Are we eating too much bacon? Quick, grab a rasher-ruler!

Easy on those pork chops, the British government advised on Friday.

The new recommendations comes as evidence mounts that eating 90 grams (a bit more than 3 ounces) of red and processed meats per day probably increase the risk of bowel cancer.

Among their recommendations: that people who eat 90 grams or more of meat a day should cut that back to 70. They even give helpful examples of a 70-gram serving. Observe:

- One medium portion shepherd’s pie and a rasher of bacon
- Two standard beef burgers.
- One lamb chop.

Pray tell, what are the dimensions of a standard beef burger? Is a rasher one strip, or several strips, of bacon? Does it matter how petite or big-boned the unfortunate lamb was? And what, exactly, is a “medium� portion of shepherd’s pie?

All snark aside, they make a good point. People don’t know how much meat they’re eating -- and how much more we eat than prior generations. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Americans are eating a record amount of meat: 195 pounds a year, 57 pounds more than what we ate in the 1950s.

Keep in mind, a 2009 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that men and women who ate the most meat were, respectively, 31% and 36% more likely to die over a 10-period than those who didn’t eat much meat at all.

Might be time to ditch that breakfast bacon for a side of fruit.

Follow me on Twitter @LAT_aminakhan.