While living in an extremely faded world sometimes we can easily forget about the importance of healthy nutrition. It’s very easy to pop into the supermarket after work and grab a ready-made meal. Sometimes this can be a frozen lasagna or pizza, other times it could be canned fish or meat.
Today I would like to talk about the importance of fresh food and especially raise an awareness regarding canned meat. A lot of people have no idea what it takes to preserve products!
Not all canned products are bad for you
Supermarket shelves are full of preserved products fruits, vegetables, beans, fish, poultry, and meat. Not all products are harmful to you. For example, some preserved fruits contain the same amount of nutrients and even taste better than fresh. However, we should be very careful in choosing canned fruits because in most cases they have big amounts of added sugar.
Canned fruits and vegetables are much cheaper and are available any time of the year. So, you need not wait for the particular season to enjoy the nutrition value of the desirable fruit.
My biggest concern is canned meat. Being a premium meat trader myself, I take this very seriously, therefore, I would like to share my concerns with you.
Why we should choose fresh meat over canned meat
- Canned meat contains an excessive amount of sodium. The high amount of sodium is very bad for you because it increases water retention in order to maintain the right blood and body fluid level. It can cause high blood pressure.
- Canned meat contains preservatives. Some of the preservatives can damage your body cells which can even cause cancer.
- A high percentage of canned goods that were tested earlier this year (2018) contained traceable levels of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA). This chemical has been linked to birth defects and cancer
- Meat or fish canned in oil can have a much higher risk for health than canned in water
These are important facts which you should take into account. Fast lunch and dinner straight out of a can might be very harmful in the long run. There is always an alternative to everything.
Having a healthy balanced diet is very important. In the past year, canned tuna and other fish were counted as a very good source of protein and is beneficial when used for salads and healthy snacks.
Unfortunately, it has been recently proved that it contains huge amounts of mercury which can be extremely dangerous for your health. Therefore, sometimes having too much of something good might end up being detrimental to your health!
In general, all we need is a little information around canned food in order to be able to prioritize our choices when it comes to nutrition.
Take care and always read the label if you are not sure what is what!
Written by: Katja Harchen
Katja Harchen is the proud owner of Bish Bash Bangers, a German hot dog catering business based in London, UK. If your event requires a hot food van, hire Bish Bash Bangers to enjoy delicious free range meat sausages and hot dogs from selected award winning butchers in Germany.