| No nutritionist recommends luncheon meats as a | | | | bacterial growth until about 21 days before their "use |
| healthy food, and, although I am not a nutritionist, neither | | | | by" date. Unsliced meats are typically bacteria-free until |
| do I. The nutritionists' recommendation to give up | | | | about ten days before their "use by" date. Once you |
| luncheon meat in favor of other heart-healthy, | | | | open the package, eat the meat within a day or two |
| low-sodium, or low-fat foods, however, may not be | | | | or throw it out. Buy small quantities. |
| appropriate for everyone. | | | | What is the most healthful way to eat luncheon meat? |
| As shocking as it may seem, a large proportion of | | | | Start with the bread. Soft white bread is satisfying if |
| Americans get the majority of their antioxidants from | | | | you are going to eat your sandwich right away, but |
| the preservatives in bologna, pressed ham, pastrami, | | | | white bread in a sandwich stored in your lunch box |
| mustard, mayonnaise, salad dressing (in the United | | | | tends to get mushy. Try a making sandwiches with |
| States, usually Miracle Whip), and the white bread on | | | | bread that is almost too hard to eat straight from the |
| which these meats and condiments are placed. If you | | | | package, such as a hard roll or a hard whole wheat, or |
| eliminate BHA, BHT, and other preservatives from | | | | maybe a multi-grain bread with seeds. The bread will |
| your "bad" diet, your health may actually suffer unless | | | | soften as it sits in your lunchbox, you will enjoy your |
| you start eating foods containing antioxidants. | | | | sandwich more, and you get extra antioxidants, |
| Smokers, in particular, tend not to like fruits and | | | | vitamins, and fibers. |
| vegetables. So, if you are giving up luncheon meats for | | | | White bread quickly becomes sugar when it is |
| your health and you cannot be persuaded to eat your | | | | digested, but white bread and a pickle does not. Just |
| greens, eat almonds, sunflower seeds, wild berry jellies | | | | adding a pickle, the sourer the better, to your sandwich |
| (the real thing, preferably blueberries, lingonberries, or | | | | or to your lunch slows down the rate your body |
| strawberries, not some imitation), pecans, walnuts, dried | | | | absorbs the sugars from white bread. As a result, your |
| fruit (raisins, apricots, or dates are best), chile peppers, | | | | body makes less insulin, and stores less fat. Oddly |
| wasabi, horseradish, or fresh salsa or pico de gallo, on | | | | enough, this effect is even greater when the meat or |
| tortilla chips, if you must. | | | | sandwich is high-fat rather than fat-free-but eat one |
| Or if you are not giving up luncheon meat, try eating | | | | slice rather than two or three. |
| some of the same foods. If you live on luncheon | | | | Condiments also make a difference. It is always best |
| meat-and tens of millions of Americans do-don't give it | | | | to apply condiments to your sandwich just before it is |
| up without replacing it with other healthy foods, even if | | | | eaten so the bread does not become soggy, but most |
| they are not green vegetables. | | | | kinds of bread except soft white hold up reasonably |
| There is a small statistical correlation between | | | | well for several hours. Ketchup, as you can read, is |
| consumption of luncheon meats and various kinds of | | | | calming, and is also a good source of beta-carotene, |
| cancer, but luncheon meats by themselves, eaten in | | | | lycopene, and lutein. Horseradish is a terrific source of |
| servings of up to 3-1/2 oz (100 g) four or five times a | | | | a specific class of cancer-fighting chemicals called |
| week, are, despite what you may have heard, not | | | | isothiocyanates; wasabi mayonnaise is a tangy |
| especially hazardous to your health, particularly if you | | | | dressing that supplies isothiocyanates that are |
| do not smoke. | | | | especially healthful for smokers. |
| A bigger health problem with luncheon meat is food | | | | Tahini goes well with pita bread, and supplies sesamin, |
| poisoning from spoilage. Bacterial contamination is | | | | a chemical that turns "bad" cholesterol into a harmless |
| more common in pastrami than in ham, and more | | | | form and lowers blood pressure. If you regularly eat |
| common in ham than in bologna. This is because | | | | greasy foods and sweets, sesamin shifts a |
| bologna is a fermented food. The bacteria that | | | | fat-and-sugar biochemical pathway that turns |
| ferment bologna kill most pathogens. It is extremely | | | | inflammatory hormones into pain-relief hormones. |
| rare for vacuum- packed sliced meats to host any | | | | |