Is hot dog considered junk food
How Bad Are Hot Dogs For You, And How Many Are Too Many?
As summer begins to wind down, many of us are working to make the most of every cookout and barbecue before the chill of fall. Enter hot dogs, an admittedly delicious staple of summertime thats not that good for us. Packed with sodium, fat and nitrates (which are linked to cancer), hot dogs dont exactly have the best reputation.
But exactly how many hot dogs is too many? We talked with nutritionists, and heres what they had to say about hot dogs and some healthier alternatives.
Just how unhealthy are hot dogs, anyway?
The short answer, sadly, is that a traditional hot dog think a ballpark hot dog is very unhealthy.
The traditional ballpark dogs tend to be very high in sodium (over 500 mg in one hot dog), which can contribute to high blood pressure, explained Jenna Stangland, a registered dietician and co-founder of A4 Health whos also the team dietitian for the Minnesota Timberwolves. The quality of the meat can make a hot dog unhealthy, and this is because many times hot dogs are not 100% beef, chicken or turkey they are processed meats and may contain what is called MSM.
MSM is mechanically separated meat, Stangland explained, and this means the hot dog is a combination of meat, veins, tendons and skin.
Processed meats may also have added nitrates, which, when combined with protein, can form a compound that has been linked to certain cancers, Strangland continued. You want to look for a 100% meat (or veggie) hot dog that is not processed, cured or with added fillers.
Another unhealthy component of the hot dog is fat, she said. Hot dogs can be high in saturated fat, and that is a fat that can increase risk of cardiovascular diseases.
If you love hot dogs and are going to eat them anyway, how many is too many?
Theres no specific number, but try to think of a traditional hot dog as a once in a while food instead of an everyday food.
I would say this is a once-in-a-while food that would fall into the once-a-month category, especially for people who have high blood pressure (hypertension) or are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, said Maggie Michalczyk, registered dietitian and founder of the blog Once Upon a Pumpkin.
Luckily, there are a handful of healthier hot dog options that you can feel comfortable eating more frequently, although still probably not every day.
There are absolutely ways to seek out a healthy dog and be able to enjoy a grilling night out, Stangland said. You want to look for an uncured hot dog without nitrates, 100% beef (grass-fed is even better), chicken, turkey or pork, and typically water listed as the next ingredient. You want to find a label with the sodium content below 450 mg and the saturated fat content as low as possible.
If you aim for a hot dog within those parameters that incorporates healthy toppings, its a way to enjoy hot dogs in moderation throughout the summer months. And while there are healthier hot dogs (or hot dog-like items), some of them are just as processed as traditional dogs so make sure you choose wisely.
Which hot dog options are the least unhealthy?
The Healthiest And Least Healthy Hot Dogs
For a chicken sausage choice, Applegate makes a great organic chicken sausage or Thin n Trim Gourmet chicken sausage, Stangland said. Both very lean choices and no processed meat, just 100% chicken.
For a plant-based dog, Strangland recommended Jack and Annies Applejack sausage, with whole ingredients including jackfruit. Plus theyre not overly high in sodium and still pack great flavor. Yves tofu dog is the lowest sodium out there and is another good plant-based option if you like tofu.
If youre thinking about totally abandoning hot dogs on a grilling night out, Strangland suggested other great grill choices: kabobs with chicken, or chicken or turkey sausage.
These are lean meats so you get far less fat, more high-quality protein and without fillers or preservatives, Stangland said. You could make a bun with an alternative protein choice such as seafood lobster roll or shrimp roll or a veggie dog by just stuffing the bun with beans, cabbage, onion and mustard. This would be another way to eliminate the saturated fat while still having a bun filled with delicious foods on the inside!
While you shouldnt have a traditional ballpark hot dog every day, having one once in a while is probably OK. And there are a lot of other great end-of-summer options.
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Is Your Hot Dog Toxic or Nutritious?
Does hot dog = junk food in your mind? A hot dog can definitely be one of the more horrible junk food meals you feed your family, but there are actually many ways to turn a toxic hot dog into a nutritious meal. Dont give in to eating a hot dog at the family bonfire just take some extra steps to ensure youre eating the right ingredients, not the toxic ones!
Lets begin with the Frank
First, can someone please tell me why its called a frank? Because frankly I dont understand. And to be frank, let me tell you that the hot dog franks available in the market are some of the most disgusting food products Ive ever looked at. (Sorry pun gets away from me sometimes.)
I went to a super market to get the ingredients needed to make my toxic hot dog for the main photo of this post. It was just too embarrassing to buy some of the worst options, but I snapped a few photos in the store.
Check out the ingredients in the hot dog franks. In this collage I have the worst option on the top, a well-known top seller on the bottom left, and a grass-fed organic option on the bottom right (which is readily available in most markets in my area).
