5.Processed Meats and Red Meat
So what exactly are processed meats? The list is long and it includes, but is not limited to, sausages, hot dogs, bacon, most lunch meats like bologna or pimento loaf.
Researchers noted in the journal of BMC Medicine that the excessive salts and chemicals that are used when making processed meats are damaging to your health. The study showed that 1 in every 17 people who were involved in the study died and those who ate 160 grams or more of processed meats increased their risk of early death as much as 44% within 12 years as opposed to those who ate 20 grams or less. The study involved people from 10 European countries and lasted for almost 13 years.
All processed meats contain numerous chemicals and preservatives, including sodium nitrates, which make them look appealing and fresh, but are well known carcinogens. Smoked meats seem to be particularly bad as the meat picks up tar from the smoking process. Yes, tar, the same deadly ingredient contained in cigarettes.
In one study done over a 10 year period, eating red meat every day, even a small amount, such as a quarter pound hamburger you might like to enjoy at lunch, increased the risk of dying from cancer by 22% for men and 20% for women. A separate study has shown that eating a lot of red meat increases the risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancer.
Red meat seems particularly dangerous when discussing about colon cancer. A study done in the US that followed almost 150,000 people between the ages of 50 and 74 showed that the long term consumption of red meat significantly increases the amount of colon cancer found in the study’s subjects. In contrast, the long term consumption of fish and poultry appeared to be protective in nature.
6. Farmed Salmon
Although fish are one of the healthiest foods possible, farmed salmon is one you should avoid. Regrettably, more than 60 percent of the salmon consumed in the USA is farm raised.
Farmed salmon are fed unnatural diets and are contaminated with chemicals, antibiotics, pesticides, and other known carcinogens. They live in very crowded tanks and pools which results in these fish having 30 times the number of sea lice than wild salmon. Worst of all, farmed salmon are fed chemicals to make their meat have that reddish pink color that should occur naturally but doesn’t, because of the diet of chicken litter that they are fed.
Due to this unhealthy diet, these salmon have less Omega-3 fatty acids, one of the main reasons consumption of fish generally and salmon specifically is recommended for. Studies have also shown that farmed salmon contain high levels of PCB’s, mercury, and cancer causing dioxins. You should avoid farmed salmon and buy it either canned or look for labels in your market that state the fish you are buying is wild sockeye salmon.
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