Welcome, bacon fans.
Even though it's well past the halfway mark of 2011, we thought it was time to not only add content to our site with a nifty blog, but to spread the word about the Good Side of bacon. Yes, we are motivated to take on blogging to clear the air about bacon. Not the bacon-filled air in your kitchen when you're frying or baking or indoor bbq'ing bacon (you lucky so-and-so's if that applies to you). No, not that kind of air. That kind's the good kind. We're talking about the plethora of misinformation that exists surrounding the best and most versatile of all cured meats. So, it's time to unlearn what you (*think) you know, and open your minds to new information that will bring you closer to our world, where you will see why bacon, unlike diamonds, is forever.
Our intended tone for this blog is mainly humor, but we also strive to educate whenever possible. Bacon is perceived as this fun thing, and it is that, but we're also talking about food...and we take our food very seriously. Especially the various ways in which our food affects our health. So, even though we're not doctors - nor do we play any on tv - we plan to keep this blog balanced between humor and seriousness because otherwise it'll be too boring or too jokey. And if you're unsure about anything, either check out the links we provide for further information or search out our claims for yourself so that you can make the most informed decision possible.
So without further ado, our introductory topic here is:
Bacon is What You Should Be Eating
(aka, Many Doctors Are Clueless About Bacon.)
So right off the bat, how many of you who read that heading thought: "bullpoop". Guess what virtual friends? Not only is it NOT bullpoop, it's the truth. We're going to start by telling you a little about a biological miracle known as ketosis. Ketosis occurs when your body is starved of carbohydrates. Here is the simplified explanation: First, when you eliminate (or drastically lower) carbohydrates (bread, grains, starches, etc.) from your diet, your body - needing energy it normally gleans from carbs - releases ketones into your bloodstream. Fat that is stored in your body is then used as energy instead of carbs that you've eaten. If you search the Ketogenic Diet, you'll learn that the diet was successfully used in pediatric epilepsy in the 1920s and 30s. Now, the Ketogenic Diet really is just that: a diet. In fact, to achieve a state of ketosis, you have to eat a high-fat diet, but not from potato chips. By consuming fattier meats, along with low-starch/carb vegetables, one's body begins to shed excess weight that would normally just sit there (and increase in size) due to the poor eating habits.
What does this have to do with bacon? Well, bacon is among those foods that help you achieve a state of ketosis. We're not making this up. Bacon, being a pretty fatty cut of meat, is an excellent example of the kinds of fats we ate as cavemen & women. No, we didn't smoke pork bellies back then (the Chinese started smoking pork bellies as far back as 1500 BC, supposedly)...but we did, as cave-dwellers, hunt and consume fatty meats of all varieties. We didn't, however, consume things like modified corn starch, or ...bread of any kind. We ate moderate amounts of vegetables, some early grasses, and all the meat we could (literally) get ourspears into hands on. Does this mean vegetarians are crazy and/or unhealthy? No, it doesn't. Plenty of research have proven a vegetable-based diet is healthy, and conducted properly, allows the consumer all the necessary vitamins, nutrients, etc. However, it also doesn't mean that bacon and fatty meats are unhealthy. We simply want to point out that bacon can be beneficial to one's health, depending in large part on what else they consume in their lives.
So why do doctors keep telling us to avoid bacon? Well, doctors are people too and are capable of being wrong or misinformed. There's only so much medical schools and medical books can teach a person, and there's only so much information a person can retain. That said, the reason most doctors don't know about the benefits of fatty meats like bacon are twofold.
One: In medical school, most doctors don't receive much in the way of nutritional education. Don't believe us? Take a few minutes and read this source and this one too. We didn't realize it either until we were researching bacon facts out of interest in our own health, but apparently it's not only true but something that's not discussed very much in Western society. To most, doctors have all the answers to what ails us. And for most doctors, that's probably a safe bet (versus thinking they don't know anything), but it also makes sense that they can't know everything to do with nutrition while being a specialist in ...whatever field in which they specialize. Hence, there are Nutritionists, actual specialists in how food affects our health. Soon as we realized the difference, our whole way of thinking about people who kept telling us "my doctor said..." or "oh, my doctor would hate you guys..." changed forever. It was time to investigate the details of bacon for ourselves.
Two: Sometimes doctors, like the rest of us, read something in the news and - whether that information is totally sound or not - retain it and repeat it to others who then go and do the same thing. This cycle of mis-information can be found in many areas of life, but we'll maintain our scope of bacon. Doctors are human beings who, like us, can't help repeating stuff they've read whether it's true or not. Many times we carry around information that sounds like it's true, even though it's not. It just happens. To all of us. The problem comes when new information comes out that simply refutes or counters the old information. Now, some people will accept the "new truth" because it proves beyond a doubt that the old information was wrong. But, many people won't believe the new information because they can't - or sub-consciously don't want to - accept something that goes against that which has been repeated in print or at cocktail parties for years and years and years. One scientific explanation is here. Another is our own amateur cognitive psychology which believes the problem is many people simply want to believe bad information. Which brings us to our next topic: the benefits of nitrates! Seriously, you won't believe what we found.
