Is Brown Chicken Meat Bad For You?
Chicken has long been considered a healthy choice for those seeking lean meat in their diet. Not only is it low in fat, cholesterol and sodium but also provides protein as well as essential vitamins and minerals like iron, phosphorus, calcium, and zinc.
However, if you consume a lot of fast foods or rotisserie chicken or processed lunch meat chicken products, your diet could be less than ideal. These dishes often have added salt and sugar as well as unhealthy fats like oils or butter.
When eating chicken, the most important thing to remember is moderation. Eating too much can lead to high blood pressure, obesity and other serious health problems.
If you are worried about your health, the best approach is to consult a doctor or dietician about how to incorporate more nutritious foods into your meals. They can advise you on the correct types of meats, veggies, fruits and other food items that will promote optimal wellness.
Selecting the Right Meat
When selecting chicken meat for consumption, its color and texture can affect how much protein is present. Darker cuts contain higher levels of myoglobin (a protein which promotes oxygen and blood flow to muscle fibers), while white meat tends to have a smoother texture with lower concentrations of myoglobin.
When purchasing chicken, look for it to be free of any additives that could harm your health. Check the packaging to make sure there are no dyes, seasonings or pesticides present. Moreover, ensure the meat is moist and not dry or chewy.
Be sure to purchase only chicken raised without antibiotics, as these drugs can lead to UTIs and other bacterial infections if taken. Therefore, it is essential to steer clear of them at all costs.
Select Organic Meat
When purchasing chicken, make sure it’s certified organic as many conventionally raised animals are fed a variety of arsenic-based drugs to expedite their growth and produce more food in a shorter amount of time. Consuming chicken feed can lead to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes; thus it is imperative that you only buy poultry from farmers using organic methods.
Skin Is Hazardous for Your Health
Eating chicken is possible with or without its skin, but eating it adds many extra calories and contains more saturated fat and cholesterol than meat without it. A 100 gram serving of chicken with its skin contains 170 kcal, while a similar piece of meat without the skin only provides 45 kcal.
If you want to reduce the number of calories and saturated fat in your meals, opt for leaner chicken breasts or legs instead. These parts of the bird have the lowest fat content.
Organic chicken meat is a healthier choice than commercially-raised poultry, as it contains fewer antibiotics and hormones. Furthermore, organic chicken has higher levels of vitamin A and B vitamins, selenium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc than its conventionally-raised counterpart.
