Chicken: Fatty as a Big Mac?
According to research carried out at London Metropolitan University, meat from "cheap" supermarket chicken contains as much fat as a McDonald's Big Mac.
"If you go back to the Forties, it shows more protein calories in the chicken than fat. But what has happened since is that intensive feeding methods, and the fact that chickens don't get any exercise, means they put on a huge quantity of fat.
Apparently the fat is difficult to avoid because it sits under the skin and soaks into the meat during cooking.
According to the analysis, pound for pound, cheap chicken contains as much fat as a McDonald's Big Mac burger.
Sometimes I wonder - is it really any surprise that so many people struggle with weight? No matter where we turn to there is always a nutritional surprise waiting for us. Many people eat plenty of chicken - preferring this to red meat and it's saturated fats. Once again, for those on a tight budget - the cheaper options always seem to be nutritionally poor.
Written By J. Foster
So does this mean that the cheap 5 pound bag of frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts I bought for my diet is not as good a choice as I thought it was? I was planning on grilling a few every couple days and keeping them in the fridge for meals.
I guess even if they do have more fat than I thought it will still be better than the stuff I get out of the vending machines of the canteen at work. How can a simple burrito have 1000 calories and 50g of fat?!
I can't reall tell, but I am thinking (hoping) that this study is about cheap whole chicke (bone in with skin) being cooked that way, rather than boneless skinless breasts.
*sigh* just when I thought I was ready to go and had a good plan...
ReplyNathan, this study took place in Britain, and applies to only the most cheapest chicken money can buy. I eat a chicken breast (boneless/skinless) every night, and I completely prefer this to steak.
I think the message we can take from this is that there are huge variances in the quality of food out there. The other thing I couldn't determine from the article was exactly how the chicken was cooked - but to have that much fat - they MUST be talking about skin on.
ReplyFor the best quality meat, go free-range organic. You can get poultry that only has 1g fat per serving. And, it has no hormones and no antibiotics pumped into the meat. The cost for this quality is about US$4.00/lb. If you compare that to the cheap stuff at US$0.70/lb (big bag at Sam's Club), you can definitely see, and taste, the difference.
ReplyHi Jarrett, of course the organic free-range is better for you, but I think the point of this is that people who can't afford $4 a pound for chicken are getting screwed again. They're buying cheap chicken that was raised in a warehouse and pumped full of antibiotics and crap. I hope people know to take the skin off too, but if they're not reading the same health magazines we're shelling out for, they may not. Good health and nutrition should not be out of the reach of the lower & middle classes.
ReplyThe above comment rings so true--I've always maintained it's a shame (and a sham) that if one wants to obtain better quality food for consumption, one needs to spend ALOT more money for it. They don't give the nickname "Whole Paycheck" to "Whole Foods" supermarket for nothing--and it is indeed true--organic or naturally produced chicken smells, tastes, and looks better than the mass produced stuff in the supermarkets--to the chagrin of those in the lower income brackets.
Reply-Adam
Whenever I feel pinched for buying more expensive, healthier food I just tell myself it's better to spend the money now than to spend 10 times this much in doctor bills 20 years down the road. Being overweight gets really expensive. I'm still paying off gall bladder surgery I had a year and a half ago that was no doubt caused by my obesity. I don't even want to think about how expensive being diabetic would be.
ReplyOne thing to keep in mind about those very convenient 5 lb bags of frozen chicken breast, is that they tend to soak the chicken in brine first so you're getting sometimes a surprising amount of sodium in what you're thinking of as simple "meat." (Look on the package for something like, "treated with a 10% sodium solution for flavor.")
In fact, much of what you buy non-frozen in the supermarket is soaked in brine as well, which can be deeply irritating to those of us who are trying to avoid sodium for whatever reason. Look on the package for similar text about "treated with x% solution." Most supermarkets will sell one brand that is not "treated."
Costco in the USA now sells a huge pack of non-brined chicken breasts, non-frozen, yet individually wrapped (!). I buy these and pop them into the freezer. Since I've been cutting down all of my meat consumption, one $15.00 pack lasts me several months.
For me personally the best approach has simply been to limit meat consumption overall, using that chicken as an occasional treat. The less I eat meat, the less I crave it. One thing that helps is if you cut it up before cooking it (as in Asian cooking), you can chop it into smaller pieces and use less, and it seems to go a longer way.
I was in the habit of eating a standard half breast of chicken piece per meal. I was able to get into the habit of cutting this long-wise, so I ate half of this (I guess 1/4 of a breast) and doubled up on vegetables. They say the serving size for meat is the size of a deck of cards anyway; this is much closer.
I'm sure many of you have made the same frustrated observation that the quality of food has really gone south in terms of processing and factory farming, and this is just another symptom of it. Anything low in fat is loaded with sugar and salt. Anything low in refined, milled starches is high in fat and salt. Foods that shouldn't have anything added to them...are high in added salt. Then you have hormones, antibiotics, whose effects are either nil or REALLY BAD depending on the agenda of the person making the claim. (I'd like to avoid them, all things being equal.)
Now I find out that the broccoli I eat so much of may have traces of jet fuel in it.
When whole wheat pasta costs more than double what regular pasta costs, something is seriously wrong.
I wonder to what degree this is an American problem.
ReplyI am pretty sure the chicken they are referring to is the skin-on kind, since I buy the 5 lbs bag of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts as well and I know that each one has about 210 calories (says so on the bag). But yeah, it sucks that healthy food is synonymous with expensive food. I can't afford organic food and I buy the majority of my food at Aldi. I can get bags of salad for 79 cents, celery for 80 cents a bunch, etc. What I can't find there, I buy at the regular grocery store. It works for me :)
ReplyNo don't think so One breast of chicken isn't as fatty or any where close to the fat content/or calories in a Big Mac.Not even if you count the skin fat on the chicken.I will not argue the fact that processed foods has it's health issues it can cause with everyday consumption must always read labels and always consider source of choice. Good luck slim.
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