Do you have questions about nutrition? Send them to us at comer@lavanguardia.es, our nutritionist Aitor Sánchez will solve all your doubts.
Good morning, Aitor. My question is about York ham. I have heard that it has many additives and it is not healthy to eat it and I just love it. Which would you recommend I buy? Thank you and regards (Juan Carlos Mora, reader)
Hello Juan Carlos,
First of all, clarify that York ham does not exist as its own category. We can find very different qualities because manufacturers refer to it as “York type”. To give you an idea, something similar happens with Frankfurt type sausages, where we can find different qualities.
All types of cooked ham are still examples of processed red meat and are therefore a food to be limited and should not be abused.
It is true that some are advertised as more natural and with fewer additives, but that does not mean that we can have a free consumption of them. The best references within this family are those that have a cooked ham in most of its composition and hardly include other ingredients.
Less-category turkey and chicken cold cuts replace part of the meat with starches and sugars, giving rise to a much less nutritionally interesting formulation. So if you want to buy a higher quality product you could look for those that present 90 or 95% meat.
But I insist that it is still a processed red meat: even if we choose the best option on the market, we will still be facing a sausage. Ham, regardless of whether it is cooked or not, continues to use nitric salts in its curing, and these ingredients are associated with damage to our body and colorectal cancer, which is why we always recommend eating them as little as possible.
If you like it a lot, reduce quantities and frequency, and at least choose the highest quality ones
Hello Aitor. In summer I eat more salads because they are cooler, but I wonder if the pasta ones are healthy or should I reduce their consumption a little. If they’re not that good, is there a way to make them healthier? Thank you (Silvia Gómez, reader)
Hello Silvia,
Resorting to pasta salads in summer is a very good option to alternate and thus not get bored.
The problem is that in many homes the pasta salad is more like a plate of cold pasta with a piece of corn or tomato on top. Do you know what I mean? To that plate of colored ribbons or spirals that is as big as a plate of pasta in an Italian restaurant, but that is a little cooler? Well that same.
The idea would be to be able to include cooked pasta as one more ingredient, but not be the only protagonist of the dish. I recommend that you try to reduce proportions and that at most be a third of that refreshing first course.
If you really like pasta or refreshing starters I would recommend using a spiralizer to make zucchini noodles. Another option is to make linguini with a simple potato peeler. They will look like a pasta dish, to which you can add the same sauces and toppings, but with a serving of real vegetables.
I would also recommend alternating your salads with cold soups such as gazpachos, salmorejos, melon soup, or cucumber soup. They are very good ideas to eat more fruit and vegetables as a starter and also hydrate ourselves in a healthy way during the summer.
