Natalia Naman Temesgen: Confronting the processed meat muddle

It's November already! I've always loved the first of the month. It feels like anything is possible, almost like a more frequent version of the New Year. This month I'm trying to limit some of my favorite foods on the market: bacon, sausage, ham and hot dogs.

Wait -- what? Bacon?! No more bacon and eggs? No more bacon-wrapped steak? No more maple bacon cupcakes (they are good, y'all!)? What does this mean?

Let me back up, just in case you missed it last week. The World Health Organization shocked the world Monday by informing us that processed meats cause bowel cancer, and red meat probably does too. They said 34,000 people die annually from cancer caused by diets high in processed meats and that we ought to cut down our intake to prevent health problems.

And while many read this and wept over the fact that they ate their last McGriddle without fully appreciating the processed meat within, many others said, "What do you mean by 'cut it down' exactly?" A fair question.

A wise person once said. "Everything in moderation." So does a diet high in processed meat mean eating bacon for breakfast, hotdogs for lunch, and kielbasa for dinner? Or does a deli turkey sandwich a few days a week and some bacon and eggs after church here and there qualify as high? The WHO says their scientists and researchers can get us a report on "the public health implications of the latest science and the place of processed meat and red meat within the context of an overall healthy diet" sometime in 2016. So until then, what to do? Go vegetarian? Vegan? Tape your mouth shut?

I'll admit, staying healthy and sane feels like an impossible standard sometimes. Sometimes we don't even feel like making the effort. I've certainly stepped outside the traditional diet many times. I do the extra legwork of juggling healthy eating and indulging in a slice of cake or pepperoni pizza from time to time. Being a Type 1 diabetic complicates things further: if my sugar doesn't come out right, I try to learn how to dose more accurately next time. But sometimes, I just say, "Ah, I tried. If this pizza kills me, I'll have lived a happier life for eating it."

But as human as that sentiment may be, it's pretty stupid. Governor Huckabee as recently as the last debate said something very important: "We don't have a health insurance problem in this country, we have a health problem." It's not as if the pizza is going to shoot me point blank or run over me in its truck while I cross the street. If the pizza kills me, it will probably take its sweet time in the form of heart disease or cancer. And it won't be happy.

So, I'll cut it down. The WHO thinks we'll be happier and healthier for it -- and it's the first of the month. Anything is possible.

Natalia Naman Temesgen is an independent contractor. Contact her at nntemesgen@gmail.com

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Natalia Naman Temesgen: Confronting the processed meat muddle."