An Ode to bacon

I hate to admit I used to be terrified of bacon. Now I am happy to admit I eat this deliciously cured pork belly as often as possible. It also seems to frequently come up in conversations (probably because I bring it up) and I have friends that have recently taken to sending me every bacon joke they find. I am ok with this, it usually gives me a good laugh.
I also think a lot about how conventional wisdom has us demonizing bacon; along with many other real foods that are suddenly discovered as "cancer causing" or "bad for us." You know the headlines I am talking about..."Red Meat Causes Cancer," "Egg Yolks Are Bad For High Cholesterol," and "Low Fat Diet To Lose Weight" have dominated the media for years. (Please allow me to digress a moment...)

I know first hand how hard it is NOT to just blindly follow information that is presented to us though the media. We want to put our trust in these things, we want it to be easy. I personally used to be a devoted follower of these headlines, until I realized they weren't actually working in my favor. What happened to change my mind? Information; but it started with asking questions.

With wondering how everything the headlines and the doctors tell us is the "right way" was not working for me. Why was meat bad for us all of the sudden? What was I doing wrong? Why was I hungry ALL the time? Why was I still gaining weight? Why should I have to take a pill for anxiety? Why was I anxious to begin with? And now I can't sleep?! Why should I have to take another pill?   

It took all of this and more, combined with the right information, from the right person, at the right time to open my eyes to everything else that is out there...if you look for it. I wish it weren't so circumstantial, but unfortunately that is what it comes down to for most of us. I just hope I can be one of the people that is here at the right time for someone else.

Now, back to bacon.

I prefer to cook up the entire package of bacon so I can have the grease handy for cooking. That stuff is good in pretty much anything. The only problem I have with bacon grease is that I sometimes run out of it before I run out of the cooked bacon. Good thing the dogs like bacon too. :)
I could sing praises about its delicious crispy flavor all day, but most of you know what I am talking about. What I am really want to do is to fill you in on a few of the good things that actually come from bacon and cooking with bacon grease. Lets first address part of what makes people hesitate, the burning  question on fat:

Doesn't eating fat make you fat? 
While this may sound logical, fat consumption does not actually make you fat. (I have touched on this in a previous blog entry.) Your body, and its distribution of adipose (fat) tissue is much more complicated that this. Most commonly, the overconsumption of the carbohydrates is what leads to the storage of body fat. This, in turn, throws the hormones, insulin and glucagon, out of whack. These two hormones are responsible for when calories are stored as fat, and for most of us, they can be regulated by what we eat. There is so much we could discuss on this topic, so in the interest of staying focused on bacon, here are some additional reads you can check out for more info on why eating fat does not make us fat:

• "Good Calories, Bad Calories," or the condensed version, "Why We Get Fat and What to Do About it," by Gary Taubes.
• This is a great blog post, from Mark Sisson, about why fats are better than carbs as a fuel source.
• Check out what Wikipedia even has to say on the matter of carbohydrate metabolism.

Before we leave the fat discussion behind, I want to reiterate a bit on saturated fat. Saturated fat is another thing that has been wrongfully accused for years. Also discussed in my previous blog entry, saturated fat gets its name because it is fully saturated, which means it is very stable, which means it is safe to consume, even when heated. The point I really want to make here is that bacon is actually 50% monounsaturated fat. Thats the same kind of primary fat you find in olive oil; which we all should recognize as being a healthy fat.
Does all of this mean I am advising you to stock up on as much of the cheapest bacon you can find? Of course not. There is so much to be said for food quality. It is impossible to get good health from a sick animal, making it important to seek foods from animals raised on their natural diet, in a healthy, natural environment whenever possible. (So in the case of pig, we are talking about an omnivorous diet, sans grains, raised on a pasture.) Everytime? In a perfect world, I would say yes, but in the end it comes down to personal priorities and working within your means. Since it is probably apparent that I put bacon pretty high on my priority list, I go for the good stuff probably 8 out of 10 times. In the end though, we just have to do the best we can with what we have to work with.
I know that food is not by any means the only thing necessary for a happy healthy lifestyle. It is, however, a crucial part of the foundation. (A foundation much easier to build, when it includes bacon!) The best advice I can give you is to first consider and prioritize your food choices. Make sure it comes from a source as close to nature as possible, and that you can make it at home in your kitchen, without chemistry equipment. The quality of food is important, so make sure you also appreciate and enjoy the foods you eat.

My soap box is over, but since there is no such thing as too much bacon, check out this hilarious video!

•Note:  The information on this blog is for informational use only and is not meant to diagnose or treat any medical conditions or to take the place of your physician. Always consult the appropriate health care professional when you have health problems that you feel might require professional attention, or when adding supplementations, while taking existing prescriptions. 

Referenced Resource:
Sanfillipo, Diane. Bacon: Health Food or Devil in Delicious Disguise? Posted May 24, 2011 to: www.balancedbites.com. Retrieved October 5, 2012.