Eating Chicken

  What You Need To Consider

Here in the United States and in many developed countries, chicken has become a ubiquitous part of our regular diet, so much so that few can imagine a world without chicken. Thanks to industrialized farming, there are more chickens on earth today than any other species of bird, [1] and as a cheap, readily available source of lean animal protein, its popularity over the past several decades has risen astronomically. In 2011, Americans consumed over 81 pounds of chicken per person,[2] a staggering figure that translates into over 8 billion chickens processed a year![3] For the health conscious, chicken has been widely promoted marketed as the perfect protein source for those seeking a lean and inexpensive way to meet their protein requirements. So much so that pre-packaged skinless, boneless chicken breasts have become a must have for anyone serious about losing weight and or building muscle. That said, health and ethical concerns over the conditions in which mass produced chickens are raised have prompted many to curtail or completely refrain from eating them. It is hardly a secret that there are problems with our commercial chicken supply, but while popular documentaries and books highlight the appalling conditions in which chickens are raised, they often fail to address certain health related questions. The first being that chickens are very recent addition to the common human diet and that chickens today are radically different in terms of nutrient profiles in comparison to the chickens consumed less than a hundred years ago regardless of ‘certified organic’ or ‘free range labels’. The field of nutrition is rife with contradicting studies and information that is far from definitive. However we can observe with some degree of clarity that foraging and small scale agriculturist societies do not suffer high incidences of diet related diseases the way we do here in the West and gain critical insights by understanding how our foods today compare to dietary practices that have been in existence for thousands if not millions of years. Libel laws exist in several states against negative or disparaging remarks regarding meat and dairy products[5] and there are numerous sites and articles focused on persuading you to not eat chicken or meat of any kind. The goals of this article are nothing of the sort- only to present a comprehensive look at commercial and organic farming so as to help consumers with the questions that need to be asked before making a purchase. Thanks as always for reading and do share this article with those whom you believe would benefit from it.