new research debunks trad views on nutrition

[Geena]

Here's an example from my work today. I had 30 minutes to pick about a dozen cold rotisserie chickens.

Are you then going to make something with that meat, like chicken salad?
Or does that come in already prepared?


One good thing about this discussion is that I found out Maryland has a new food waste law.

A lot of locations- they seem to be mostly composters

927,926 tons of food waste per year just in MD, that's crazy!

 

[3KillerBs]

Are you then going to make something with that meat, like chicken salad?
Or does that come in already prepared?

Yes to both questions. We currently sell 5 kinds of chicken salad, 3 of which come in prepared, one of which is made on chopped white meat that comes in a bag and one of which uses this chicken.

Also, we use this chicken on pizzas, in quesadillas, in chicken soup (broth and veggies come in a bag), and in pot pie. Additionally, we sell the pulled chicken.

One day two weeks ago we sold so many rotisserie chickens out of a day's batch that we had to make extra chickens and pull them while still hot in order to have the pulled chicken we needed for all the things we use it for.

I don't do this task very often but we were playing Mad Hatter's Tea Party since someone was out sick. I am, perhaps, a little vain about the fact that when I do have to pick chickens I can do a chicken in only about 3 minutes without having to resort to only breasting them, which I consider far too wasteful.

 

[Sally PB]

I am, perhaps, a little vain about the fact that when I do have to pick chickens I can do a chicken in only about 3 minutes without having to resort to only breasting them, which I consider far too wasteful.

Rightfully so. Good for you for using the whole bird.

 

[Perris]

food loss and waste is an important topic, but it is irrelevant to this thread; please start another thread on that topic if you want to continue chatting about it.

 

[3KillerBs]

food loss and waste is an important topic, but it is irrelevant to this thread; please start another thread on that topic if you want to continue chatting about it.

My apologies.

I was trying to use my job experience on the "pointy end" of the industry to explain some of the practical difficulties with diverting retail food waste into animal feed. I didn't mean to get so far off track.

 

[jennaveewhit]

According to Tim Spector, Food for Life: the new science of eating well, Jonathan Cape 2022: xiv
Myths that have benefited the food industry and which we should now dispel include: all calories are equal, low-calorie foods are good, high-fat foods are bad, artificial sweeteners are healthy, high levels of processing are harmless, and food and vitamin supplements are as good as real food.

Spector is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King's College London, and honorary consultant physician at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals. These are all world class institutions. He is writing about human diet and nutrition, but much of it applies to chicken diet and nutrition too.

For example, that UPFs (ultra processed foods) made up of many chemicals make us feel hungrier, over-consume, and increase risks of disease and earlier death. This applies to chicken feed pellets, which are specifically designed to achieve the first two, and don't care about the last two because the chickens that they are designed for are not intended or expected to live very long.

I do not expect those BYCers who trot out their tired dogmas on food, feeds, and fats, at any and every opportunity, to stop doing it, but their views are now being labelled as myths by people who really know what they're talking about, and have extensive evidence to prove it.

And the chicken feed industry is catching up with the human feed industry on these matters, so attempting to dismiss it as irrelevant won't wash either.
Edited to add: see e.g. the paper quoted in post #412 below.

I have been eating beef butter bacon and eggs with some veg for months and no processed food. My arthritis is gone, I feel strong and not hungry all the time. Hungry all the time equals more money for the processed food industry. What an amazing business plan for them while they make us all sick in the meantime with sugar and processed foods. Not me anymore. I’ve opened my eyes.

 

[Folly's place]

I do love bacon, but is is a processed food product! To be totally accurate, 'processed' includes any change in the food item from 'raw', so cooking is also processing.
I totally agree that junk foods are not good, and we do have a pretty good idea what we are talking about there. Humans do crave salt, fat, and sugar, hard to find items for our hunter/ gatherer ancestors. now items available in unlimited quantities in wealthy countries like the USA, and easy to overindulge.
Mary

 

[Perris]

To be totally accurate, 'processed' includes any change in the food item from 'raw', so cooking is also processing.

Ultra processed foods are the issue.

 

[Sally PB]

I've read in several places by several writers that our brains are hardwired to love certain foods, and high fat and sweet foods are top of the list. We used to have to either work very hard for every calorie, or have the luck to find good sources of calories. Fat provides a lot of calories to keep us going, as well as vital nutrients. Sweet taste will encourage us to eat more, and most of the sweets were found in fruit, an excellent source of essential nutrients.

We're still hardwired to want those foods, but now they are both easy to obtain and stripped of most of their nutrition by the time they get to us. Many/most with non-nutritional ingredients added for shelf life/color/sweetness/"mouth feel," etc.

Ultra processed foods are the issue.

Yup. Jif peanut butter is a processed food. So is my homemade peanut butter, which is dry roasted peanuts run through a food processor. I'll take my pb over Jif.

 

[Folly's place]

Sadly, for me, the 'straight' peanuts only peanut butter, which separates and has to be remixed every day, is a pain to use. Definitely better, in theory, but one of those things I just find irritating to use. It tastes better too...
And closer to the topic, one of the reasons we grow our own chickens and have their eggs!
Mary