So is pork healthy or not?

[Cristiaz]

I know that pork is a part of the TF diet and I love the TF diet...but I've read too that pigs are bottom feeders there for unhealthy. So what do you all think? Do you eat pork? My husband likes bacon so he gets a brand at whole foods that is Certified Humane which is cool. I was a vegetarian for 15 years, now I eat grass fed local beef and salmon (yum). I LOVED bacon as a kid and I kinda want to try it but unsure. Thoughts please!

[mamadelbosque]

I only buy cert organic/free range pork. Not because of health factor but because of how most pigs are raised - in tiny little cages where they can barely turn around. For that reason I won't buy most pork/bacon/ham. But, I don't think its 'bad' for you any more than any other whole food is.

[Llyra]

My pork comes from a local certified organic farm. So I know for sure that the pigs are being cared for properly and fed appropriately.

[AJP]

The thing about pigs being scavengers and therefore unhealthy to eat just doesn't hold water. Chickens are just as much scavengers as pigs, yet I don't recall anyone making a similar claim in their case.

IMO, how the animal is raised makes all the difference.

[Alyantavid]

I don't think it's bad for you. However, I only eat pork I raise myself. I won't eat grocery store pork just like I won't eat grocery store beef. It's all in how the animals are raised for me.

I don't get the bottom feeders deal at all? Pigs do eat anything, but you certainly don't have to feed them anything.

[Sol_y_Paz]

I won't eat any of it.

[snowbunny]

Pork tends to be a pretty good source for monounsaturated fat (same stuff that's in avocado and olive oil), and if it's pasture-raised it may be high in vitamin D as well. We don't eat a lot of pork, but we try to make sure it's pasture-raised when we do.

[Cristiaz]

Well my husband made bacon this morning and I didn't have any. I thought I might but don't think so now. If it was from a local source I might. I am SO picky about the meat I eat. I appreciate the responses. I'm gathering its not unhealthy so I don't have to worry about DH eating it on occasion.

[gcgirl]

Originally Posted by AJP

The thing about pigs being scavengers and therefore unhealthy to eat just doesn't hold water. Chickens are just as much scavengers as pigs, yet I don't recall anyone making a similar claim in their case.

IMO, how the animal is raised makes all the difference.

This. We get our pork from DH's work - the owner buys 4-H cows and pigs and lets the employees have the meat. Weird perk, but there it is.

[Hedgehog Mtn]

The jury is still out in my house. Having said that we raise our own pork, it's grass fed and they are surprisingly clean animals. They do root a lot but it's for tubers and bulb type foods in clean dirt LOL. I'm not sure it's the healthiest meat but for us it's the fastest. It takes 6 month to get 1 pig to butcher weight and 2 years for beef. Of course chickens are fast too but they are so much extra work.

We eat the pork while we wait for out beef to get full grown and take comfort in knowing that it is really healthy as far as pork goes and beats store bought hands down.

I'd like to see us get to the point of only eating <25% of our meat from pork someday but for right now what we can raise beats what we can buy.

Sara

[mamakah]

What is TF? sorry, I don't know all the lingo yet.

[Sol_y_Paz]

TF- It means traditional foods.

I know when a family member had cancer a nutritionist they saw at that time recommended they not eat pork during treatment. Pigs do not have sweat glands and cannot sweat out toxins she said, among some other things I forgot.

[AJP]

Originally Posted by Sol_y_Paz

Pigs do not have sweat glands and cannot sweat out toxins she said, among some other things I forgot.

Not to be a broken record, but again, chickens don't have sweat glands either, but no one seems to say don't eat them because of it. I wouldn't try to convince someone to eat pork if they don't want to, but these kinds of reasons not to (scavengers, no sweat glands, etc.) always sound to me like illogical attempts to "science up" an objection to pork, and they don't hold up under scrutiny. IMO. (I'm not that attached to pork myself, I'm just not able to hold my tongue sometimes about illogical arguments.)

[Liquesce]

I don't eat pork for religious reasons, which also means I hear a lot of the supposed health horrors of pork being touted as "proof of god's wisdom" and all that ... and, I do have to agree with AJP that not a lot of the claims seem to hold up to scrutiny. The only thing seems to be the matter of trichinellosis, which at the end of the day comes down to making sure certain meats are properly cooked, not necessarily striking them from your diet altogether. Kind of like salmonella doesn't mean we give up on poultry and eggs.

[Cristiaz]

Originally Posted by AJP

Not to be a broken record, but again, chickens don't have sweat glands either, but no one seems to say don't eat them because of it. I wouldn't try to convince someone to eat pork if they don't want to, but these kinds of reasons not to (scavengers, no sweat glands, etc.) always sound to me like illogical attempts to "science up" an objection to pork, and they don't hold up under scrutiny. IMO. (I'm not that attached to pork myself, I'm just not able to hold my tongue sometimes about illogical arguments.)

One thing too is that sweat glands are not the only way to detox. Everytime a living creature has a BM, toxins are omitted. Which is why its good to eat meat from animals who eat what they are designed to eat.