You're watching your weight, so you opt for chicken rather than red meat as your go-to smart diet choice, right? We all thought of chicken as lean, protein-rich food that's good for weight watching, but the truth is chicken might actually be making us fatter! I wrote in The Lean about overweight chickens bred on factory farms that may be passing their weight problems on to us. It turns out chicken at the grocery can have far more fat than protein!
Here's the skinny (well, not really): Virtually all commercially-available chickens now have what many call the "obese gene," which makes birds gain weight quickly to speed up production from birth to slaughter. That, combined with no exercise and a constant supply of high-energy (caloric) food, makes today's chicken the opposite of lean: The amount of fat in modern chicken may be five or even 10 times what it used to be, according to a UK-based study published in the journal Public Health Nutrition. So if you serve a whole chicken to your family like grandma did, you may be serving them 10 times as much fat than the days of yesteryear. That's a whole lotta fat, and big trouble for the waistline.
The nonprofit Farm Forward explains that this is another consequence of inhumane factory farming.
"This type of chicken husbandry needs to be reviewed with regard to its implications for animal welfare and human nutrition," wrote lead researcher Dr. Yiqun Wang. "The cocktail of gene selection for fast weight gain, lack of exercise and high-energy food available 24 hours a day, is a simple and well-understood recipe for obesity."
Farm Forward is on to something important, and they are taking the research even further. They teamed up with Kansas State University to compare the fat and protein content of heritage birds to commercial ones found in the grocery store. KSU professor Dr. Liz Boyle started the research in February with heritage chickens from Frank Reese Jr. of Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch in central Kansas. Heritage birds are the genetic breeds that existed before the days of industrialized meat. Reese's chickens take at least 120 days to mature. Most all chickens available at the grocery store take about 40.
Fast-growing chickens go right alongside chicken welfare problems, explains Farm Forward, so the worse the conditions they are raised in (cramped and barely able to move or support their unnatural weight), the fatter (and more fattening) the chicken meat is. For chickens raised in factory farms (99 percent of the meat at market is from factory farms), their pitiless fate seems to be accompanied by a drastic rise in fat grams. "The fat went from less than 2 grams to 23 grams of animal fat per serving, twice as much fat than ice cream," says physician and author Dr. Michael Greger, who has his own interesting commentary on Dr. Wang's study. "So now chicken has 10 times more fat and ten times more calories, so that could explain why chicken has been tied to human abdominal girth."
Ten times more fat and 10 times more calories can be related to a fat belly, that's for sure. It makes sense that our crisis of obesity might very well be closely tied to the daily consumption of chicken by many millions of Americans.
Farm Forward and KSU plan on conducting more studies when this one is complete. "The consequences of disregarding animal welfare go far beyond the question of cruelty," Dr. Aaron Gross of the University of San Diego and CEO of Farm Forward explained to me. "What we are discovering more and more is that many of the environmental and public health problems with meat are intimately connected with animal welfare." So basically, what's bad for the chickens is bad for us; it's all related.
We've all seen chicken portrayed as the low-fat, heart-healthy alternative to red meat for years, but it no longer adds up. You might want to lean away from eating birds and lean toward more plant-based options of protein like black beans, lentils, tofu, chickpeas and whole grains. No cruelty, far less fat, zero cholesterol. It's a sensible swap for the waistline and good news for the birds!
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Susan Blumenthal, M.D.: Poverty And Obesity: Breaking The Link
Lora Rosenblum: Public Policy and Obesity
John Hoffman: Eat More, Move Less: What's Driving the Obesity Epidemic
Wendy Gordon: Urban Air Pollutant Linked to Obesity
i keep getting replies from you in my email with no way of answering and can't find them in the thread.
1. are you really comparing your '' i've lived in germany '' to my '' i was born there , grew up there and spent most of my life there '' ?
2. how long did you live there? where did you live ? and where did you experience german food ? real home cooking ? prepackaged '' home cooking '' ? restaurants ? or schnell imbiss ?
