Lunch meats: why are they bad?

[Anonymous]

I like to eat turkey breast slices. What's bad about that?
I understand roast beef or ham might be high in cholesterol, but I'd get the same issue cooking beef stew or pork loin, wouldn't I? And if it's high in salt, I can compensate by pairing it with foods that aren't salty.

Is it preservatives? What if it's preservative-free slices? Organic?

I don't get why the prevailing wisdom is to avoid lunch meats. Or are they only talking about salami and mortadella, that are much higher in animal fat?

[Anonymous]

Lunch meat is disgusting. It's barely "meat" and packed full of preservatives and chemicals.

[Anonymous]

Sodium

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lunch meat is disgusting. It's barely "meat" and packed full of preservatives and chemicals.

But what if it's organic, without artificial preservatives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sodium

What if you make sure your meal adjusts for that?

[Anonymous]

I'm glad you asked, because I have a follow up question! I understand that lunch meats are considered highly processed, but is this true of meat I have sliced in the deli? Still high in sodium for sure, but otherwise ok???

[Anonymous]

The curing process and the nitrates are bad for you. Somehow it has a carcinogenic effect.

Even the organic/nitrate free are bad because it is still cured, but the nitrites are “naturally occurring” with celery salt or some other natural curing agent vs added nitrates, but it still has nitrates.

[Anonymous]

I don't like the turkey where the "slices" are made by jelly/gelatin gluing chunks together

But overall lunch meat i just inexpensive so people sneer at it.

If you are OK with the salt and the mur slaughter, it's fine

[Anonymous]

I don’t think there’s any difference between turkey breast finely sliced at a deli and turkey breast any other way. It’s not like the slicing suddenly makes it bad for you. And sodium isn’t a problem if you generally don’t eat a lot of processed foods. (My sister and daughter both have to add extra sodium to their diets because they eat so little junk food.).

I also personally think that the hysteria over cured meats might be overblown. Italians eat a lot of cured meats and don’t seem to have significantly higher cancer rates (once you adjust for increased smoking rates). Americans just overdue everything and then have to make a big deal about cutting it out entirely when in reality you could eat a moderate quantity once a week or so and probably be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think there’s any difference between turkey breast finely sliced at a deli and turkey breast any other way. It’s not like the slicing suddenly makes it bad for you. And sodium isn’t a problem if you generally don’t eat a lot of processed foods. (My sister and daughter both have to add extra sodium to their diets because they eat so little junk food.).

I also personally think that the hysteria over cured meats might be overblown. Italians eat a lot of cured meats and don’t seem to have significantly higher cancer rates (once you adjust for increased smoking rates). Americans just overdue everything and then have to make a big deal about cutting it out entirely when in reality you could eat a moderate quantity once a week or so and probably be fine.

Deli turkey breast is not fresh. There is a huge difference between cooking a turkey and slicing in and what you get in a deli. Deli meat is loaded with preservatives

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think there’s any difference between turkey breast finely sliced at a deli and turkey breast any other way. It’s not like the slicing suddenly makes it bad for you. And sodium isn’t a problem if you generally don’t eat a lot of processed foods. (My sister and daughter both have to add extra sodium to their diets because they eat so little junk food.).

I also personally think that the hysteria over cured meats might be overblown. Italians eat a lot of cured meats and don’t seem to have significantly higher cancer rates (once you adjust for increased smoking rates). Americans just overdue everything and then have to make a big deal about cutting it out entirely when in reality you could eat a moderate quantity once a week or so and probably be fine.

+1. On the list of scary food things, this ranks pretty low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think there’s any difference between turkey breast finely sliced at a deli and turkey breast any other way. It’s not like the slicing suddenly makes it bad for you. And sodium isn’t a problem if you generally don’t eat a lot of processed foods. (My sister and daughter both have to add extra sodium to their diets because they eat so little junk food.).

I also personally think that the hysteria over cured meats might be overblown. Italians eat a lot of cured meats and don’t seem to have significantly higher cancer rates (once you adjust for increased smoking rates). Americans just overdue everything and then have to make a big deal about cutting it out entirely when in reality you could eat a moderate quantity once a week or so and probably be fine.

I think it's a snob thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The curing process and the nitrates are bad for you. Somehow it has a carcinogenic effect.

Even the organic/nitrate free are bad because it is still cured, but the nitrites are “naturally occurring” with celery salt or some other natural curing agent vs added nitrates, but it still has nitrates.

So any cured meat is worse than the equivalent amount of uncured meat?

I didn't know this.

[Anonymous]

It causes colon cancer.

[Anonymous]

It seems that meats cured with nitrates/nitrites are the ones causing colorectal cancer.

I wonder whether the higher-end deli meats preserved with naturally occuring nitrates and celery are also on this list.