I’m fortunate enough to live in a warm climate where fresh produce is available year-round, but not everyone can go to their local farmers’ market or co-op whenever they want!
Farm-to-table cuisine is great, primal is the ideal too, but the reality is that cooking with fresh, local ingredients requires access and time to shop and prepare meals that not everyone enjoys. Well, not always. Many people depend on preserved food for most or all of the year to meet their meat and eating needs, with “preserved” meaning frozen, canned, dried or fermented.
Are Canned Vegetables Healthy?
Whenever the topic of canned food comes up, I inevitably come across the question of whether canned vegetables are nutritious, safe, or even primal. (And I inevitably get comments about how we don’t need vegetables at all, which I discuss in my The Definitive Guide to the Carnivore Diet.) Sure, the Grok wouldn’t have eaten canned vegetables.
But modern humans spend almost every minute of every day engaging with technology in ways our ancestors might not have imagined, from highly engineered mattresses with cooling pads to air fryers to regulate our sleeping temperature. The device you are reading this post right now.
So I’m not worried about drawing some primal line in the sand in food canning. However other questions are important. How does canned food stack up to fresh or frozen?
Are Canned Vegetables as Nutritious as Fresh or Frozen?
It depends on which vegetable and which nutrient you look at, but in general, canning reduces the amount of nutrients compared to fresh or fresh. Frozen Vegetables. But this is not true across the board. Sometimes, specific nutrients are actually higher in packaged offerings.
Furthermore—and this is an important point— the loss of nutrients due to canning is often gone by the time the food is on your plate. Canning exposes food to high heat, so much of the loss of nutrients is essentially due to the “cooking” that canned food undergoes. Most frozen vegetables withstand only a quick blanching before flash freezing. Thus, if you compare fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables immediately after harvesting and processing, canned usually looks the worst, nutrient-wise.
However, research shows that canned vegetables retain their nutrient levels as they sit on the shelves, while frozen and fresh vegetables lose nutrients, bringing them on par with canned. Once you factor in storing and then cooking fresh and frozen vegetables, you may find that the initial disparities are very small because you’re just putting it in your mouth.
Clearly, the best choices are fresh vegetables that are eaten as close to harvesting as possible. The reality, however, is that the produce at your supermarket can be several weeks after it’s been picked, making it less “fresh” than you imagine. There’s also the whole issue of seasonality and regional availability to consider.
Overall, in most circumstances, canned vegetables are going to be as good or nearly as good as grocery store or frozen vegetables in terms of building a nutrient-rich diet.
BPA concerns in packaged foods
Nutrient content isn’t the only consideration when weighing canned versus fresh or frozen vegetables. There is also Cain. I’ve historically avoided canned vegetables at the store because of concerns over BPA in can linings. (Home-canning in jars is different, of course. I’m all for home canning.) BPA is a known endocrine disruptor that has been linked to immune system dysfunction, cancer, reproductive issues, and more. As scientists and health watchdog groups sound the alarm about BPA over the past decade, industry reports suggest that nearly all US manufacturers have moved away from BPA-lined cans.
While this seems like a positive step, the BPA lining was there for a reason: to help prevent corrosion and preserve the food inside. Manufacturers replaced it, by necessity, with other types of ingredients that are believed to be safe—”supposedly” being the operative word here. However, at this point, it is difficult to determine by which manufacturer the ingredients are being used and, more importantly, how they are being tested for safety. Thus, I cannot say with certainty that these new linings are better.
How long do canned foods last?
Food waste is a huge global problem that is costly both economically and environmentally. One way we can reduce food waste is by learning what the expiration date on our pantry items really means. According to the USDA, “best buy” dates are not about food safety but about food quality. After those dates, the taste and texture may be affected, but the canned foods are still perfectly edible.
There’s certainly no reason to throw away canned food just because it’s been a week, a month, or even longer. Canned foods are good in your cupboard for up to five years, although you’ll want to use up more acidic items like canned tomatoes within a year or two. Ideally home canned foods should be used within a year.
Just use common sense (and your nose). If the can looks damaged – rusted, bruised or badly dented – it’s not a chance worth taking. Similarly, if there is a strange smell in the food inside. Changes in texture, slight discoloration, and crystallization are not signs of food spoilage.
ground level
For the most part, I continue to opt for fresh, frozen or chilled food in glass packaging when available. The notable exception is canned fish. The convenience of canned sardines or anchovies, and the benefits of the omega-3s they deliver, means they still have a place in my cupboard.
However, some items are difficult to find outside of the can. Cooked beans don’t come frozen (another argument for skipping beans?), and while they’re easy and inexpensive to prepare from dry, it does require preplanning. If beans are a staple in your household, consider preparing larger batches and freezing them in individual portions.
