How often do you eat ham?

[Notlongnow01]

I don’t eat much meat but I do like ham and with all the focus on ultra processed foods I am wondering if I eat too much. I buy a pack about once a fortnight and eat it over a few days (but I would only eat bacon or sausages about once a year!)

I also read this week that wholemeal bread is ultra processed so can I still enjoy a ham sandwich and a cup of tea which is one of my favourite things to have for lunch?!

I would have said my diet was fairly balanced and healthy but I’m questioning everything I eat now.

wenton · Today 22:13
I used to buy it every week, but stopped when I read about the risk of cancer and processed meat (which is different from the UPF issue). I've substituted it with sliced chicken now, though I still eat it with sliced bread.
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You can buy nitrite free ham.

I do like smoked mackerel. Is that a upf too?

I will, sometimes, roast a pork joint and slice it for sandwiches.

I can't imagine Christmas dinner without kilted sausages (pigs in blankets).

My diet isn't perfect but I don't eat processed meat

I cook one at Christmas and maybe Easter

Can’t remember the last time.

We have a friend who is a consultant colo-rectal surgeon and he has put us off bacon, ham and sausages.

I buy it most weeks and between 3 of us we can eat a 6-8 slice pack in a week.
I love good ham.
Ditto nice bread.
Diet should be all about balance.
A couple of slice of ham a week is not going to be the thing that kills you. Neither is a few slices of whole meal bread.
This kind of stuff can edge into disordered eating if you’re not careful.

We eat too much of it tbh. My kids love a ham sandwich.

I'd like to switch from sliced bread to fresh bread which isn't full of additives, but sliced bread is more convenient, cheaper and we like it. I mean I love avocado on sourdough but that's a lot more money than ham on sliced bread! A fresh loaf is £5 here in south London.. v £1.20 for sliced.

I don't think it was processed back in Jesus' day.

That newspaper thing about brown bread earlier in the week sure is bollocks. Wholemeal bread is bad for you? It's a damn sight better for you than almost every other kind of bread.

Honestly, no wonder people develop eating disorders.

Never since my local Sainsbury's got rid of their deli counter. I used to get it sliced off the bone, turkey, too, and it was delicious - you could get one thick slice if you wanted, that was perfect for me. The stuff in packets is very dull.

It didn’t have nitrites added to it back then. They add it now to speed up the curing time. (Cos profit is more important than not giving your customers bowel cancer)

I never eat ham. Or kebab meat (the take-away type). Or heavily processed sausages - those pink ones.
I eat meat, including sausages maybe 1-2 times a week.

My UPF vice is crisps.

There's bread and bread... Is the ingredients list more from a lab than the bakery? That's the question to consider when trying to avoid UPF.

For example (no bread at home! ) I just had a look at the ingredients list of a pack of Cheese twists. All normal bakery ingredients with some of the more prominent ones being margerine and butter. Literally every dodgy substance (palm oil, rapeseed oil, emulsifiers) is within that margerine. If butter would replace margerine fully, there would be nothing of concern there. I really hope one fine day they do use just butter!

Most of food is processed in some way to make it edible/palatable but UPF food is the more chemically enhanced, completely reconstituted one. Like bubble gum, Ben&Jerry's, pot noodles, many table sauces, mayo, etc.

This made me giggle

I never buy packet ham. I roast a chicken and ham joint, let them cool, slice thinly and use that in salads and sandwiches. I freeze it in small batches so there’s no waste.
I don’t eat very much bread at all but I do buy seeded loaves from the local bakery for DH and DCs.
I only ever eat sausages and bacon with christmas dinner (as pigs in blankets).

I don't eat much ham, but salami, saucisson, prosciutto, bloody love them. If it's alright for the long lived Italians I'll not worry too much about it. I don't smoke or drink, or eat ready meals, so I have to have one vice.

Wanted to also add I never buy minced meat or eat anything made from minced meat eg burgers, tacos, lasagna unless I’ve made it myself. I buy meat from the butchers eg pork or beef steaks and ask the butcher to mince it for me.

Not since about 1970 as I have been a vegetarian or vegan since then.

A friend used to eat ham but gave up all pig products when she had a small bit of pigs heart used in surgery. She said it felt ungrateful and too much like cannibalism after that.

I go in phases. I had one slice in seeded bread today. Probably will tomorrow. And the next. Generations have been brought up on sandwiches for lunch and cereal for breakfast.
If that's the extent of your processed food I wouldn't think twice. If you are also eating sausages and bacon for breakfast and processed foods for dinner, then you need to look at it. But I think the stress of scrutinising every bite you eat is more harmful than a sandwich.

Varying views! I think rather than give it up completely I will cut down so I will enjoy it but not every day. In general I need to make a bit more effort to cook fresh food from scratch so I can do that too.