The Basics on Lunch Meat and Nitrates

When’s the last time you made a quick turkey sandwich for lunch either for yourself or your kids?

Sandwiches can be quick and easy and turkey has been a standard lean meat in diets for years. Throw on some veggies and you’re good to go, right? A healthy meal all neatly packaged and no utensils required!

Not so quick, sister!

What you might not know is that lots of deli meat, including turkey, is not always a healthy choice. It’s most likely filled with sodium, nitrates and other preservatives that make cold cuts entirely unhealthy. Processed foods, like deli meat, contain all sorts of hidden ingredients that can put a major roadblock in your weight loss plans.

So let’s talk turkey!

What’s a nitrate, anyway?

Sodium nitrate is a chemical compound that is frequently used as a curing agent to preserve meat – like in lunch meats and hot dogs. It also gives meat it’s “meaty” red color (without this, meat would be shades of gray and brown –  not sexy at all – yuck).

Sodium nitrate is used as a preservative because it has anti-microbial properties and helps prevent the growth of bacteria that cause disease.

What’s so funky about nitrates then and why should I care? 

First – cancer.

Research from the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research that have found some disturbing things. During the cooking process and in our stomachs, nitrites can form carcinogenic compounds in your body that have been linked to different types of cancers.

Results of another study by the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii and the University of Southern California reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute state that those who ate the most processed meat (bacon, ham, cold cuts) had a 68% higher risk of pancreatic cancer than those who ate the least.

Second – diabetes.

The journal Diabetologia published a study that concluded that processed meats increases risk for developing Type 2 diabetes by as much as 41% because nitrates interfered with your body’s ability to produce insulin.

Third – heart disease.

The Mayo Clinic reports that sodium nitrate damages blood vessels and leads to heart disease.

Should you bid lunch meat and hot dogs adieu? 

Ummm – did you read the above stats? Does it make sense to risk cancer, diabetes and heart disease for a stinking sandwich?

Personally I don’t eat lunch meat or hot dogs (or any other meat for that matter). The more you can avoid processed foods the better. Remember, in order to be healthy and lose weight, you need to fill your gorgeous body with real, whole foods and not processed garbage.

If you absolutely cannot imagine lunch without a turkey sandwich, be SURE you’re buying meat that’s free of nitrates.

I’d strongly recommend buying a raw, uncooked, organic turkey breast and cooking it yourself. Don’t forget to read the ingredients even of your raw, uncooked turkey breast because even that sometimes contains funky stuff believe it or not.

If you still want to buy sliced, pre-cooked deli meat, be SURE to read the ingredients as if your life depended on it (’cause…well…it does). If you can’t pronounce and ingredient or don’t know what it is, don’t buy it. If it includes sodium nitrate or hormones or antibiotics, don’t buy it.

Also, be sure the meat was a whole cut of meat – not multiple parts of the animal bonded (glued!) together to form a single piece. I know – gross, right, but it’s the standard for most lunch meats. If you decide to eat it, watch this video and be informed. I promise it’s not some crazy shock video from PETA.

Here’s the ingredients for Oscar Mayer Carving Board Turkey Breast:

Sodium nitrate AND other yucky stuff such as CORN SUGAR and CARAMEL COLOR. Ish.

Maybe you ditch the deli meat all together. There are lots of ways that you can make yummy sandwiches without meat. Oh My Veggies has 50 Vegetarian Sandwich Recipes – and they all look amazing.