The worst option (on the top) is made mostly of pink slime or mechanically separated chicken. Pink slime is one of the most disgusting products made by the industrial food industry: leftover meat parts, cartilage, and who knows what washed in an acid formula and mechanically pressed with chemical preservatives and additives into a slimy substance that is used to make cheap meat products (like these hot dog franks and almost any chicken food on fast food restaurant menus). This pink slime frank is also full of corn syrup, artificial flavors and colorings, and chemical preservatives.
The next option is the popular holy hot dog frank. Most people assume these are the good ones since they are kosher and made of high quality beef. First of all, there is no claim to the quality of the beef used in this hot dog. So is this hot dog frank worth considering? NO WAY! Look at that ingredient list. While most of the hot dog is made of beef and water, the product cant avoid adding plenty of chemical additives and flavorings in the franks. Pay close attention to this: hydrolyzed soy protein, or hydrolyzed vegetable protein of any sort, contains free glutamic acid which is also known as MSG (monosodium glutamate). MSG is a toxic food additive that Im not willing to feed my family!
Finally, there are reasonably priced, delicious grass-fed hot dogs available with nutritious ingredients. I found this option in multiple grocery stores, so there should be a decent option available for you as long as youre willing to look at the labels, look at the ingredients list, and even pay a little extra. The best option would be to find franks made by a local grass-fed beef farmer who makes minimally processed hot dog franks or even an authentic bratwurst or liverwurst frank.
The Hot Dog Bun
How bad could a hot dog bun be? Its bread!
A hot dog bun can be REALLY BAD! I was almost as overwhelmed with the chemically-laden hot dug bun options as I was with the pink slime franks.
You can see from the ingredient lists in this collage that the top right and top left buns are pretty bad. These are brand name buns containing an array of chemical preservatives, artificial flavors, artificial colors, yeast extracts (MSG), and dough conditioners. Most interesting was the option on the top right: with a big green label that says Nutritional Spotlight highlighting things like calories, fat grams, sodium, etc.. The photo below the Nutritional Spotlight shows that same packages ingredients list, which happened to be the worst one I found in the store.
The bottom left photo shows the ingredients of a store-bought hot dog bun I would consider better than the others. It is made with enriched flour and has some additives I dont like feeding my family, but I would definitely eat this option over the other two since it does not contain the chemical preservatives, artificial coloring, MSG, and dough conditioners.
The best option for a hot dog bun would be an artisan roll that you find at a bread store or make in your own kitchen! These hot dog and hamburger buns (pictured on the bottom right of the collage) are simple and delicious!
Now for the Condiments
Of course there are many different condiments you could add to a hot dog to make it unique, but I thought Id inspect the three main hot dog condiments found on any typical dog: ketchup, mustard, and relish.
Ketchup
In this comparison photo there are three store-bought ketchup options. The top left photo is by far the most popular ketchup brand in the market. The ingredients arent horrible, except the product is made mainly with a processed tomato product (tomato concentrate) and both high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. The label also proclaims that they use their own tomatoes. That sounds like code language for genetically modified plants (GMO), since they own the seed. I prefer non-GMO organic ingredients.
The second most popular ketchup brand on the bottom left is almost the same as the first.
The bottom right photo is an organic ketchup that doesnt contain GMOs or corn syrup. All the ingredients are organic even the spices. This is obviously the best option for a store-bought ketchup.
The best option for ketchup would be a homemade version, and even better a lacto-fermented homemade version like this orthis.
Mustard
Classic mustard is not that bad, and most of the commercial products on the market offer products made with simple, all natural ingredients. Ive put together a few photos of flavored mustard products, such as a honey mustard or sweet mustard to show how quickly a natural mustard product can turn into a toxic food product, filled with artificial flavors and colors, corn syrup, chemical preservatives and other toxic ingredients.
Stick with an organic mustard like the one pictured on the bottom right. Simple, organic and completely natural. Or, heres a homemade fermented mustard recipe.
Relish
How could a simple, sweetened pickle turn into a toxic mess of ingredients? Just ask most of the companies producing the relish products in the market. In this photo collage the top and bottom left photos show the ingredients in the most popular brand name products selling relish.
Both these products have high fructose corn syrup, chemical preservatives, artificial coloring and even ALUM (aluminum)! All that instead of chopping up some pickles?
I prefer just finely chopping up my homemade lacto-fermented pickles. With the sweet ketchup on my hot dog theres no need to sweeten up the relish. If you have to have sweet relish, then stir a little coconut sugar, maple syrup, or honey into your chopped pickles.
Closing Notes
As you can see it is truly simple to eat a nutritious hot dog just read the ingredient list and choose wisely! It can mean the difference between consuming toxic waste that attacks your body or consuming nutritiousreal food that your body recognizes and uses for good.
PS: Make your hot dog extra nutritious by loading it with plenty of finely chopped organic vegetables like tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers!
