Choosing Canned Meat
by Shereen Jegtvig
Chances are, most of the meat you buy at the grocery store is either fresh or frozen, but there are several types of meat available in cans. The most popular canned meats include fish like tuna and salmon, plus you can also buy shrimp, clam and crab meats in cans. It’s a convenient way to buy and use seafood.
Beyond seafoods, you’ll find chicken and other meat products in cans too, such as deviled ham, the often maligned Spam, corned beef and perhaps your grocery store carries a canned pate or two. These products are good for sandwiches, as additions to salads and as ingredients in recipes. And they last for a long time in your kitchen cabinets.
Some of the canned meat products will combine the meat with potatoes, like corned beef and hash, or other ingredients. These foods are easy to use, just heat and serve, but are they good for you? The main problem with canned meats, as with most canned goods, is the high amounts of sodium from salt and additives. Look for low-sodium varieties whenever possible. Some cured meats sold in canned form also contain sodium nitrite, which has been linked to increased rates of some types of cancer. Read more
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What are BHA and BHT?
by Shereen Jegtvig
Food manufacturers add things to their products to keep them from going bad before we eat them. When you look on the package for the ingredients list, you might find BHA and BHT listed there. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are preservatives that keep fats from going rancid.
Both BHA and BHT protect fats from oxidation damage caused when the fats in the food product are exposed to oxygen. Actually, they work in a similar way as vitamin E (although that similar action doesn’t mean BHA and BHT are good for you). BHA and BHT are often added to potato flakes, dry breakfast cereals, enriched rice, and foods containing animal fats and shortening. Read more
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Cutting Fat and Calories by Using Cooking Sprays
by Shereen Jegtvig
With obesity becoming a major health problem, it’s good to look for ways to cut calories – every little bit counts. One way to reduce the calories and total fat in your diet is to use cooking sprays instead of oil or butter when you cook. These cooking sprays work great for coating pans and bakeware without adding extra calories because you’re able to use just a thin layer of the product on your cookware.
How Cooking Sprays Work
Cooking sprays combine a small amount of oil with an emulsifier (usually soy lecithin) and a propellant. You simply spray the product onto your cookware. Some brands contain small amounts of silicone-based materials that appear to be harmless when ingested in these small amounts; however I don’t think they have the greatest flavor. Many also contain preservatives and even some artificial flavorings. The best cooking sprays keep the ingredients list short – only an oil, lecithin and a propellant. Read more
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Warning Labels on Hot Dogs?
by Shereen Jegtvig
Just recently, a vegan group called the Cancer Project filed a lawsuit asking the state of New Jersey to require cancer-warning labels on hot dogs. I think most people would find this lawsuit to be frivolous and I doubt New Jersey residents will see warning labels on their hot dogs anytime soon, but it is worth thinking about.
There have been studies suggesting a link between processed meats, like hot dogs, and colon cancer. They’re usually high in saturated fat and loaded with artificial additives and preservatives, the worst probably being nitrites, which are added to prevent bacterial growth and adds that familiar pink color. When the nitrites combine with other substances also found in meat to form N-nitroso compounds that are associated with a higher risk of several cancers. As an aside, many green vegetables naturally contain nitrites, but they don’t convert to the N-nitroso compounds, perhaps due to vitamins or antioxidants also found in the vegetables.
Does this mean that hot dogs should carry warning labels or that you should shriek and run away in horror the next time you see hot dogs at a picnic? Read more
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