Tetra packs are becoming more common for things like stewed tomatoes and soups, but there are questions about their sustainability. They’re technically recyclable, but many recycling facilities don’t have the proper machinery, so they end up in landfills. And glass can be more expensive, which especially matters when groceries are on the rise.
Even if you’re choosing canned foods for reasons of convenience or availability, look for “BPA-free” on the label. Don’t keep canned tomatoes on the shelf for months at a time. This gives the acidity more time to erode the lining. Buy them closer to when you’re ready to use them. The same goes for canned fruit. If you are keeping food for emergency preparedness, look into the dehydrating process as an option.
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Your point of view caught my eye and was very interesting. Thanks. I have a question for you.
Reading your article helped me a lot and I agree with you. But I still have some doubts, can you clarify for me? I’ll keep an eye out for your answers.
Whether or not you believe in God, read this message!!
All throughout time, we can see how we have been slowly conditioned to come to this point where we are on the verge of a cashless society. Did you know that the Bible foretold of this event almost 2,000 years ago?
In Revelation 13:16-18, we read,
“He (the false prophet who deceives many by his miracles–Revelation 19:20) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”
Speaking to the last generation, this could only be speaking of a cashless society. Why? Revelation 13:17 tells us that we cannot buy or sell unless we receive the mark of the beast. If physical money was still in use, we could buy or sell with one another without receiving the mark. This would contradict scripture that states we need the mark to buy or sell!
These verses could not be referring to something purely spiritual as scripture references two physical locations (our right hand or forehead) stating the mark will be on one “OR” the other. If this mark was purely spiritual, it would indicate both places, not one OR the other.
This is where it really starts to come together. It is shocking how accurate the Bible is concerning the implantable RFID microchip. These are notes from a man named Carl Sanders who worked with a team of engineers to help develop this RFID chip
“Carl Sanders sat in seventeen New World Order meetings with heads-of-state officials such as Henry Kissinger and Bob Gates of the C.I.A. to discuss plans on how to bring about this one-world system. The government commissioned Carl Sanders to design a microchip for identifying and controlling the peoples of the world—a microchip that could be inserted under the skin with a hypodermic needle (a quick, convenient method that would be gradually accepted by society).
Carl Sanders, with a team of engineers behind him, with U.S. grant monies supplied by tax dollars, took on this project and designed a microchip that is powered by a lithium battery, rechargeable through the temperature changes in our skin. Without the knowledge of the Bible (Brother Sanders was not a Christian at the time), these engineers spent one-and-a-half-million dollars doing research on the best and most convenient place to have the microchip inserted.
Guess what? These researchers found that the forehead and the back of the hand (the two places the Bible says the mark will go) are not just the most convenient places, but are also the only viable places for rapid, consistent temperature changes in the skin to recharge the lithium battery. The microchip is approximately seven millimeters in length, .75 millimeters in diameter, about the size of a grain of rice. It is capable of storing pages upon pages of information about you. All your general history, work history, criminal record, health history, and financial data can be stored on this chip.
Brother Sanders believes that this microchip, which he regretfully helped design, is the “mark” spoken about in Revelation 13:16–18. The original Greek word for “mark” is “charagma,” which means a “scratch or etching.” It is also interesting to note that the number 666 is actually a word in the original Greek. The word is “chi xi stigma,” with the last part, “stigma,” also meaning “to stick or prick.” Carl believes this is referring to a hypodermic needle when they poke into the skin to inject the microchip.”
Mr. Sanders asked a doctor what would happen if the lithium contained within the RFID microchip leaked into the body. The doctor replied by saying a terrible sore would appear in that location. This is what the book of Revelation says:
“And the first (angel) went, and poured out his vial on the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore on the men which had the mark of the beast, and on them which worshipped his image” (Revelation 16:2).
You can read more about it here–and to also understand the mystery behind the number 666: https://2ruth.org/rfid-mark-of-the-beast-666-revealed/
The third angel’s warning in Revelation 14:9-11 states,
“Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.'”
“The coming of the lawless one (the Antichrist) is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)”
Who is Barack Obama, and why is he still around?
So what’s in the name? The meaning of someone’s name can say a lot about a person. God throughout history has given names to people that have a specific meaning tied to their lives. How about the name Barack Obama? Let us take a look at what may be hiding beneath the surface.
Jesus says in Luke 10:18, “…I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
The Hebrew Strongs word (H1299) for “lightning”: “bârâq” (baw-rawk)
In Isaiah chapter 14, verse 14, we read about Lucifer (Satan) saying in his heart:
“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”
In the verses in Isaiah that refer directly to Lucifer, several times it mentions him falling from the heights or the heavens. The Hebrew word for the heights or heavens used here is Hebrew Strongs 1116: “bamah”–Pronounced (bam-maw’)
In Hebrew, the letter “Waw” or “Vav” is often transliterated as a “U” or “O,” and it is primarily used as a conjunction to join concepts together. So to join in Hebrew poetry the concept of lightning (Baraq) and a high place like heaven or the heights of heaven (Bam-Maw), the letter “U” or “O” would be used. So, Baraq “O” Bam-Maw or Baraq “U” Bam-Maw in Hebrew poetry similar to the style written in Isaiah, would translate literally to “Lightning from the heights.” The word “Satan” in Hebrew is a direct translation, therefore “Satan.”
