Summary: Thanks for joining us for episode 64 of The Ancestral RD podcast. If you want to keep up with our podcasts, subscribe in iTunes and never miss an episode! Remember, please send us your question if you'd like us to answer it on the show! Today we are answering the following question from a listener: “Hi, I love your podcast. Is bacon healthy? The Paleo and Ancestral people say yes, but what about all that cholesterol?” Bacon is a highly debated food with proponents on seemingly polar opposite sides. On one side we hear to enjoy it freely from breakfast to dessert. Who here has had chocolate covered bacon? On the other side we hear warnings to avoid it at all costs. Many of us want to know, what’s the real deal with bacon? Join us today as we share insight to help you decide if bacon should be on your breakfast plate. We clear up confusion about cholesterol and saturated fat, discuss bacon’s role in cancer risk, and give tips on how to enjoy bacon while minimizing potential health risks. Here's what Laura and Kelsey will be discussing in this episode: The surprising truth about the effect dietary cholesterol has on blood cholesterol The amount of cholesterol actually in bacon The ratio of fat in bacon Clearing up the confusion about saturated fat and its relationship to heart disease Processed meats and the risk of cancer Why you may not be avoiding nitrates when you buy bacon labeled “nitrate free” Why burnt or charred meat is a bigger risk factor for cancer than nitrates How to cook bacon to reduce carcinogens The importance of not stressing over eating less than ideal foods in moderation How high quality bacon from pastured animals is better protected from the cooking process Why bacon can be part of a healthy diet when considered in relation to other lifestyle factors Links Discussed: KettleAndFire.com - Use the code AncestralRDs for a 15% discount off your first order of Kettle and Fire bone broth! TRANSCRIPT: Kelsey: Hi everyone. Welcome to episode 64 of the Ancestral RDs. I’m Kelsey Marksteiner and with me as always is Laura Schoenfeld. Laura: Hi everyone. Kelsey: Hey Laura. How are you doing? Laura: I’m quite tired. I feel like both of us are on the same page with our exhaustion levels. Kelsey: Yes, very much so. Laura: Although yours may be a little bit more reasonable than me just being tired because I chose to stay up too late for the last two weeks. Why don’t you tell us about your trip to Canada? Kelsey: Sure. I was in Quebec City. They have a big music festival every year that goes for ten or eleven days. I was there from….let’s see, we drove up there on Friday and then I left on the following Sunday. I was there for over a week. I guess that’s about ten days. It was really fun, but basically what it entailed is being out super late every night going to these concerts. There’s nothing during the day really. All the concerts are at night and some of them even go until 1 – 1:30 in the morning. I didn’t do too many of the super late concert nights, but I did do a couple. Otherwise, it was just a bunch of family for me there as well. Even if we didn’t go to a concert, we’d be hanging out after the concerts and staying up late. My body is just totally messed up right now because I am so not used to doing that. Basically we would go to concerts, hang out, go to bed at like 1 or 2 in the morning, and then wake up at 11 every day, and go eat breakfast, and hang out around the town and stuff. I’m trying to get back into the swing of things, which can be hard once your body is adjusted to that sort of schedule. I’m exhausted, so it’s easy to go to sleep. But for me, I’m the kind of person that even if I go to bed at a normal time if I’m really tired, I’ll just sleep for a really long time. Laura: Mm hmm. Kelsey: That’s been a little tough to start waking up at a normal time again. Laura: Yeah. Kelsey: Hopefully it’ll get better.
