Page 13 - Healthy food

News

MAKE MINE A
SMALL ONE… A nitrate-free sizzle
Having survived Dry Love bacon but worried about the
potential cancer risk? New nitrate-free
January, the last thing you
bacon rashers being launched on the
want is to plunge back into UK market could be for you.
old drinking habits that Delicious as bacon is, the World
Health Organization (WHO) estimates
send your weekly intake that eating just two rashers a day (50g)
rocketing over 14 units can increase your risk of bowel and
colon cancer by 18%. Around 34,000
(the maximum deaths from bowel and colon cancer
recommended for women are directly attributable to diets high in
processed meats, reports WHO. This is
and men). The greater
due to the nitrates used to preserve
affordability and availability of bacon, which produce nitrosamines in
wine have no doubt contributed your gut that are carcinogenic.
The UK bacon market is worth
to the amount we drink, but £1 billion a year and Brits eat 159
consumption of wine has also soared as million tonnes of it each year, but sales
have been falling because of the
glasses have got bigger. In the 1700s, reported health risks – with an 11%
the average glass size was 66ml, but by drop in sales in 2016 alone. Producers
are hoping that new nitrate-free bacon
last year it had become a whopping
brands will buck the trend.
449ml. A new study in the BMJ by The Northern Irish Company
Finnebrogue was first on the market
Professor Theresa Marteau at the
with the launch of Naked Bacon
University of Cambridge says simply (£3 per pack, from Tesco, Waitrose,
switching to a smaller wine glass will Morrisons and Sainsbury’s). Marks and
Spencer has also launched Nitrate
help us drink less. That’s a Free Streaky and Back Bacon (£3 per
positive step we can all take. pack or £5 for two).

Be a happier you this year
‘What’s really going to make you happier and
healthier in 2018: losing 10lb or losing harmful
attitudes about your body?’ asks Professor
Pamela Keel of Florida State University, who
is asking us to rethink the decisions we make
for the months ahead. She says that body
dissatisfaction is partly fuelled by a mismatch
between the unobtainable perfect bodies seen
in the media – and our real bodies. The
result is we end up feeling bad about
ourselves, which in turn does nothing
to motivate healthy behaviour.
Replacing unattainable body ‘ideals’
with an appreciation of the good
things about our own body has
been shown to improve mood,
self-esteem and eating habits.
‘All sorts of things get better as
a result of feeling better about
your body,’ concludes Pamela.

FEBRUARY 2018 HEALTHY FOOD GUIDE 13