After a flurry of posts on the Healthy Living How To Facebook Page on Friday, it became painfully apparent I have been making bacon all wrong. In other words, I am one of the few who still make bacon a few slices at a time on the stove in a skillet. Silly me. After an informal survey of my friends, “The Baconistas”, the results are in… real Baconistas bake their bacon in the oven. So, if you are still like me, slaving over a stove getting splattered with bacon grease, this post is for you!
I have to say, I was a little surprised by the push back and “dislikes” from a few of the Healthy Living How To Facebook Page followers, adamant that bacon is not healthy. I should have put a disclaimer on the page, near the “like” button. Something along the lines of, “I eat bacon, bacon is healthy, like this page at your own risk”. All in good fun, of course. More seriously though, within the framework of my food philosophy and low-carb lifestyle, bacon is very much a healthy food choice. Tomorrow's blog post will outline exactly what my food philosophy entails. Stay tuned if you are interested.
Moving right along, I have to give credit where credit is due. My friend Keri, personal trainer, weight loss coach and Baconista, is the one who actually turned me on to oven-baked bacon, when she recently boasted of her bacon eating adventures. This petite, healthy and seriously fit 130-lb chick eats a pound of oven-baked bacon at a time. Now that's some serious bacon eating!
Let's keep this in context though, as eating a pound of bacon along with a bunch of processed carbohydrates and washing it down with high-fructose corn syrup is not healthy. However, when living a low-carb, paleo or primal lifestyle, where the majority of your nutritional intake is comprised of healthy and whole real foods, bacon is most certainly a healthy fat and protein option.
Listen to what Keri's partner in crime, Paul Kriegler, Corporate Registered Dietitian for Life Time Fitness, has to say about bacon…
To be honest, bacon makes everything better. Anything that makes you smile every time you smell it cooking, is definitely a “good” food in my book. We're supposed to enjoy what we eat. If you've never enjoyed eating Brussels sprouts, try them with bacon and you may be smiling and chomping a nutrient dense veggie for the first time in a while. In my experience as a Registered Dietitian, putting bacon back on the “good” side of the menu makes it a whole lot easier to coax people away from their franken-foods lifestyle that is actually detrimental to their health and waistline.
Oven-Baked Bacon alongside Eggplant French “Toast” inspired by Maria Emmerich and this post.
♥ How To Oven-Bake Bacon ♥
Step One
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Step Four
for less chewy and more crispy. For medium to thin cut bacon bake 15-20 minutes.
Step Five
