Hello, are Sodium Nitrates bad? I find them in lunch meat etc.. I thought I read a small thing about Nitrates in the Atkins book. If they are bad is it really that big of deal? Will it slow down the weight loss or anything? There is stuff that I like to eat low-carbing that have these nitrates just curious to as how they effect the diet?

Thank you so much for everybodys help here, you are all wonderful I'm a beginner and have always got a few responses to every question I have asked on these boards and I'm so happy to have found this site and all the support of people on here.

Take Care,
Corey

Nitrates are used to keep meat fresh. They have been linked in some studies to cancer. Therefore, it's probably better to avoid them if possible. It is possible to get nitrate/nitrite free deli meats, but they tend to be expensive. If you're willing to spend extra bucks for them, go for it. Otherwise I'd say just try to keep any nitrate/nitrite containing meats as an occasional treat, not a mainstay of your diet.

They also make many people retain water...sodium=salt.


hugs...cin

I'm really new to LC, but here's my $0.02. I was losing just fine on induction and then I started having bacon (with sodium nitrate in it) for breakfast every day. I had lost 9 lbs by the end of my first week (without the bacon) and by the end of my second week, my total lost was only 6 lbs. My hands seemed a little swollen (not as swollen as before LC, but still) and my rings were tighter. I've since cut out the bacon and am losing again.

So, I guess until I find some nitrate free bacon, it's not going to be a part of my diet. Anyone know of any brands that are nitrate free? I've looked at all the ones at my regular grocery store and they all have it....maybe Trader Joe's...hmmmm.

The salt effects my loss but I have no nitrate symptoms like Georgia.

If you love them... see how your body does with them but like everything that you know may have issues. Within moderation.

I found that if you have the time to check at your local deli counter, you will find that some of the products, including ham and turkey and roast beef, do not contain nitrites nor nitrates. Most do, however. In fact, every packaged, cured meat product, such as bacon, prepackaged lunch meats, bologna, etc. in my local stores all have nitrites in them.

I asked my deli dept at Safeway here in CO if they had any nitrate free foods. Her answer nope, thats how they keep everything so fresh.
I would suggest going to your local butcher and see if they have any. It might cost more but if your that concerned about it, it might be worth it.
Toodles,

I buy Yorkshire Farms and Applegate Farms uncured meat products at Whole Foods and Harry's Farmer's Market and the DeKalb Farmer's Market here in Atlanta. Maybe you could check in your area to see if there is a grocer who will stock it. Mind you, though, they're not cheap.

I bought Nitrate free bacon at Trader Joe's. I think it was the Applegate brand, but I'm not sure. Since it's so expensive, I just use it as an occassional treat.

I take a whole package of bacon and package it into two slice packages. I roll up two slices, put it in a baggie, then another two slices, roll 'em up, bag it, etc. That way, I just grab a two-slice package when I need it and defrost.

Been following atkins for decades and always ate bacon unlimited. Now I read I think in one of the NEW books specified NO NITRATES in the bacon, I don't know if that came from the Dr. or not, I'm not happy about the nitrates, but I eat TOTALLY sugar FREE and low salt bacon [Shoprite brand] and there's nothing I can do about the nitrates after checking all the markets, and won't give up bacon on this very limited way of eating. Bacon is one of the reason's for waking up in the morning lol [or any other possible time of day] and considering I'm not crazy about eggs, I need my bacon with them. You may be stalling from the sugar in the bacon. Water retention from salt is not 'stalling' it's just water that hasn't been released YET and showing your actual weight so a little water retention isn't going to affect the diet but not good with high blood pressure and of course it's ALWAYS good not to have extra salt [there's enough natural salt in ALL foods, even non salty ones] so good to at least aim for the non sugar and low sodium bacon, I feel at least i'm eliminating 2/3rds of the problem with the nitrates having to still be there.

Someone posted on another forum that a small amount of vitiman C will counteract the ill effects of nitrates--like a tomato with your bacon and eggs. Anyone know about this?

I read that too and never heard it but Dr. Atkins told me that 3000 C counteracts the depletion of it from smoking so I take that much of it already and always have so I'm wondering if it's the same thing as food with vitamin C because I don't eat tomatoes, if you read my post over there there.

papaya.... the way I would do it to save baggies and a little time is just roll up each 'pair' of strips and put them all in the same container [or even one baggie] and you'll still be able to pop each frozen pair away from the others each time you need it ....even though they are frozen together in the same container, or baggie, try to put them in loosley till they freeze... if they're rolled very tightly/small not enough surface will be touching eachother to not be able to pull /pop apart one pair/roll at a time from the others.

I just freeze the whole packages as is, and take a whole package out of the freezer at a time and keep thawed in fridge because I probably eat more than you, [at least 2 strips per day] but a lb at a time stays well indefinitely in fridge. and I use a special bacon storage plastic flat container with a pop up lid... im sure eveyone's seen those in the catalogues. They're great when keeping in fridge by the lb.