A Dose of Health

Turkey bacon or pork bacon, which one is healthier? Honestly, I’m not going to take sides in the debate. I used to eat turkey bacon because I believed it was healthier then I thought about it for a moment. They’re both processed foods so how healthy can either of them be?

Rather than stand in the grocery store comparing turkey bacon to pork bacon I decided to forgo the both of them and make my own chicken bacon instead. It takes a little longer to prepare than turkey or pork bacon, but I believe its worth the extra time.

Ingredients:

• Chicken tenderloin or chicken breasts
• Sea Salt (I prefer sea salt but any salt will do)
• Pure Maple syrup
• Cayenne pepper (we like spicy bacon)

Here’s how to make chicken bacon

1. Flatten the chicken breast or tenderloin as flat if you can get it. Remember, you’re trying to make bacon so the flatter you get the chicken the more bacon like it will appear. I don’t have fancy chicken flattening tools so I place the chicken on my cutting board, cover it with a little plastic wrap and then I pound it with my cast iron skillet until they are good and flat (this is not a meal to make when the family is asleep).
2. Season both sides of the chicken with the salt.
3. Drizzle the maple syrup over the salted chicken.
4. Pour a hint of oil in a heated skillet (just enough oil so the chicken won’t stick) and cook the chicken on high heat until done. The crispiness of the chickens depends on how flat it is before you put it in the pan.

The chicken bacon works just as well, if not better, when cooked on a grill. There’s something about the taste of food cooked on an outdoor grill.

This is a very forgiving dish.  You can control the amount of salt and the intensity of the maple flavor. In my family we tend to like things a little spicy so I add cayenne pepper to the chicken when seasoning it. It can get quite noisy flattening the chicken but its well worth it.

Time Saving Tip: Buy a few chicken breasts/tenderloins and flatten them all at one time. Freeze the chicken in portion sizes so you can quickly defrost, season and cook the ‘bacon’ when needed.

I stopped by the grocery store last night to pickup cold cuts for my daughter’s school lunch. She told me she was tired of peanut butter and apple sandwiches (I was also tired of making them).

It was late and the cold cut counter was closed so I picked up a package of Sara Lee Honey Roasted Turkey Breast. Now, I know that there’s a lot of salt in processed meat, but for grins, I donned my reading glasses and decided to read the ingredients. I shouldn’t have done that. Here’s what I found:

Turkey Breast
Water
Honey
Contains 2% or less of:
Salt
Sugar
Sodium lactate
Sodium phosphate
Sodium diacetate
Sodium erythorbate
Sodium Nitrite

It gets me the way they package it as 2% or less of…

So, with 2% or less of 6 different types of salt, that means that the turkey package is potentially 12% salt.

Serving Sizes

The serving size for such chemicals are 4 slices which yield the following nutrition facts:

50 Calories of which 5 are from fat

.05g Fat
20 mg cholesterol
550 mg sodium
2g carbohydrates
2g sugar
10 g protein
2% iron.

The Truth of the Matter

The prepackaged slices are approximately 4 ½ inches in diameter and sliced so thin that it’s next to impossible to pull one slice off without it ripping. With such size and thinness, most folks use more than 4 slices to make a sandwich.

On the conservative side, let’s say you use 6 slices of turkey to make a sandwich. That means that you’re consuming 825 mg of sodium (and that’s not including the bread, mayo or mustard). Wow, that’s a lot of salt.

According to the MayoClinic adults shouldn’t exceed 1,500 to 2,400 mg of sodium a day. The requirement drops if you are over 50, African American and have any type of chronic diseases such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

A long time ago, I used a homemade recipe for cold cuts. It’s time for me to stop being so lazy and get back to basics. Making my own turkey cold cuts is not only healthier, but it’s cheaper too (plus I can season the turkey any way I want).

As a result of one of my reader’s comments, I did a little research on Vitamin K. He suggested checking out vitamin K because I had shared my experience about my brain calcification scare. Thanks Stew for the heads up.

Apparently vitamin K helps the blood to clot normally, and helps to prevent heart disease. It also appears to help prevent calcification of the arteries. Does it help with brain calcification? I don’t know. I would think that since it prevents calcification in the arteries, it would help with the brain also.

According to the Health Encyclopedia, on the subject of Vitamin K “it has been hypothesized…it’s possible mechanisms include inhibiting brain calcification…”

Vitamin K also helps to prevent osteoporosis. Apparently it seems to be a facilitator in keeping the calcium in places where it’s supposed to be (the bones) and not deposited in places where it shouldn’t be (the arteries).

As if that wasn’t enough, Vitamin K also helps fight tooth decay. According to a study performed in the 1940’s by Dr. Leonard S. Fosdick , chewing Vitamin K coated gum for 10 minutes after every meal yielded a 60 to 90% decrease in new cavities over a period of 18 months. Vitamin K appeared to be more effective than fluorinated drinking water. Imagine that?

Where to get Vitamin K

Green leafy vegetables have an abundance of Vitamin K. Things like kale, spinach, collard greens, Swiss chard, mustard greens, broccoli and so on and so on. Go into your garden or your neighbor’s garden (with permission, of course) and start chomping away.

From what I’ve read, there are no ill effects of eating too much of the stuff. There might be ill effects if you choose to get your vitamin K through synthetic supplements. So, do yourself a favor and get it naturally.

Daily Recommended Dose of Vitamin K

I’ve read anywhere from 1-10 mg per day. To save yourself the headache of having to calculate how much to eat, just get your daily serving of greens each day. You’ll have your required amount of Vitamin K. According to The World’s Healthiest Foods, 1 cup of boiled kale gives you 1327.6% of the daily value.

Does Vitamin K Prevent Brain Calcification?

I can’t say that it does for sure, but it sure can’t hurt to get your daily required dose of vitamin K.