Okay, call me stupid. I have seen on here and in the book to get bacon without nitrate. What is nitrate and can I get bacon without nitrate in a local grocery store.

I have been on a low fat diet (on which I actually lost 50 pounds) and have been eating turkey bacon. Good. But, not nearly as good as original bacon

Sodium nitrate (NaNO3) and its close relative sodium nitrite (NaNO2) are preservatives that you find in lots of processed meats. Stuff like salami, hot dogs, pepperoni, bologna, ham, bacon and SPAM all normally contain sodium nitrate as one of the ingredients. Fresh meats generally do not contain any added chemicals, so the question is, "Why is sodium nitrate added to all of these processed meats?"

There are two reasons for adding these chemicals to processed meats:

They preserve the color of the meat (meaning that it looks pink like SPAM rather than gray like cooked hamburger). You have probably noticed that nearly all meats that contain sodium nitrate or sodium nitrite remain pink or red even though they are cooked during processing.

These chemicals inhibit botulism to some degree.

The jury is out on how harmful these substances are. Sodium nitrite reacts with stomach acid and other chemicals in the stomach to produce nitrosamines, which have been shown to cause cancer in animals when consumed in large quantities. However, there's not much sodium nitrate/nitrite in meats, and we consume sodium nitrate/nitrite from other foods as well, so it is not clear that they are harmful in the quantities we get from meats. Some people recommend that small children and pregnant women avoid these chemicals altogether just to be safe. Since neither canned chicken nor tuna have any redness to protect, they generally do not contain nitrates.

It IS possible to find bacon without nitrates, although somewhat difficult without good stores around you. You might be able to find some if you have a Trader Joes or Whole Foods nearby, not sure about the stores in Tennessee. Hope this helps. Happy LCing!!!

Actually three questions:

How will nitrate be listed on the ingredients in the product?

Second. what are some of the brand names the Nitrate free bacon is sold under?

Third. If I can't find some bacon which is nitrate free, how is that going to affect the Atkins methods?

1) I think I usually see it last on the list of ingredients as sodium nitrite.

2) Not sure of what brands, nitrate-free bacon are sold under. I don't really eat processed meats (also wouldn't be able to find nitrate-free bacon near me). Occasionally, I'll have some slices of nitrate-full bacon.

3) I don't think you'll have any problems losing weight. Most people eat bacon w/nitrates in it and they haven't had problems. But, in the future, you should keep the amount of processed meats consumed to a minimum (meaning don't go crazy eating hot dogs, deli meat, etc.) because they contain a fair amount of salt and that could cause water retention.

Happy LCing!!!

I went to two grocery stores last night and couldn't find any without Nitrate. There are several health food stores around here. So, I am going to go check at some of them today

Nitrates have some possible severe effects on our bodies. I learned about this in my human genetics course I took in college. They create T-T dimers and what these do are actually alter our genetic code and could in fact begin the road to cancer. So, in addition to yearly colonoscopies, I would suggest avoiding nitrates.

I called a health food store locally who said they had uncured bacon with no nitrate in it. Now, I have to decide if I want to pay $4.99 for the bacon. They know how to get the money out of ya don't they?

Well, I got to thinking. That is really high for bacon. So, I went to Super Wal-Mart last night and they had all natural ground pork. I looked and looked and looked. I saw nothing on it that looked bad with the exception of about 20mg of sodium. But, everybody needs a little salt Anyway, it said it had nothing artificial in it. So, do you think that would be okay?

That would be great! 20mg of sodium is insignificant. You can season the pork yourself and make breakfast sausage.

Jen

Hiyas,

Just a suggestion .....I think you can get bacon without nitrates off of a deli. Try the grocery store deli first, and if not then go to a store that stricly has fresh cut meats (roasts, steaks etc) lots of times they do their own bacon and do not use nitrates in their products. They naturally smoke them to preserve them. I just got some Elk pepperettes with no fillers other then some pork, naturally smoked and no nitrates or sugar. Also got some buffalo smoked meat done the same way from this Elk, buffalo, emu game farm.

Tastes real yummy!

Dyzana~

I nver thought about the deli or butcher. Thanks!

I get uncured bacon quite frequently. It's really just like a fatty cut of fresh pork and I find it at the grocery store near the fresh porkchops and stuff.

My Dad used to buy it with the rinds still on and fry it a long time (until it was all crispy)...They were much better then the bagged pork rinds. Rinds are not an option these days though.

Was it a national grocery store chain? I haven't been able to find it around here

Hi again,
I'm sorry it took so long for me to post. It's a regular grocery chain called Sobeys (well regular for Atlantic Canada).

To tell you the truth my Dad called it 'sow belly'.

When I a kid, I walked into a friend's house and smelled frying pork chops. I asked if they were having sow belly... they were mortified.

Well, Dad used to fry lamb kidneys for breakfast too...talk about how to clear a room... Anyway...

Good luck on the 'sow belly' search