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Bacon is one of the few things that I refuse to eat. I don't understand how anyone likes the stuff. It makes me wonder, if the all-American breakfast was a bo

Bacon is one of the few things that I refuse to eat. I don't understand how anyone likes the stuff. It makes me wonder, if the all-American breakfast was a bowl of fruit and a glass of milk, would there have been an obesity epidemic?

beachstartup 13y ago
> I don't understand how anyone likes the stuff. i can see how someone wouldn't want to eat bacon (for a variety of reasons, health, veganism, sodium intake, religion.... lots of things), but i can't see how they "don't understand" how anyone likes bacon. it's primarily fat and salt. how is this a huge mystery to you? you REALLY don't undersatnd how a fatty, salty pork product is popular? _REALLY_?
- jl6 13y ago
  "I don't understand" is an idiom in which the user feigns ignorance in order to paint an opinion as so irrational that the only explanation for it being held must be some unknown mitigating factor. With the holder of the opinion typically absent, no such mitigating factor is offered, and through a kind of proof by contradiction, the user hopes to score a victory for his opposing viewpoint without having to actually come up with any arguments.
  - beachstartup 13y ago
    you generally don't say "i don't understand why..." for things that are obviously understandable. you usually use it for things that are inexplicably broken in some way. "i don't understand why they can't move these things 2 inches to the left" "i don't understand why the entrance to this parking garage is blocked by trash cans every tuesday" "i don't understand why they can't make this app remember your login" "i don't understand why you can't change the temperature on this thermostat" "i don't understand why anyone likes bacon" hmm.. which of these is not like the others?
tptacek 13y ago
Yes. People who eat bacon and eggs for breakfast are probably demographically favored not to be obese, because they by implication have access to a grocery store and time to prepare their own food.
- dylandrop 13y ago
  Uhhhh.... unless they don't make the bacon and eggs themselves. See: Denny's, McDonald's, Burger King, etc. This is not to say that bacon and eggs are solely responsible for the obesity epidemic, but I think it's kind of silly to say that the only people who eat bacon and eggs are those who cook it for themselves, or are more healthy.
  - rayiner 13y ago
    A Bacon, egg, and cheese McMuffin has ~300 calories, which is a perfectly reasonable breakfast. The obesity epidemic has nothing to do with bacon and eggs, either home cooked or from McDonalds. They're so rich its hard to eat enough to blow your calorie budget. The problem is french fries (500 for a large order at McD's), soda (~150 per can), pasta, etc. Nobody would order their hamburger with a side of steak, but a side of fries seems to be a lot less food and is much less filling, despite having a similar number of calories. Nobody would order 15-20 slices of bacon after a big meal at the Cheesecake Factory, but will happily order a giant slice of cheesecake or similar desert, which has just as many calories. Nobody would pick up 7-8 strips of bacon on the way home from work before dinner, but will happily grab a donut and coffee, which has just as many calories.
    - bluedino 13y ago
      >> A Bacon, egg, and cheese McMuffin has ~300 calories And aside from the sodium and cholesterol that might be a reasonable breakfast. It's no bowl of oatmeal or banana, but it's not going to make you fat. On the other hand, a sausage+egg+cheese McGriddle is going to be 500 calories, two hashbrowns is another 300, and an orange juice is going to be another 200. You've hit 1,000 calories, half your allotment for the day, and it's not even 7:30 in the morning.
nightski 13y ago
I'd guess sugar and high GI foods are more responsible for this than bacon. For example I'd imagine sugar coated cereals are likely more to blame than bacon.
jrockway 13y ago
Trust me, people aren't getting fat off of bacon and eggs. They're getting fat off of sugar water. The simple answer is satiety vs. calories. Bacon and eggs have a lot of calories, but you feel full for a while after eating them. Sugar water has almost as many calories, but you never feel full. So you drink 3000 calories of soda a day, and then you're fat. Basically, any premade food you find in the store is designed to not satiate you, so you eat (and buy) a lot of it. The food companies have shareholders that want 10% YOY growth, and the best way to get that growth is to get you to eat 10% more calories. Since most people buy processed food rather than cook their own, they get 10% fatter every year. (As someone who occasionally eats processed food, I'll tell you that it never makes you feel full, and you can definitely pack on the pounds without noticing until it's become a real problem.)
- jere 13y ago
