Many of us try really hard to be healthy. We watch our caloric and fat intake. We exercise regularly. We pay attention to the latest health-related news, but there is so much out there. And, often, what we are told today contradicts what we were told yesterday. How are we possibly supposed to make sense of it all?
Enter LATTitude Wellness' Dirty Thirty! During the month of June, each day (for thirty days), we will highlight on the blog one "healthy" thing we think we are doing right. This is where we will help you sort through the plethora of misinformation and help you make actually healthy decisions for you and your family, without giving into the latest diet fad.
Now, doesn't that look delicious? Or at least like what your plate looks like most nights as you try to come up with yet another way to serve the same thing night after night. It's high in protein and low in fat. How could anything be healthier?
During the low-fat craze of the '80s, we forgot about how nature doesn't make mistakes. Nature gives us everything we need, conveniently packaged. No, I'm not talking about the cellophane wrapping the chicken comes in at the grocery store. I'm talking about the whole chicken! Remember how your grandmother boiled a whole chicken and ate all the parts, even sucking the marrow from the bones? That may not have been the tastiest way to eat chicken, but it is the healthiest. And there are certainly very tasty ways to achieve the same health benefits. The marrow is also the reason behind the great Jewish miracle cure, chicken soup!
Marrow not only contains protein, iron and calcium, it also contains collagen, the building blocks of many of the cells in your body. Collagen heals and strengthens the body. In fact, even David Wolfe, the raw-food movement's guru, recommends that people who eat chicken (or meat) actually eat the marrow, too, to help digest the flesh and build up your body's immunity!
If sucking the marrow from the bones is too much for you, be sure to use bones to make your own homemade chicken stock. (Alton Brown's recipe for chicken stock can be found here.) Buy a whole, organic chicken ($2.50/pound as opposed to boneless, skinless chicken breasts at $9.00/pound--organic whole chicken is even cheaper than non-organic boneless, skinless breasts at $4.50/pound!!!), break it down to what you need. (Here's a great tutorial.) Freeze the excess bones and make stock when you have enough.
"What about the fat?" you may ask. I'm here to tell you that the days of the low-fat craze are over. YAAAAYYYY!!! Fat doesn't make us fat. Sugar, preservatives and chemicals make us fat! Eat the fat, it's meant to be ingested with the flesh. Remember, nature packaged chicken that way, and nature doesn't make mistakes. (Mistakes are a uniquely human trait.) So, eat the fat if you want and enjoy that chicken thigh you usually eye jealously before choosing the "healthier" breast.
My favorite way to make whole chicken is in a braised dish. This week, I happen to have a delicious Filipino Chicken Adobo recipe on my website that uses the whole chicken. The braising in the sauce helps release marrow from the bones and break down to collagen so that it is easily absorbed into your body. No need to make a separate broth or suck the marrow, unless you want to!
Check back tomorrow for another Dirty Thirty!
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