Can we please take a moment to discuss the utter ridiculousness of having September be both National Cholesterol Education Month and National Chicken Month? I mean, should October be both National Obesity Awareness Month and a nationwide celebration of deep-fried Twinkies?
Here’s how they should live
All the cholesterol that we need is already produced in our livers, so there’s no need to consume more. Any extra cholesterol that we eat builds up in our arteries, causing heart disease and decreased blood flow, and Girlie Girls, that means to all of our arteries—and our men’s.
Chicken has so much cholesterol that we might as well call it “thicken.” One chicken leg with the skin on it has more fat and cholesterol than a scoop of ice cream or a hamburger. Even with the skin removed, the chicken cuts labeled “extra lean” still deliver 70 milligrams in just 3 ounces.
Here’s how they do live
And let’s not even get started on the incredibly inedible egg. Just one of those little suckers packs a 186-milligram cholesterol punch.
As for who is treated worse in industrial chicken farming—chickens raised for their flesh or hens used for eggs—that one’s a toss-up. Either way, chickens are commonly considered to be the most abused animals on the planet. PETA reports that nearly all of those raised to be eaten spend every minute of their six-week lives crammed by the thousands into filthy, windowless sheds. They are pumped full of antibiotics to keep them alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them and are drugged to grow so large so quickly that 90 percent become crippled under their own weight.
If you thought your cubicle was bad, hens made to lay eggs are stuffed into tiny wire “battery cages” on factory farms, where they will spend their two years of life sharing a space the size of a file drawer with five to 11 other chickens. A large portion of each hen’s beak is cut off with a burning-hot blade to keep them from pecking each other because of the stress of intense confinement.
So which is worse, the chicken or the egg? Maybe we should call it a tie and celebrate National Chicken Month by being friendly to fowl instead.
INSTEAD OF chicken body – try Beyond Meat, Gardein, or Sweet Earth Naturals — all amazing plant-based chicken substitutes that are cholesterol free!
by Michelle Kretzer