  >Bacon and eggs have a lot of calories I don't disagree with most of what you said, but a lot of people don't realize that eggs aren't really that high in calories. A large egg is ~70 calories. 2-3 is the most you usually get in a restaurant, so you're talking 200 calories for a meal. That's nothing. Bacon on the other hand.... Anyway, let me just say that this thread is like stepping into some kind of bizarro world. Bacon is so ridiculously delicious that I'm having a hard time believing this article.
  - deleted 13y ago
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  - debacle 13y ago
    The same volume of celery has about 4 calories, IIRC. Everything is relative, and I think the GP and I would agree that eggs are not unhealthy.
crazygringo 13y ago
Are you American? In many parts of the world, "bacon" is almost entirely fat, sold at room temperature, and kind of gross. I've met a lot of non-Americans that were totally grossed out by bacon in their home country (with good reason), until they ate properly fried bacon, with good meat content, in the US. Every single one became an instant convert. :) However, there are certainly plenty of people who think it's too heavy for breakfast, at least most days.
- March_Hare 13y ago
  Funny that you mention American bacon as having a good meat content as I've only ever seen streaky bacon in the states, which tends to be very fatty. I wouldn't even know where to buy back bacon in the midwest.
bluedino 13y ago
The glass of milk goes with the bacon and eggs - but fruit really wasn't something most Americans had in the 1800's. Access to a cow, pig, and chicken were common though. What's the reason beef became so popular over lamb/goat/deer? Americans seem to stick to beef/chicken/pork when it comes to meats.
- bkmartin 13y ago
  Beef, chicken, and pork are the cheapest most cost efficient animal proteins to produce. Its more of a matter of yield and fat content (eg. flavor). A single beef steer can produce more than 600lbs of meat. You can't get that much meat from a lamb, goat, and deer combined. Heck you couldn't get that from 2 of each of them. So you feed 1 mouth and get lots of yield. Chickens are the easiest of the poultry to raise and most versatile for cooking. Almost everyone eats chicken, so high demand. Even people who "don't eat red meat" will eat chicken and fish. And then there is the pig. Easy to domesticate, produces delicious meat at a high yield... and Bacon. Lamb, if prepared properly can be very good. But beef, chicken and pork are much more forgiving. *grew up raising beef, chicken, and pork. Hunted deer. Had a pet goat (he was a jerk). Never raised sheep, but wouldn't mind having some lamb in my freezer.
teh_klev 13y ago
I feel the same about liver, kidneys and other dark coloured wobbly bits in an animal. But hey I know a few older folks who eat both bacon AND these suspicious looking parts and they're perfectly healthy, normal sized and don't have health problems. Obesity isn't caused by bacon alone, it's lack of exercise, hugely fat and suger laden treats and booze...amongst other things. Having bacon for breakfast also makes you less hungry during the day and so you snack less on crap until the next meal. The problem with fruit is that you burn through it on no time at all and within and hour and a half you're hungry again. Bacon seems to have an excellent slow release of energy and provided you don't scoff the crispy fatty rind is perfectly healthy.
B-Con 13y ago
> Bacon is one of the few things that I refuse to eat. I don't refuse it, but I don't really care for it. It's pretty much just fat, which I don't find appealing.
rayiner 13y ago
I'm pretty sure I could lose weight on a bacon and eggs diet. A strip of pan-fried bacon has 40-50 calories. 3 strips is a pretty filling portion, because it's so rich, and that has 120-150 calories. Fry a couple of eggs in the bacon grease, and you've got yourself another 160 calories, for a total of 280-310 calories. In comparison, a fruit cup and a glass of 2% milk will probably be pushing 200. Importantly, with the bacon meal you won't be hungry again until lunch, while with the fruit and milk you'll be hungry by 10 am and run the risk of eating too much at lunch. Americans are fat because of perverse incentives in the restaurant industry. For example, your morning coffee place never used to make much money. Black coffee, which has like no calories, isn't a high-margin business. Enter Starbucks, which upsells you on coffee with sugary syrup and high-margin pastries. Nobody would pick up a 6-ounce sirloin steak or 10 slices of bacon with their coffee, but will happily pick up a blueberry scone that has just as many calories. Restaurants also upsell you on portion sizes, because selling you twice as much food for only 50% more is very profitable when food costs are a fraction of your total costs. The difference between a sensible sized plate of pasta and the portions you get in American restaurants is 10 slices of bacon easily.

