Wait, Why are nitrates bad again?

If you're like me, as you're learning more and more about living a greener life, eating healthier, eliminating toxins from your home, you're a little overwhelmed.  To sort it all out, I have created categories in my mind: Good and Bad.  Phalates-Bad.  Phytos-Good.  Parabens-Bad.  Antioxidants-Good.  Nitrates-Bad.  BPA-Bad. Houseplants-Good.  While this is worthwhile sorting system, it omits one thing...the why.  It's all fine and good that when I'm shopping I can read the back of a package and know what I want to see and what I don't want to see, but when confronted with someone how's asking me to back up my decisions...I get a little quiet. (" Because it's in the "bad" column in my head!" Isn't a really good argument.)  So when the other moms were talking about Lunchables, how they're on sale, how their kids only eat the meat, or cheese, or candy out of them, ect.  I stayed quiet.  I don't feed my kids Lunchables (much to Caden's dismay, "Why can't you send me junk in my lunch like everyone else?!")  because they're super processed and the meat contains nitrates.  Nitrates--bad.  But why is that again?  I couldn't remember.  So I did a little research, to remind my self why I never buy bacon for Breakfast-For-Dinner that has nitrates in it.

I looked at three different websites that came up when I Googled "nitrates in meat".  It's not really that technical, so I can pretty much summarize it for you.
1. There are nitrates that are added to meats to help preserve them.  For centuries we've cured meat with salt, but adding nitrates adds better flavor and preserves the color. 

2.  When nitrates are added to meat to preserve them, they become nitrites.  There is conflicting research on whether nitrites  cause cancer.

3. Nitrites are added to preserve the meat prevent bacterial from growing---causing botulism.

4. The amount of nitrites that are allowed to be added to food (we're talking bacon, hot dogs, ham, those kinds of meat.  Not poultry and hamburger.) is controlled by the USDA to prevent toxicity concerns.  I read in two different articles that in order for the level of nitrites to become toxic to humans a 154 lb person would have to quickly consume almost 19 lbs of meat.  (I don't even think Adam Richman could complete this challenge!)  The fact is that the salt content would kill you before the nitrites had a chance. How do nitrates kill you?  It put it simply, they don't allow your blood to carry enough oxygen. 

5. While I like the idea of adding something to prevent food poisoning, I don't like food additives.  Proper refrigeration and eating the food in a timely manner (have you ever really looked at the expiration dates on cured meats?!?) is a safer alternative to pumping the food full of preservatives. 

Why don't I eat nitrates?  Now I can say, it's because it's an additional chemical that is added to my food, of which I'm already trying to decrease the number.  Basically, any food (This is NOT something I read in an article, this is just me) that would need nitrates added is going to be bad for you.  It's not a whole food, and (vegetarian bias here) it's a meat, so already bad for you even in it's most natural form.  Honestly, there are a lot of nitrite free products readily available now.  Even Oscar Mayer makes preservative free options for hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts.  Give the choice between adding something that *may* cause cancer and DOES decrease the ability of your blood cells to carry oxygen and not.  I choose not.  For my family--if they would just all see the light and stop eating meat all together this would be a moot point!!!! (Not entirely true because certain veggies actually have naturally occurring nitrates in them, but many of them also contain vitamin c, which limits the negative effects of the nitrates.