Stay tuned, bacon fans.
Even though it's well past the halfway mark of 2011, we thought it was time to not only add content to our site with a nifty blog, but to spread the word about the Good Side of bacon. Yes, we are motivated to take on blogging to clear the air about bacon. Not the bacon-filled air in your kitchen when you're frying or baking or indoor bbq'ing bacon (you lucky so-and-so's if that applies to you). No, not that kind of air. That kind's the good kind. We're talking about the plethora of misinformation that exists surrounding the best and most versatile of all cured meats. So, it's time to unlearn what you (*think) you know, and open your minds to new information that will bring you closer to our world, where you will see why bacon, unlike diamonds, is forever.
Our intended tone for this blog is mainly humor, but we also strive to educate whenever possible. Bacon is perceived as this fun thing, and it is that, but we're also talking about food...and we take our food very seriously. Especially the various ways in which our food affects our health. So, even though we're not doctors - nor do we play any on tv - we plan to keep this blog balanced between humor and seriousness because otherwise it'll be too boring or too jokey. And if you're unsure about anything, either check out the links we provide for further information or search out our claims for yourself so that you can make the most informed decision possible.
So without further ado, our introductory topic here is:
Bacon is What You Should Be Eating
(aka, Many Doctors Are Clueless About Bacon.)
So right off the bat, how many of you who read that heading thought: "bullpoop". Guess what virtual friends? Not only is it NOT bullpoop, it's the truth. We're going to start by telling you a little about a biological miracle known as ketosis. Ketosis occurs when your body is starved of carbohydrates. Here is the simplified explanation: First, when you eliminate (or drastically lower) carbohydrates (bread, grains, starches, etc.) from your diet, your body - needing energy it normally gleans from carbs - releases ketones into your bloodstream. Fat that is stored in your body is then used as energy instead of carbs that you've eaten. If you search the Ketogenic Diet, you'll learn that the diet was successfully used in pediatric epilepsy in the 1920s and 30s. Now, the Ketogenic Diet really is just that: a diet. In fact, to achieve a state of ketosis, you have to eat a high-fat diet, but not from potato chips. By consuming fattier meats, along with low-starch/carb vegetables, one's body begins to shed excess weight that would normally just sit there (and increase in size) due to the poor eating habits.
What does this have to do with bacon? Well, bacon is among those foods that help you achieve a state of ketosis. We're not making this up. Bacon, being a pretty fatty cut of meat, is an excellent example of the kinds of fats we ate as cavemen & women. No, we didn't smoke pork bellies back then (the Chinese started smoking pork bellies as far back as 1500 BC, supposedly)...but we did, as cave-dwellers, hunt and consume fatty meats of all varieties. We didn't, however, consume things like modified corn starch, or ...bread of any kind. We ate moderate amounts of vegetables, some early grasses, and all the meat we could (literally) get our
So why do doctors keep telling us to avoid bacon? Well, doctors are people too and are capable of being wrong or misinformed. There's only so much medical schools and medical books can teach a person, and there's only so much information a person can retain. That said, the reason most doctors don't know about the benefits of fatty meats like bacon are twofold.
One: In medical school, most doctors don't receive much in the way of nutritional education. Don't believe us? Take a few minutes and read this source and this one too. We didn't realize it either until we were researching bacon facts out of interest in our own health, but apparently it's not only true but something that's not discussed very much in Western society. To most, doctors have all the answers to what ails us. And for most doctors, that's probably a safe bet (versus thinking they don't know anything), but it also makes sense that they can't know everything to do with nutrition while being a specialist in ...whatever field in which they specialize. Hence, there are Nutritionists, actual specialists in how food affects our health. Soon as we realized the difference, our whole way of thinking about people who kept telling us "my doctor said..." or "oh, my doctor would hate you guys..." changed forever. It was time to investigate the details of bacon for ourselves.
Two: Sometimes doctors, like the rest of us, read something in the news and - whether that information is totally sound or not - retain it and repeat it to others who then go and do the same thing. This cycle of mis-information can be found in many areas of life, but we'll maintain our scope of bacon. Doctors are human beings who, like us, can't help repeating stuff they've read whether it's true or not. Many times we carry around information that sounds like it's true, even though it's not. It just happens. To all of us. The problem comes when new information comes out that simply refutes or counters the old information. Now, some people will accept the "new truth" because it proves beyond a doubt that the old information was wrong. But, many people won't believe the new information because they can't - or sub-consciously don't want to - accept something that goes against that which has been repeated in print or at cocktail parties for years and years and years. One scientific explanation is here. Another is our own amateur cognitive psychology which believes the problem is many people simply want to believe bad information. Which brings us to our next topic: the benefits of nitrates! Seriously, you won't believe what we found.
Stay tuned, bacon fans.
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