Healthy Ham and Other Meat Choices (2024)

FAQs

What is the best and healthiest meat to eat? ›

While meat can be a part of a healthy diet, not all sources are created equal. The leanest and healthiest meats to eat include poultry, pork, fish, and seafood. Eating a balanced diet is one of the keys to a healthy lifestyle, which means choosing various foods from different food groups, like proteins.

It's rich in protein and several beneficial nutrients. However, regularly eating processed meats like ham may increase your risk of certain cancers. Thus, it's best to limit your intake and stick to fresh, less processed types of ham as part of a balanced diet.

Choose Uncured Options

Lots of ham choices exist at the store. You'll find glazed honey hams, brown sugar cured hams, and other options that are loaded with salt and sugar. Choose uncured options instead. These are usually marked as fresh and are more organic choices that you can season later as you desire.

If you're looking for the healthiest lunch meat option, choose the leanest cuts of deli meat possible, such as turkey, chicken breast, lean ham or roast beef. “These types of deli meat have the least amount of fat and provide a better nutrient value compared to others,” Zumpano says.

It is recommended that you do not eat too much red meat, processed meat or meat that is high in saturated fats as this can lead to health problems.

You have probably heard it many times already: don't eat too much red meat or processed foods. But research shows processed red meats, like bacon, hot dogs, and salami are the biggest problem.

If you are looking for a lot of protein, amino acids and vitamins, canned ham can be a beneficial choice for you. Canned ham is used in tons of recipes, particularly the Spam brand in Hawaiian cuisine. Beware though, many canned ham brands can have excessive added salt and nitrates, among other additives.

If your ham starts to take on a green or grey hue, or even gets black or brown in a few areas, throw it away. If it doesn't smell good, throw it away. Ham should have a salty or smokey aroma, almost sweet. If there is a sour smell or something smells off, don't take the chance of a food-borne illness.

No. Both whole or half, cooked, vacuum-packaged hams packaged in federally inspected plants and canned hams can be eaten cold, right out of the package.

Uncured ham has not gone through the same curing and preservation process but is typically still cooked to some degree before being sold. The curing process for uncured ham relies on natural ingredients like celery juice or sea salt rather than synthetic preservatives like sodium nitrite.

What ham has no sugar? ›

Jones Uncured Heritage Ham uses fresh, never frozen whole muscle of pork and all natural spices to create a distinctive flavor. It also has no sugar and is Certified Gluten-Free.

Eating too much bacon, sausages, hot dogs, canned meat, or lunch meat—meat that has been processed in some way to preserve or flavor it—is bad for health, according to experts. A number of studies have found links between processed meat and various forms of cancer, as well as heart disease and diabetes.

Pork, for example, is the most consumed meat globally, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, making up 36% of the world's meat intake. The popularity of pork is closely followed by poultry, which is a staple in many countries due to its versatility and affordability.

What is the healthiest way to cook meat? Steaming and boiling, which cook your food using moist heat, are some of the healthiest ways to prepare meat. 3 Both methods require low temperatures, which helps preserve nutrients and protect against harmful fumes and substances.

Prime beef is the highest grade a piece of beef can receive. If the USDA awards a prime quality grading, that means that the beef has abundant marbling, with 8-13% fat, and is from a young, well-fed cow. Only about 2-5% of beef sold in the foodservice industry receives this grading.