Is Chicken Breast Really That Bad?

Ryan999

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Oct 8, 2012
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50
Especially if you're in a bind and that's the best option.

A skinless chicken breast is low in fat, so the PUFA's that are in chicken are going to be very low. Add a couple slices of quality cheese, salt, some gelatin (ideally), a large orange juice and it doesn't seem like that bad of a meal to me. Granted it's not the best option, but is it really that bad?
 

kettlebell

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You are right. Every now and again not a problem really. People worry too much about certain foods. As long as everything is balanced ameal like that with some mitigation tactics wouldn't be an issue.

Vitamin E for pufa defence and some calcium for phosphate ratio balance in addition to what you said if you want to go all out, but its probably not necessary.
 

narouz

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Jul 22, 2012
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You guys must've been reading my mind.

You know, somewhere Peat says that
if you are relying upon chicken for a major part of your protein,
then you will experience metabolic suppression.

Chickens, in Peat's view,
as I understand him,
are, first of all, not "ruminant" animals.
That is, they do not have a "rumens" in their digestive tract
like ruminant animals do,
which--if the ruminant animal is healthy--
should convert the PUFA in their diet to saturated fat.

So that's exhibit #1.
Exhibit #2 would be
that Peat says chickens will reflect their diet.
I've really looked into this and found
it is extremely hard to get chicken
that has not been fed the typical PUFA BLOWOUT DIET
of soybeans, corn, etc.

Okay...so that's the argument against chicken.
On the other hand,
if you consult food composition charts
and look at Omega-3 PUFA in foods
(I know that is only one category of PUFA,
but the only chart I could find just gave Omega-3's, not Omega-6's)
you will see that
IF THE SKIN IS REMOVED
then the Omega-3 content is almost exactly the same as beef or lamb or other ruminants.

Granted, we need to find a better food chart,
which accurately shows total PUFA--not just Omega-3's...
...but, if that chart is accurate,
and if the Omega-6 level sortuv follows the Omega-3 level in chicken meat,
(lot of "ifs" :roll: )...

...then it would seem that skinless chicken,
especially the most lean cuts of chicken--
because it would seem that PUFA is mostly present in the fat of an (non-ruminant) animal--
...then it would seem to me that
maybe eating some minor amount of, like, chicken breast
might not be too bad for you.

Lot of "ifs" and "maybes" and "mights."

Of course the other Peat cautions about muscle meats of all kinds still apply:
Peat sees them as anti-metabolic,
especially if they become a large part of the diet.
Yes, he says that anti-metabolic effect can be diminished some
by eating gelatin along with the muscle meat,
thus improving the amino acid ratios.

I've spent a lot of time wondering about this dang chicken question.
Quality, pastured beef is so expensive.
Chicken is so much cheaper.
It would be great if we could eat some without sending ourselves into PUFA Hell.
 

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kettlebell

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Well said Narouz! Reading your posts are a pleasure

I genuinely believe you can get away with "meats" (Muscle from ruminants and chickens etc) 2-3 times a week without issue as long as you use our mitigation tool kit.

Someone has said before (Cant remember who) that when they spoke to Ray he wasn't at all concerned when he found out they were eating muscle meat 4 times a week (I think?). He was mainly concerned about them upping egg shell calcium and sugar intake.

Yes the egg shell calcium concern may have been linked to the amount of phosphate in meat BUT he didn't suggest they lower that amount as you can stop the harmful effects.

Lets say steak:

Coffee/Coca cola - Reduce iron absorbtion
Calcium - Reduce iron absorbtion AND balance Calcium/Phosphate ratio
Gelatin - Balance amino acid profile
Teaspoon coconut oil
Going all out - 400iu vitamin E

Enjoy your steak issue free! Chicken would have the same approach I guess.

I automatically do variations of the above (Sometime all of the above) every time I have a meal that might not be ideal.
 
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Ryan999

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Oct 8, 2012
Messages
50
Yeah I agree with the above answers to my question. Growing up I was really healthy and lean, I basically ate a Peat type diet just instinctively and the only thing that was different really was the fact I would have skinless chicken breast with some sort of cheese a couple times a week and it never seemed to have any negative effects. I always felt perfectly fine after too.
 

JDW

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Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Messages
27
I happen to love chicken, as do my kids, so giving up our dark meat chicken has been sad. That said, I did find organic, free-range chickens who are fed coconut pulp! They actually contain Lauric Acid in their meat due to eating so much coconut. They are EXPENSIVE but just may be worth it so we can have chicken wings once in a while. I imagine the bones would make some mighty fine broth, too.

Check it out:
http://www.grassfedtraditions.com/pastured_poultry.htm
 

narouz

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Jul 22, 2012
Messages
4,429
JDW said:
That said, I did find organic, free-range chickens who are fed coconut pulp!

:eek:

You know, JDW,
chicken Thighs have always been my favorite.
When I "Cheat on Peat,"
I cheat Big: Thighs, usually.

I only do it once or maybe twice per week,
and only one thigh,
skinless, so...maybe I'll survive. :roll:

And thanks for the report of the Coconut Chickens!
I'm gonna check that out!
 

narouz

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Joined
Jul 22, 2012
Messages
4,429
JDW said:
I happen to love chicken, as do my kids, so giving up our dark meat chicken has been sad. That said, I did find organic, free-range chickens who are fed coconut pulp! They actually contain Lauric Acid in their meat due to eating so much coconut. They are EXPENSIVE but just may be worth it so we can have chicken wings once in a while. I imagine the bones would make some mighty fine broth, too.

Check it out:
http://www.grassfedtraditions.com/pastured_poultry.htm

Lordy them's some pricey chickens! :shock:
 

Birdie

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I've always loved chicken especially the dark meat. But, since being on Peat, I haven't had any chicken. It doesn't appeal to me. Weird.

