And, yes, some folks tended to overindulge. One day I saw a man who had the biggest pile of bacon on his plate that you could imagine and several other meat items. I'm not making judgements. I make crazy food decisions from time to time. We are hard wired to love meat.
Now, as I'm catching up on my Time magazines, I just finished an article on the new findings about red meat and cancer risk. Time calls it "The War on Delicious." Another title I saw was "Bacon is the New Cigarettes." We've known for a long time that cured meats can hurt us but now we have some definitive evidence about all red meat.
On October 26th, the World Health Organization officially identified processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning the quality of the evidence firmly links to cancer. Red meats fare little better, falling into Group 2A - foods or substances that probably cause cancer.
- High Temperatures - Carcinogens can form when meat is fried, roasted or grilled at high temps. Pan frying is the worst.
- Turkey Bacon - Bad news, all processed meat is bad. There is no bacon loophole.
- No "Other White Meat" - All types of mammalian muscle meat, such as beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse and goat, are classified as red meat.
- How Much Can Hurt Us? - An average of 50 grams per day of processed meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. That's 6 slices of bacon or 1 hot dog, or 2 slices of ham.
I don't know what to make of all this. I guess I'll just keep heeding the Apostle Paul's advice: Moderation in all things.
As for the guy having breakfast on the cruise, at least he wasn't smoking!
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