the United Kingdom and Ireland bacon comes in a wide variety of cuts and flavours whilst bacon in North America is predominantly what is known as "streaky bacon," or "streaky rashers" in other countries. A rasher is a slice of bacon. The term is used mostly in the UK and Ireland.

I'm in the USA and my package of bacon says 2.5g of saturated fat no trans fat, total fat 6g. So that means there is healthy fat in it too 3.5g of it. Not all fat is bad. We need healthy fat to survive. Healthy fat carries nutrients throughout our bodies. It is out of 70 calories 50 from fat. It's high in fat but it looked like only 2.5g is bad fat. That's in two pieces.

It is still loaded with sodium nitrate.

Yeah that's true. Didn't someone say turkey bacon or organic bacon didn't have all of those nitrates? Too bad I can't be addicted to broccoli huh..lol.

Turkey bacon still has nitrates. You might want to go to a health food market, they probably have 'organic' bacon there.

Whole Foods brand organic no nitrates and low sodium is the best bacon I have ever tasted.

I wish I had a Whole Foods closer to where I lived!

Whole Foods is nice but VERY $$pricey$$.

Whole Foods is nice but VERY $$pricey$$.


Of course it is....it is expensive to eat well and be healthy..it is cheap to eat crap and die of a massive heart attack.

Sad, but true. Maybe if we cleaned up your foods and diet in this country, we would have less health problems and our health insurance prices would go down.

Well I bought some turkey bacon. I don't have any idea where there is a store that has the kind without nitrates also. This has no fat in it. I don't know how it's going to get crispy. I guess I'll have to fry it in butter....just kidding.

I'm in the USA and my package of bacon says 2.5g of saturated fat no trans fat, total fat 6g. So that means there is healthy fat in it too 3.5g of it. Not all fat is bad. We need healthy fat to survive. Healthy fat carries nutrients throughout our bodies. It is out of 70 calories 50 from fat. It's high in fat but it looked like only 2.5g is bad fat. That's in two pieces.

and again remember that thats before preparation and cooking. trim, grill and drain on kitchen towel to reduce the overall fat content.

alex.

Kari,

I guess "turkey bacon" without nitrates and fat is a slice of turkey breast :D:D!

That's what I was thinking too...lol....it's just a turkey breast.

I was reading about nitrates and I found nothing about it causing heart problems but it is a carcinogen. Heart problems do not run in my family. Not one person that I am related to has ever had heart problems but cancer does run in my family. Two of my aunts had died from it. I think I would be better off with the bacon that doesn't have any nitrates in it even if it does have fat.

OK so I had my BLT with the turkey bacon on it. It did get crispy but it tastes like chemicals to me. It does taste like bacon but it has this weird chemical taste. That sure doesn't seem healthy.