3 . spicy in german does not necessarily mean hot/scharf. it means gewuerzt which can also refer to herbs.
4. i mention pictures on tumblr because that is obviously american's idea of german food after a holiday or eating it in german restaurants in the usa.
5. the taste and quality of traditional german food are excellent. i've grown up with real cooking of course even when instant this and packaged that became popular.
lots of people don't of course but when we speak about a countries cuisine we do not generally mean fast food and tv dinners.
as for the fat question. just admit that you didn't know the difference. sat fats are good for you while hydro fats are poison.
People eat too much meat and carbs in the U.S. I remember when I first arrived here (in 1967). We stayed at a hotel and ordered a meal for each of us. The meat portion - steak - was large enough to feed a family of four for a week. People used to have a chicken in the pot, once, every week, shared by a whole family. There were a number of meatless days. Too much protein is bad for the kidneys; any kind of protein.
In my case, it is carbs. Found out by accident that I have diabetes. Not that I did not have regular checkups and A1C measurements. Orthopedic problem. Orthoped sent me to neurologist. Neurologist diagnose neuropathy, does glucose tolerance test. I had ASKED to the glucose tolerance test each visit to my internist - gained too much weight and was really NOT overeating. That was steadfastly refused. Insist on a glucose tolerance test.
Everyone is different. Cutting down on everything saves money. You have to figure out your own plate. Begin with a small one, and eat all sorts of food. A variety in every meal. I am on a diabetic diet and the bonus is I have my taste back. Food does not taste like cardboard any longer.
For, starters, here is a new study:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/b56453v536503166/?MUD=MP
On top of that, since most people eat waaaay to much meat and dairy in proportion to vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, studies have proven that modern meat consumption increases the risk of colon cancer and heart disease, among other things. It's also the biggest cause of carbon emissions worldwide and destructive to the enviornment. Is that "bad" enough for you?
You sound like an authority on the "reality" of conventionally raised animals on what you call factory farms. Is your information from people like the one who wrote this article? Speaking of carbon emissions, transporting produce has huge carbon emissions especially when brought in from around the world to your local market via vehicles, trains, ships, etc. Just don't eat and you might be safe, but then again, check for the crud in the air you breathe.
Look, I've got no problem with anyone who decides to opt out of eating meat for whatever reasons they have. Heck, I support that decision 100%. I just wish the vega-fascists would afford the rest of us the same respect. What's that NOW slogan, "It's my body, it's my choice?" If you want to convince me that your lifestyle is the superior one, be an example and just live well instead of acting like an angry ex-smoker. Speaking of smokers, it's time to prep my beef brisket for the smoker. 14 hours from now, we're going to have one delicious BBQ. And while I may die from cancer or heart disease someday, I know I'm going to be happy right on to the end. Man, the kids love my BBQ!
A word of caution: if you ever eat home-raised chicken you won't want store-bought chicken ever again. The flavor is 100x better.
Conclusion, an article written for and by animal activists to push their agenda of plant based only diet. No real scientific evidence, not even a licensed nutritionist! I clicked on her name and yes she has written a vegan book, but no listing of educational credentials. Would you bet your life all her facts are completely 100% true? Totally unbiased?
Chicken, its what's for lunch today! So is corn and artichokes.
As far as the comment pertaining to the study, I found a short brief on it from a different link and not sure if it the same study. The short version of the study lacks information. Over 100 years ago there may have been less fat, but then what was the size of the chicken? It is like saying we were better off without computers, cell phones, etc. since too many people waste too much time on them now.
I dug up this video from youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XzKP8ctxrc
Evidence? None.
We know that the constant flood of antibiotics in our "farm" system contributes to issues such as antibiotic resistance, superbugs, etc but trying to make a causal link between the supposed "fat gene" in chickens and humans is AT BEST, tenuous and without evidence.
Now go do the studies and see if there is a link.