IS WHAT WE EAT KILLING US? – If you are a reader of news, like me, then you will surely have an eye on what you eat. There doesn’t appear to be a day that goes by that the newspapers don’t print something about the food that we eat and most of the information is generally about eating things that are not good for our health.
Image: Associated Press
This is all very good stuff, I mean we should know if drinking lots of Cola is bad for us or that eating lots of fatty foods will clog our arteries and kill us. What I do find a bit disconcerting is the fact that scientist will often come out with information and then refute it 6 months later.
For instance I read that Red Wine was supposed to be good for the heart and then a few months’ later scientists announced that while it’s a good idea to drink 3 glasses a day for your heart, Red Wine actually does more damage to your liver that Spirits. Of course this information was then refuted saying that Red Wine is not that harmful to your liver providing it is drunk in moderation.
So the question on my mind is ‘Do I restock the Wine Cellar or will doing so kill me?’
Today scientists have plumped for the ‘Processed Meat’ counter. According to their studies just one rasher of cheap bacon had kill you stone dead. Yes, that just one single rasher weighing in at just 20g. On top of this all processed meats need cutting out of your diet as it has been discovered that 1 in 30 deaths can be attributed to the consumption of processed meats; including bacon, sausages, hams and even those delicious pork pies.
I can see the news headlines now on Meebal.com… “Man Dies of Malnutrition As He Refuses to Eat Anything Due to Scientist Scaremongering” That’ll be me, they’ll find me stuck to my chair halfway through an article and I’ll just be a skeleton.
My grandfather lived to 98 and died of old age. He ate bacon every morning with his breakfast, along with two eggs, beans, mushrooms and toast; all of it swimming in grease I might add and it didn’t appear to affect him. What would the scientist say? Probably that he would have lived to 110 if he hadn’t consumed all the wrong food. I tell you this, my grandfather love a decent Pork Pie and you would have had to pry it from his cold dead body if you wanted to take that away.
Obviously Burgers are not good for you due them currently being contaminated with Horse meat, although many say Horse meat is as good as a Rib-Eye Steak any day of the week.
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So what exactly are the scientists saying about processed meat? According to them if you eat 50g of processed meat a day, which is roughly the same as eating one whole sausage, or three rashers of bacon, then the risk of getting cancer rises by a fifth. However, scientist did go on to say, after they conducted a larger study, that you would most likely drop dead of heart disease. Nice to see they cleared that one up.
If you think I am making this up then the study has been published in the BMC Medicine Journal so feel free to look it up.
The figures from the study are quite staggering; as it reports that if people refrained from eating processed meats it could save up to 20,000 lives a year.
It’s that time of year I guess and as we see the warmer weather creep in so will we see the barbecues being rolled out, but the food for thought is that you should reconsidering putting those burgers and sausages on the grill and try something a little more healthy, such as chicken; although no doubt next week the good old family roast chicken will come under attack.
If you are one of those people who are deeply concerned about your health then you should follow the medical professionals’ advice. As for me, I’m off to grab a bacon sandwich – yeah I’m a thrill seeker who likes to live life in the fast lane.