beachstartup 13y ago

> I don't understand how anyone likes the stuff. i can see how someone wouldn't want to eat bacon (for a variety of reasons, health, veganism, sodium intake, religion.... lots of things), but i can't see how they "don't understand" how anyone likes bacon. it's primarily fat and salt. how is this a huge mystery to you? you REALLY don't undersatnd how a fatty, salty pork product is popular? _REALLY_?

jl6 13y ago
"I don't understand" is an idiom in which the user feigns ignorance in order to paint an opinion as so irrational that the only explanation for it being held must be some unknown mitigating factor. With the holder of the opinion typically absent, no such mitigating factor is offered, and through a kind of proof by contradiction, the user hopes to score a victory for his opposing viewpoint without having to actually come up with any arguments.
- beachstartup 13y ago
  you generally don't say "i don't understand why..." for things that are obviously understandable. you usually use it for things that are inexplicably broken in some way. "i don't understand why they can't move these things 2 inches to the left" "i don't understand why the entrance to this parking garage is blocked by trash cans every tuesday" "i don't understand why they can't make this app remember your login" "i don't understand why you can't change the temperature on this thermostat" "i don't understand why anyone likes bacon" hmm.. which of these is not like the others?

tptacek 13y ago

Yes. People who eat bacon and eggs for breakfast are probably demographically favored not to be obese, because they by implication have access to a grocery store and time to prepare their own food.

dylandrop 13y ago
Uhhhh.... unless they don't make the bacon and eggs themselves. See: Denny's, McDonald's, Burger King, etc. This is not to say that bacon and eggs are solely responsible for the obesity epidemic, but I think it's kind of silly to say that the only people who eat bacon and eggs are those who cook it for themselves, or are more healthy.
- rayiner 13y ago
  A Bacon, egg, and cheese McMuffin has ~300 calories, which is a perfectly reasonable breakfast. The obesity epidemic has nothing to do with bacon and eggs, either home cooked or from McDonalds. They're so rich its hard to eat enough to blow your calorie budget. The problem is french fries (500 for a large order at McD's), soda (~150 per can), pasta, etc. Nobody would order their hamburger with a side of steak, but a side of fries seems to be a lot less food and is much less filling, despite having a similar number of calories. Nobody would order 15-20 slices of bacon after a big meal at the Cheesecake Factory, but will happily order a giant slice of cheesecake or similar desert, which has just as many calories. Nobody would pick up 7-8 strips of bacon on the way home from work before dinner, but will happily grab a donut and coffee, which has just as many calories.
  - bluedino 13y ago
    >> A Bacon, egg, and cheese McMuffin has ~300 calories And aside from the sodium and cholesterol that might be a reasonable breakfast. It's no bowl of oatmeal or banana, but it's not going to make you fat. On the other hand, a sausage+egg+cheese McGriddle is going to be 500 calories, two hashbrowns is another 300, and an orange juice is going to be another 200. You've hit 1,000 calories, half your allotment for the day, and it's not even 7:30 in the morning.

nightski 13y ago

I'd guess sugar and high GI foods are more responsible for this than bacon. For example I'd imagine sugar coated cereals are likely more to blame than bacon.

jrockway 13y ago

Trust me, people aren't getting fat off of bacon and eggs. They're getting fat off of sugar water. The simple answer is satiety vs. calories. Bacon and eggs have a lot of calories, but you feel full for a while after eating them. Sugar water has almost as many calories, but you never feel full. So you drink 3000 calories of soda a day, and then you're fat. Basically, any premade food you find in the store is designed to not satiate you, so you eat (and buy) a lot of it. The food companies have shareholders that want 10% YOY growth, and the best way to get that growth is to get you to eat 10% more calories. Since most people buy processed food rather than cook their own, they get 10% fatter every year. (As someone who occasionally eats processed food, I'll tell you that it never makes you feel full, and you can definitely pack on the pounds without noticing until it's become a real problem.)

