Do you enjoy a steak at the pub on Friday night or take a salami or ham sandwich as lunch during the week? The amount and type of red and processed meat (like sausages, ham and salami) you are eating may not good for your health. These meats contain carcinogens or toxic compounds which you want to minimise exposure in your body to cut risk of some cancers like colorectal cancer and disease risk. Here are easy ways to reduce your exposure to carcinogens if you refuse to become a vegan no matter how trendy it becomes:
- How much is too much?
There is healthy amount of processed meat to eat, so the weekend sausage is still potentially harmful and the salami or ham sandwich in your weekly lunch is not doing your body any favours. Try swapping processed meats for alternatives like pork, lean cuts of beef or chick or turkey breast from your local deli. In all red meat including organic varieties there are carcinogens or pollutants within the meat and the number of carcinogens is not just determined by how you cook your steak. Limiting your weekly red meat to no more than 455g a week or around 65g or a fist size a day may help limit the damage of the carcinogens on your body. If you think organic is an exception this is unfortunately not true and there is minimal difference in the carcinogen amounts in organic vs. regular cuts of red meat.
- Check your cooking methods
The safest methods to reduce carcinogens are boiling or microwaving as there is no browning of the meat, while roasting or pan frying comes in last for your health. If you turn your meat over every minute while cooking this will reduce the amounts of carcinogens your meat contains. If you like your meat done well or ‘really dead’, this method will increase the number of carcinogens. The more rare or soft the meat is cooked, following correct food safety for temperature within the meat before serving is the safest. The chefs in those expensive restaurants may have been looking after your health more than you realised!
- Watch your sauce
Including a soup full of gravy can increase the carcinogens formed in the red meat, try to swap or reduce the amount and increase your herbs and spices for flavour and added nutritional content. Spices or vinegar containing marinade can reduce the number of carcinogens formed on your meat so maybe give the gravy a swap for these alternatives.
- Add helpful additional sides
Adding more fruit and vegetables help to combat the carcinogens in red meat and are packed full of many vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants to help keep your body healthy for life.
Take home message: you do not need to turn into a vegan to be healthy for life. Take on these easy swaps and strategies to reduce the number of carcinogens in red meat and you will still be able to maintain a healthy body throughout your long life.
