Have you ever wondered just how many calories you might be taking in by eating ham? Find out through this article, which will give you more information on your favorite breakfast dish.
“Nothing helps scenery like ham and eggs.“―Mark Twain.
Remember how Enid Blyton’s gang of the Famous Five was always loaded with ginger beer, scones with clotted cream, jam, and butter, fruitcake, egg sandwiches, and most definitely, ham rolls? Their picnic baskets, without a miss, always had ham in some form or other. As a child, I could have traded anything just to taste a morsel of this wondrous ham, something totally alien to where I lived as a child. When finally I did taste ham, it wasn’t as heavenly as Blyton made it out to be. But, nevertheless, I liked it. With growing up comes health issues that you need to pay attention to, and, of course, the nagging need to maintain that waistline so that your denims don’t stop fitting you. Let’s consider some nutritional facts of ham, as well as health hazards related to it.
The Calorie Content in Ham
The following table will give you an in-depth idea of ham calories present in its myriad forms.
| Ham Form | Serving Size | Number of Calories |
Calories from Fat |
Carbohydrates (in grams) |
Proteins (in grams) |
| Whole fresh ham | 1 medium slice | 114 | 66 | 0 | 11.22 |
| Whole raw ham (no fat, meat only) |
28.35 g (1 ounce) |
40 | 15 | 0 | 6 |
| Sliced extra lean ham | 3 slices | 69 | 16 | 1.66 | 10.89 |
| Regular sliced ham with 11% fat | 2 slices | 91 | 43 | 2.14 | 9.3 |
| Roasted ham | 85 g | 130 | 40 | 0 | 21 |
| Baked ham | 52 g | 60 | 15 | 1 | 9 |
So, as is obvious, ham in any form hardly has any carbohydrates in it, but it has a rich protein content with baked ham having the least number of calories. But a food item has a lot more to it than just calories. Let us see what other nutrients are present in ham.
Ham Nutrition Facts
- Even an unheated piece of no fat ham weighing an ounce has nothing less than 430 mg of sodium, which is 20% of the daily requirement of the mineral, by the human body.
- As for other minerals, it has phosphorus which caters to 8% of the DV and zinc (4%).
- The same ham piece also has 15 mg of cholesterol and absolutely no sugar content whatsoever.
- Ham is also rich in vitamin B varieties of thiamine (20%), niacin (8%), riboflavin (4%), vitamin B6 (8%), and B12 (4%).
- One medium slice of fresh ham is loaded with a total of 7.37 gms of fat, out of which 2.706 gms are harmful saturated fat. The rest is composed of 0.703 gms of polyunsaturated and 3.296 gms of monounsaturated essential fats.
So, as is evident, ham is a strict no-no for high blood pressure patients (check the alarming sodium content!) and should be kept away from cardiovascular patients as the cholesterol and saturated fats in ham is definitely their nemesis. Even the studies conducted by the reputed American Institute of Cancer Research, declared that once you breach the weekly limit of 18 oz., the risk of cancer gets hiked by 21% with every extra 1.7 oz. of red meat you devour.
So, you see, the joys of eating ham are much reduced now. The frequency has been hampered greatly after reading this data, given that I have a history of cholesterol and heart related problems in my family. Do not completely deprive yourself of ham, but red meat has its own way of hampering the body (I am not denying the benefits). So, eat it once in a while or in relatively small portions, so as to let not only the calories, but also the other harmful factors affect you.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is solely for educating the reader. It is not intended to be a substitute for the advice of a medical expert.