Ham is considered one of the tasty meat perfect for all kinds of occasion, from breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ham is easy to prepare and could be stored in longer time. However, do you know that there are a lot of types of ham and among one that is highly recommended is ham from Germany well known as Black Forest ham.
What Is Black Forest Ham?
Black forest ham is the variety of dry-cured smoked ham from Germany. The name Black Forest comes from the region in Germany and since 1997 this product is protected by law, which means any product using ‘Black Forest’ brand comes from Black Forest region. A fun fact about black forest ham is to get a high quality black forest ham you need three months to produce the Black Forest ham. The raw ham is not only salted but also mixed with other high quality ingredients such as coriander, garlic, juniper berries, pepper and other spices.
Nutritional Values of Forest Ham
Compared to other type of ham, black forest ham contains one-fifth of fat and its main characteristic is boneless. According to Hillsboro this type of ham contains around 160 calories and 10 of them come from fat. However, the fat profile of this Black Forest ham is quite safe for cholesterol level. To find out more about the health benefits of black forest ham, the list below will tell you in more details.
- Lower Calories Compared to other Ham Products
You could not expect to low calories intake when consuming ham products but compared to other variety of ham, black forest ham contains only 2 oz of serving size while other type of ham could read 4 oz of serving size. So, in other words, the calories from black forest ham are perfect choice to fulfil your calories intake without worrying about excessive consumption.
- Healthy Unsaturated Fats
There are a lot of types of fats and black forest ham contains unsaturated fats instead of saturated or trans fat. It means, fat contained in black forest ham is contributing in the production of HDL cholesterol or well known as ‘good’ cholesterol while other types of ham which contains saturated or trans fat may increase the level of LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol.
- Manages Cholesterol Level Well
As mentioned in the previous point, black forest ham is among the foods that lower cholesterol level because the HDL cholesterol is not only able to manage the level well but also improve the overall cardiovascular health to reduce the symptoms of high blood pressure and also the risk of heart attack and stroke.
- Contains Simple Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate is one of the essential compound you need to produce energy but excessive carbohydrate could lead to excessive store of fat in the skin cells which could lead to obesity or abnormal weight gain. Consuming black forest ham which contains simple carbohydrate that produce simple sugar could remove your worry about getting excessive weight gain.
- Safe to be Consumed by Diabetic Patients
Due to its simple sugar content, black forest ham is quite safe to be consumed by those who have been diagnosed with certain types of diabetes. Though of course, consuming this type of ham is supposed to be in moderate amount only or under supervision by the professional to make sure you manage your daily diet well.
- High Protein Contents
Just like any other animal products, the health benefits of meat, poultry and fish are high in protein though black forest ham is among the processed food, it is still among the highest source of animal protein. Speaking of the health benefits of protein, the complete protein contained in black forest ham is great for overall human health especially for muscle health and bone health.
- Excellent Source of Vitamin B Complex
It is not easy to find foods as excellent source of vitamin B complex. Some types of foods are only containing less types of vitamin B but you could find all kinds of types of vitamin B in black forest ham such as Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. Each of them has essential or prominent role in human metabolism.
- Rich of Some Essential Minerals
Not only rich of several vitamin B complex, black forest ham is also rich in some essential minerals especially iron and zinc. The health benefits of iron is closely related to the optimal production of red blood cells which has prominent function in delivering and distributing oxygen and nutrient throughout the body system.
- Good for Children Development
Vitamin B complex, protein, essential minerals are excellent combination for children development. During development stage, children need more nutrients than adults and their metabolism could tolerate something excessive better than the adults because during this stage their requirement of essential nutrients is higher than adults.
- Complete Nutrients for Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day but a lot of people decided to skip it due to some reasons such as not enough time to prepare healthy and nutritious foods for breakfast. Well, as mentioned in some points above, black forest ham are high in nutrients and easy to prepare, even in the short time you have for breakfast. Moreover, the carbohydrate content found in black forest ham is excellent source of energy you need to save the day.
Cautions of Black Forest Ham
The next question that may occur when talking about ham is whether this kind of food is healthy or not? Well, ham is delicious and super tasty but you have to be careful that eating meat has a lot of negative effect especially processed meat like ham.
- The process to produce ham required a lot of salt. It means ham contains high sodium. Excessive sodium will lead to some cardiovascular conditions such as heart failure and stroke.
- It is a common knowledge that red meat is excellent source of calcium but due to its long process, ham contains low calcium. So if you expect all the health benefits of calcium, don’t depend on ham to fulfil it.
- Besides sodium, to produce high quality and tasty ham you need nitrates. Excessive nitrates in your body could lead to certain health conditions and according to some scientific studies, too much nitrates could increase the risk of certain types of cancers.
Black forest ham is one type of ham that is quite safe to be consumed by those who have problem with cholesterol management but still you need to aware of its sodium content. The recommendation to consume this ham so you could get all the health benefits of black forest ham is by reducing sodium intake from other foods, so you could match your healthy living lifestyle with this tasty ham.