So when Jesus told His disciples in Luke 10:18 that He beheld Satan fall like lightning from heaven, if this were to be spoken by a Jewish Rabbi today influenced by the poetry in the book of Isaiah, he would say these words in Hebrew–the words of Jesus in Luke 10:18 as, and I saw Satan as Baraq O Bam-Maw.
The names of both of Obama’s daughters are Malia and Natasha. If we were to write those names backward (the devil does things in reverse) we would get “ailam ahsatan”. Now if we remove the letters that spell “Alah” (Allah being the false god of Islam), we get “I am Satan”. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Obama’s campaign logo when he ran in 2008 was a sun over the horizon in the west, with the landscape as the flag of the United States. In Islam, they have their own messiah that they are waiting for called the 12th Imam, or the Mahdi (the Antichrist of the Bible), and one prophecy concerning this man’s appearance is the sun rising in the west.
“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.'” (Revelation 14:6-7)
Why have the words of Jesus in His Gospel accounts regarding His death, burial, and resurrection, been translated into over 3,000 languages, and nothing comes close (the Quran about 110 languages)? Because the same Spirit of God (YHVH) who created all people likewise transcends all people; therefore the power of His Word is not limited by people; while all other religions are man-made, therefore they tend to primarily stay within their own culture. The same God who speaks to all people through His creation of the heavens and earth that draws all people around the world likewise has sent His Word to the ends of the earth so that we may come to personally know Him to be saved in spirit and in truth through His Son Jesus Christ.
Jesus stands alone among the other religions that say to rightly weigh the scales of good and evil and to make sure you have done more good than bad in this life. Is this how we conduct ourselves justly in a court of law? Bearing the image of God, is this how we project this image into reality?
Our good works cannot save us. If we step before a judge, being guilty of a crime, the judge will not judge us by the good we have done, but rather by the crimes we have committed. If we as fallen humanity, created in God’s image, pose this type of justice, how much more a perfect, righteous, and Holy God?
God has brought down His moral laws through the 10 commandments given to Moses at Mt. Siani. These laws were not given so we may be justified, but rather that we may see the need for a savior. They are the mirror of God’s character of what He has written in our hearts, with our conscious bearing witness that we know that it is wrong to steal, lie, dishonor our parents, murder, and so forth.
We can try and follow the moral laws of the 10 commandments, but we will never catch up to them to be justified before a Holy God. That same word of the law given to Moses became flesh about 2,000 years ago in the body of Jesus Christ. He came to be our justification by fulfilling the law, living a sinless perfect life that only God could fulfill.
The gap between us and the law can never be reconciled by our own merit, but the arm of Jesus is stretched out by the grace and mercy of God. And if we are to grab on, through faith in Him, He will pull us up being the one to justify us. As in the court of law, if someone steps in and pays our fine, even though we are guilty, the judge can do what is legal and just and let us go free. That is what Jesus did almost 2,000 years ago on the cross. It was a legal transaction being fulfilled in the spiritual realm by the shedding of His blood with His last word’s on the cross crying out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
For God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). This is why in Isaiah chapter 53, where it speaks of the coming Messiah and His soul being a sacrifice for our sins, why it says it pleased God to crush His only begotten Son.
This is because the wrath that we deserve was justified by being poured out upon His Son. If that wrath was poured out on us, we would all perish to hell forever. God created a way of escape by pouring it out on His Son whose soul could not be left in Hades but was raised and seated at the right hand of God in power.
So now when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), where God no longer sees the person who deserves His wrath, but rather the glorious image of His perfect Son dwelling in us, justifying us as if we received the wrath we deserve, making a way of escape from the curse of death; now being conformed into the image of the heavenly man walking in a new nature, and no longer in the image of the fallen man Adam.
Now what we must do is repent and put our trust and faith in the savior, confessing and forsaking our sins, and to receive His Holy Spirit that we may be born again (for Jesus says we must be born again to see and enter the Kingdom of God in John chapter 3). This is not just head knowledge of believing in Jesus, but rather receiving His words, taking them to heart, so that we may truly be transformed into the image of God. Where we no longer live to practice sin, but rather turn from our sins and practice righteousness through faith in Him in obedience to His Word by reading the Bible.
Our works cannot save us, but they can condemn us; it is not that we earn our way into everlasting life, but that we obey our Lord Jesus Christ:
Jesus says,
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
“And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:9)
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’
Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’
And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.'” (Revelation 21:1-8)