Bacon is still 55% bad (saturated) fat (aka, and according to my very basic math skills, a majority). Sorry to rain on the bacon parade. This article seems to ignore some pretty heavy negatives with some of the foods, while hailing them suddenly as “surprising health foods” after half a decade of doctors saying otherwise.

Whole milk: “It turns out that saturated milk fats may help us absorb calcium better, and also contain big helpings of vitamins A and D.” The bad news: while you’re chugging that gallon of whole milk to absorb more calcium and vitamins, those same fats are headed straight to your arteries. Congrats!

Hey guess what: raw lard also has 45% monounsaturated fat. The bad news? That half-cup serving of lard you just ate contains 902 calories, 154% of your daily recommended fat intake, and 196% of your saturated fat intake. Oh, and you’re about to have a heart attack.

You can actually get bacon to contain more mono-unsaturated fat than saturated fat by feeding the pig a diet of unsaturated fats (you are what you eat isn’t all that far from the truth). The problem with that is unsaturated fat molecules have a kink in their structure that prevents them from becoming solid at room temp (which is why oils like corn oil and olive oil are liquids, e.g. oleic acid). Just because a pig has eaten it, doesn’t mean it’s going to act any different in the fat tissue (despite it being in triglyceride form, which I won’t bore you with). The result is a soft, oily fat in the belly fat of the pig (where bacon comes from). So soft oily, in fact, that it is impossible to cut into bacon, but by god, it’s healthier.

This science and common-sense nutrition lesson has been brought to you by my classes in animal science, animal nutrition, and basic biochemistry, and the Penn State College of Agriculture currently educating a kid from the Philly suburbs with farming knowledge he didn’t think he’d ever learn or have to know for a degree in science. ;-)

“You’ll be doing you body a flavor!”

AMIRITE?

Im done, sorry it is very late.

Bought a sandwich in Wegman’s the other day and there was a big sign that said “Bacon Now Available”. Too bad my phone/camera was in the car, since I thought of all of you.