Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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So, while grocery shopping yesterday, my boyfriend and I were looking at an uncured spiral cut ham from Trader Joes. I'm assuming this, while nitrate/nitrite free, is not paleo because it contains sugar.

The ingredients were: Ham, Water, Refinery Syrup (ps, what is that?!?), sea salt, sodium lactate, dextrose, honey, & sodium diacetate. It also said it was glazed with Brown Sugar.

The nutritional info said one 2 oz. serving has 8g protein, and 6g sugar.

Should we just leave that alone? We're looking for a good "breakfast ham" that's uncured/Paleo. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!

flag	asked Mar 25 2012 at 13:07 Elle 610●8●25

Matt · Answer 1 · 2012-03-25 13:40:04Z UTC

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This product does appear to be a bit high in sugar. However, sugar is not not paleo. Excess sugar is. The tiny bit of sugar used in the cure isn't that big of a deal. The dose makes the poison.

answered Mar 25 2012 at 13:40

Matt
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	What would be "excess", just so I know I'm not getting too much per serving? – Elle Mar 25 2012 at 14:12
	A gram or two of sugar in the finished product doesn't seem excessive to me. But it's a completely subjective measure, which irritates people greatly. Our bodies can digest starch and sugars with little issue, so it seems silly to freak out about the littlest added amounts. – Matt Mar 25 2012 at 14:43

Aughra · Answer 2 · 2012-03-25 14:35:26Z UTC

I would stay away from any kind of frequent consumption of CAFO pork, which is what that ham is, despite being chemical nitrite free. Seems like a better occasional treat... But if it's only an occaisiobal treat, it seems worth it to source something raised responsibly and not fed a bunch of gmo soy and corn in confinement. A little research on google should be easy enough.

These days I normall just eat a whole buch of eggs cooked in butter, either a potato or a mess of kale and if I'm Still hungry I'll have some leftover meat from the night before or I'll scramble some grassfed ground beef with some kale and garlic For a sort of paleo hash. They sell organic bacon at my whole foods and pastured bacon at my farmers market which I buy occaisionally, but it isn't a staple of my diet.

macbuzz · Answer 3 · 2012-03-25 13:27:22Z UTC

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Sally Fallon, President of Weston A. Price and author of Nourishing Traditions says that pork needs to be marinaded or cured to prevent the "sludging" effect is has on our blood. I thought TJs had some non-nitrite/nitrate cured bacon or ham.

answered Mar 25 2012 at 13:27

macbuzz
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The only other ham I saw there was the Applegate lunch-meat kind of ham. What is the "sludging effect" you are speaking of? I have never heard about that – Elle Mar 25 2012 at 13:31

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The trader joes ham is cured in the respect Sally Fallon was referring to, but raided that, the science behind that particular claim is dubious. – Aughra Mar 25 2012 at 14:29

Raided = "besides". Sorry, typing on a phone. – Aughra Mar 25 2012 at 14:40

Sludging blood is nonsense pseudoscience I'm afraid. – Matt Mar 25 2012 at 14:44

I can't comment on pseudoscience but I can refer you to the study that was published in the WAP journal. westonaprice.org/food-features/… – macbuzz Mar 26 2012 at 20:37

Uncured Ham from Trader Joe’s

3 Answers