On those evenings when everybody in the family's going different directions at dinner time, I often make a meal of Farmhouse Red Beans and Rice.  Here's the nutrition information for a 2 ounce (28 gram) serving:

 

Total Fat (g)	1
Saturated Fat (g)	0
Cholesterol (mg)	0
Sodium (mg)	730
Carbohydrates (g)	40
Dietary Fiber (g)	4
Sugars (g)	5
Protein (g)	7
Total Calories	180
Calories from Fat	10

As the numbers show, it's high in fiber and protein and low in fat and calories, just the kind of meal I should eat.  Moreover, red beans and rice is one of those grain combinations that are almost completely nutritionally balanced meals in themselves.  Toss in a little ham hocks or shanks for flavor and add some collard greens on the side, and you're all set.

On the way home from work one night, knowing that I was going to be eating red beans and rice, when I stopped at the corner market for a loaf of bread, I also bought, on a whim, a can of ham and pork based lunch meat to serve as a substitute for ham hocks.  It added just the right flavor.

During a subsequent grocery shopping trip, I paused in front of the canned meat display and contemplated SPAM for a few minutes, then tossed a small can into my cart.  I had red beans and rice in mind and, even though I knew that SPAM wasn't way high up on the list of healthy foods, I thought it would be something of a lark.  My kids had never seen SPAM, let alone tasted it (yeah, we had SPAM sometimes when I was a kid), and it was something of a gag, considering the use of the word SPAM in Web parlance these days.

 

Total Fat (g)	16
Saturated Fat (g)	6
Cholesterol (mg)	40
Sodium (mg)	750
Carbohydrates (g)	0
Dietary Fiber (g)	0
Sugars (g)	0
Protein (g)	7
Total Calories	170
Calories from Fat	140

The can of SPAM landed by my place at the kitchen table and remained there for several days before I chanced to look at its nutrition information.  When I did, I thought, "Wow!  This stuff ought to carry a Surgeon General's warning, or maybe a skull and crossbones.  It looks like instant death to anybody with a heart condition."

I then remembered the canned Vienna Sausages that Damon decided were good things to take on a hike, and that my reaction to their nutrition  had been about the same as it was to SPAM.  The idea for a wazfag page on SPAM and Vienna Sausages popped to mind.  Then I thought I should calibrate the fat values with some real fat, like butter.  As I was gathering food containers in the kitchen, I thought I'd toss in margarine, to compare it with butter, then I thought I'd toss in...  This is how wazfag pages are born.  And here's the list of foods I rounded up, together with their suggested serving sizes.
 

	Product (serving size)
	Butter   (1 Tbsp/14g)	Fleishman's Corn Oil Margarine (1 Tbsp/14g)	Wesson Pure Canola Oil (1 Tbsp/14g)	Kraft Deluxe American Cheese (1 slice/28g)
Total Fat (g)	11	11	14	9
Saturated Fat (g)	8	2	1	6
Cholesterol (mg)	30	0	0	25
Sodium (mg)	85	115	0	430
Carbohydrates (g)	0	0	0	<1
Dietary Fiber (g)	0	0	0	0
Sugars (g)	0	0	0	0
Protein (g)	0	0	0	6
Total Calories	100	100	120	100
Calories from Fat	100	100	120	80

	Product (serving size)
	Planter's Dry Roasted Peanuts (1 oz./28g)	Libby's Vienna Sausage (3 ea./48g)	Hormel SPAM (2 oz./56g)	Farmhouse Red Beans and Rice (2 oz./56g)
Total Fat (g)	13	14	16	1
Saturated Fat (g)	2	4.5	6	0
Cholesterol (mg)	30	45	40	0
Sodium (mg)	190	460	750	730
Carbohydrates (g)	6	<1	0	40
Dietary Fiber (g)	2	0	0	4
Sugars (g)	1	0	0	5
Protein (g)	7	6	7	7
Total Calories	160	150	170	180
Calories from Fat	120	120	140	10

Now, if you look at all the "bad" things--total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium--in the table above, you'll see the reason for my concern.  SPAM has more of them than anything else.

However, if you look again, you'll see that the nutritional information is always given on a per serving basis, and that, obviously, the servings are different sizes.  In order to provide a real basis for comparison, I converted the nutritional information to a per ounce basis for all products.
 

	Product (Per ounce basis for all products)
	Butter	Fleishman's Corn Oil Margarine	Wesson Pure Canola Oil	Kraft Deluxe American Cheese
Total Fat (g)	22	22	28	9
Saturated Fat (g)	16	4	2	6
Cholesterol (mg)	60	0	0	25
Sodium (mg)	170	230	0	430
Carbohydrates (g)	0	0	0	<1
Dietary Fiber (g)	0	0	0	0
Sugars (g)	0	0	0	0
Protein (g)	0	0	0	6
Total Calories	200	200	240	100
Calories from Fat	200	200	240	80

	Product (Per ounce basis for all products)
	Planter's Dry Roasted Peanuts	Libby's Vienna Sausage	Hormel SPAM	Farmhouse Red Beans and Rice
Total Fat (g)	13	8	8	0.5
Saturated Fat (g)	2	2.6	3	0
Cholesterol (mg)	30	26	20	0
Sodium (mg)	190	268	375	365
Carbohydrates (g)	6	<1	0	20
Dietary Fiber (g)	2	0	0	2
Sugars (g)	1	0	0	2.5
Protein (g)	7	3.5	3.5	3.5
Total Calories	160	88	85	90
Calories from Fat	120	70	70	5

Remember that I put the pure fats--butter, margarine, and canola oil--here just to calibrate how fat fat really is, and I'm not going to compare them with the other food products.

Then I can say uh-oh.  Here are two surprises that rival the cost of Rice Krispies.  Turns out that SPAM isn't nearly the bad guy it at first appeared to be.  It's not even second worst, but third on the list.  In terms of total fat and cholesterol, the worst offender is Planter's Dry Roasted Peanuts, which makes me shudder to wonder what the fat values for nuts cooked in oil are.  But right down the line--total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium--who's the bad guy?  That good ol' American staple, Kraft Deluxe American Cheese.

So what's the lesson to be learned here?  By me, that I shouldn't sweat tossing a little SPAM into my red beans and rice.

 

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