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| Free range chicken, searching for scraps from a buffet dinner (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Modern Farming
methods negate Low Fat benefits of chicken
Once heralded as the gold standard of healthy meats, chicken
can no longer claim the health benefits that once made it king of healthy meals. Nutritional studies once placed chicken
at the top of the list for nutrition
and low fat sources of protein. Modern farming methods have not only destroyed
the health benefits once found in chicken but have created new health risks.
Chicken low fat no more
Chicken was once
the Golden Child for people who wanted low
fat high protein diets now it is
more of a Golden Ram. The little fat that was traditionally found in chicken was primarily made up of
Essential Fatty Acids that our bodies and minds needed to function properly.
Modern farming methods have changed that.
Recent
studies have found that today's chicken is not only higher in fat but that
the composition of that fat is no longer of a healthy type. Traditionally farmed chicken, allowed to
free range, provided us with long chain amino acids. Very high in DHA, essential to proper mental function
and cell development. Free range chicken
was considered a true brain food.
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| A farmer on Martha's Vineyard moves a mobile poultry coop of a type called a "chicken tractor." (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Modern farming methods
now provide us with chickens that
have a fat composition made up of Low
Density Cholesterol (the bad kind) and oily
fats void of nutritional value.
More calories now come from the fat content of a chicken than from the lean
protein.
DHA Importance
Chickens loss of DHA content has greater health implications than may be apparent
at first. DHA plays many roles in our
bodies. It is a powerful antioxidant
(Omega 3 fatty acid) and protects us
from cell breakdown. This is of major importance in regard to such diseases
as Cancer and Alzheimer's.
The human brain uses DHA
at a very high rate. A Low DHA level has been tied to clinical depression. Patients
suffering with this condition show better a than 70 percent improvement rate.
Patients suffering from Chronic
Insomnia show similar recovery rates. By coincidence these mental disorders have been steadily
rising at a rate that closely mirrors the rate that both chicken and salmon
production has been modernized.
DHA also plays a major role in our hearts health and the
functioning of our immune
system. The implications of low DHA levels for our entire body are at a
minimum horrific.
Review Traditional versus Modern Chicken
Chicken when
raised more in attune with its naturally environment, allowed to free range and forage is low in fats and
the fats it does contain are beneficial to our health both physical and mental.
Chicken raised by modern farming methods contains more calories from fat that
it does from protein and the fats are saturated fats rather than the beneficial
fatty acids it should contain. At a time when obesity has become a major player
in the health risk game and true low fat alternatives are vanishing from our
grocery shelves I can't help but agree with this from "Public Health
Nutrition" as reported by The Cambridge Press "This type of chicken
husbandry needs to be reviewed with regard to its implications for animal
welfare and human nutrition". You have to love the British knack for
understatement.
For more on the comparison of these two farming methods
please watch for part 3.
To view "A Chickens Life" the first article, in
this series, please follow the link below.
good series
ReplyDeleteYes. Really good series.
ReplyDelete