jere 13y ago
>Bacon and eggs have a lot of calories I don't disagree with most of what you said, but a lot of people don't realize that eggs aren't really that high in calories. A large egg is ~70 calories. 2-3 is the most you usually get in a restaurant, so you're talking 200 calories for a meal. That's nothing. Bacon on the other hand.... Anyway, let me just say that this thread is like stepping into some kind of bizarro world. Bacon is so ridiculously delicious that I'm having a hard time believing this article.
- deleted 13y ago
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- debacle 13y ago
  The same volume of celery has about 4 calories, IIRC. Everything is relative, and I think the GP and I would agree that eggs are not unhealthy.

crazygringo 13y ago

Are you American? In many parts of the world, "bacon" is almost entirely fat, sold at room temperature, and kind of gross. I've met a lot of non-Americans that were totally grossed out by bacon in their home country (with good reason), until they ate properly fried bacon, with good meat content, in the US. Every single one became an instant convert. :) However, there are certainly plenty of people who think it's too heavy for breakfast, at least most days.

March_Hare 13y ago
Funny that you mention American bacon as having a good meat content as I've only ever seen streaky bacon in the states, which tends to be very fatty. I wouldn't even know where to buy back bacon in the midwest.

bluedino 13y ago

The glass of milk goes with the bacon and eggs - but fruit really wasn't something most Americans had in the 1800's. Access to a cow, pig, and chicken were common though. What's the reason beef became so popular over lamb/goat/deer? Americans seem to stick to beef/chicken/pork when it comes to meats.

bkmartin 13y ago
Beef, chicken, and pork are the cheapest most cost efficient animal proteins to produce. Its more of a matter of yield and fat content (eg. flavor). A single beef steer can produce more than 600lbs of meat. You can't get that much meat from a lamb, goat, and deer combined. Heck you couldn't get that from 2 of each of them. So you feed 1 mouth and get lots of yield. Chickens are the easiest of the poultry to raise and most versatile for cooking. Almost everyone eats chicken, so high demand. Even people who "don't eat red meat" will eat chicken and fish. And then there is the pig. Easy to domesticate, produces delicious meat at a high yield... and Bacon. Lamb, if prepared properly can be very good. But beef, chicken and pork are much more forgiving. *grew up raising beef, chicken, and pork. Hunted deer. Had a pet goat (he was a jerk). Never raised sheep, but wouldn't mind having some lamb in my freezer.

teh_klev 13y ago

I feel the same about liver, kidneys and other dark coloured wobbly bits in an animal. But hey I know a few older folks who eat both bacon AND these suspicious looking parts and they're perfectly healthy, normal sized and don't have health problems. Obesity isn't caused by bacon alone, it's lack of exercise, hugely fat and suger laden treats and booze...amongst other things. Having bacon for breakfast also makes you less hungry during the day and so you snack less on crap until the next meal. The problem with fruit is that you burn through it on no time at all and within and hour and a half you're hungry again. Bacon seems to have an excellent slow release of energy and provided you don't scoff the crispy fatty rind is perfectly healthy.

B-Con 13y ago

> Bacon is one of the few things that I refuse to eat. I don't refuse it, but I don't really care for it. It's pretty much just fat, which I don't find appealing.

rayiner 13y ago

I'm pretty sure I could lose weight on a bacon and eggs diet. A strip of pan-fried bacon has 40-50 calories. 3 strips is a pretty filling portion, because it's so rich, and that has 120-150 calories. Fry a couple of eggs in the bacon grease, and you've got yourself another 160 calories, for a total of 280-310 calories. In comparison, a fruit cup and a glass of 2% milk will probably be pushing 200. Importantly, with the bacon meal you won't be hungry again until lunch, while with the fruit and milk you'll be hungry by 10 am and run the risk of eating too much at lunch. Americans are fat because of perverse incentives in the restaurant industry. For example, your morning coffee place never used to make much money. Black coffee, which has like no calories, isn't a high-margin business. Enter Starbucks, which upsells you on coffee with sugary syrup and high-margin pastries. Nobody would pick up a 6-ounce sirloin steak or 10 slices of bacon with their coffee, but will happily pick up a blueberry scone that has just as many calories. Restaurants also upsell you on portion sizes, because selling you twice as much food for only 50% more is very profitable when food costs are a fraction of your total costs. The difference between a sensible sized plate of pasta and the portions you get in American restaurants is 10 slices of bacon easily.