Also, I heard RP say, in the Eluv Thyroid interview, that chickens have a fast metabolism and that makes for less pufa even though they are not ruminants. He didn't say chickens are recommended or that they are as low in pufa as ruminant animals. Just less pufa due to their high metabolism. It's a good interview. An old one. Only about 30 minutes. I may not have the chicken info just right btw. I've listened to that interview about 4x but my mind is a sieve.

My opinion. If you're talking about chicken 3x a week, I think it's not going to help you get well. Once a month is different. Fruit rather than starch, milk, coffee, aspirin, niacinamide and vit E help mitigate the pufa and phosphate junk.

Depends how healthy and young you are.
 

Birdie

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I remember loving the skin too!!!
 

livrepensador

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Oct 30, 2015
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Another thing : chicken breast is one of the most bcaa rich foods and one of the main sources of protein in bodybuilding and in inumerous cultures around the world. I find really hard to believe that it harms human beings.
for me its a really cheap and pratical forms of increase the protein intake.
What do you guys think ?
 

Peata

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I eat it. But watch out because now some companies are putting careegenan in it. :roll:
 
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I've changed from chicken thighs to chicken breasts. I eat muscle meat every day for one meal. The other meal or two will be dairy-ish or leftovers. The breasts were the part I never ate on paleo low carbing. But they can be decent with a good sauce, and they have almost zero fat, so I can add a bit of coconut or grass fed butter and make a sauce.

I just had chicken tikka masala that I made, with boiled INdian potatos, and some cooked cabbage. The cabbage will choke my already suppressed thyroid to death I suppose, but it WAS cooked a long time which should kill a lot of the goitergen.
 

Zachs

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Messages
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I personally will never eat chicken again, especially large scale companies. They are probably the most mistreated and dirtiest animals on earth. Also now that a lot of companies ship them to China to be cleaned, I would be most concerned.

That said, if you can get real quality free range chickens fed non gmo, non soy grains, it might be an ok option.... chicken is very estrogenic. If it's cheap protein you are after, powdered milk, free range eggs and potatoes are a much better option.
 

charlie

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I live in chicken country and had a friend who was renting a place from a local chicken farmer who grows for Tyson or one of the other big names. I was there and said friend kindly asked the chicken farmer if she could get some chickens off him. He looked at her with the most disgusted look and said, "I wouldn't eat them."

I see these chickens quite often on the back of the semi's on the way to the slaughter house. It's absolutely disgustingly horrible the shape they are in. :(
 

Owen B

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Joined
Jun 10, 2016
Messages
310
You guys must've been reading my mind.

You know, somewhere Peat says that
if you are relying upon chicken for a major part of your protein,
then you will experience metabolic suppression.

Chickens, in Peat's view,
as I understand him,
are, first of all, not "ruminant" animals.
That is, they do not have a "rumens" in their digestive tract
like ruminant animals do,
which--if the ruminant animal is healthy--
should convert the PUFA in their diet to saturated fat.

So that's exhibit #1.
Exhibit #2 would be
that Peat says chickens will reflect their diet.
I've really looked into this and found
it is extremely hard to get chicken
that has not been fed the typical PUFA BLOWOUT DIET
of soybeans, corn, etc.

Okay...so that's the argument against chicken.
On the other hand,
if you consult food composition charts
and look at Omega-3 PUFA in foods
(I know that is only one category of PUFA,
but the only chart I could find just gave Omega-3's, not Omega-6's)
you will see that
IF THE SKIN IS REMOVED
then the Omega-3 content is almost exactly the same as beef or lamb or other ruminants.

Granted, we need to find a better food chart,
which accurately shows total PUFA--not just Omega-3's...
...but, if that chart is accurate,
and if the Omega-6 level sortuv follows the Omega-3 level in chicken meat,
(lot of "ifs" :roll: )...

...then it would seem that skinless chicken,
especially the most lean cuts of chicken--
because it would seem that PUFA is mostly present in the fat of an (non-ruminant) animal--
...then it would seem to me that
maybe eating some minor amount of, like, chicken breast
might not be too bad for you.

Lot of "ifs" and "maybes" and "mights."

Of course the other Peat cautions about muscle meats of all kinds still apply:
Peat sees them as anti-metabolic,
especially if they become a large part of the diet.
Yes, he says that anti-metabolic effect can be diminished some
by eating gelatin along with the muscle meat,
thus improving the amino acid ratios.

I've spent a lot of time wondering about this dang chicken question.
Quality, pastured beef is so expensive.
Chicken is so much cheaper.
It would be great if we could eat some without sending ourselves into PUFA Hell.
Good observations about chicken. I'm constantly mulling this topic over because I read the same as others about too much PUFAs in chicken.

But you're saying that they're predominantly in the skin. That's good to know because I find that one of the hardest things to get on the Peat diet is adequate protein.

Here's another way to "skin that chicken". When I first became a member I found Charlie's recommendations and he mentioned stewing chicken. IOW, simmer up the chicken - breast and drumsticks - for 45-60 minutes, take out everything, take off the meat and put it aside. Put the bones and skin back in and simmer for another hour or so. Strain and refrigerate. Take out the next day and skim the fat. Now you've got a nice rich gelatin-laden broth you can add anything to, including the cooked chicken. Best of both worlds.
 

Birdie

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Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
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Location
USA
I'm having chicken once in a while now. After being without it for several years, I bought some of those organic chic breasts at Costco.
I keep em frozen to bring out once in a while. And I take it back what I said before, I love chicken now. Oh, they are skinless. Sounds like that's in their favor.
 

Jsaute21

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Joined
Sep 3, 2016
Messages
1,344
Would like to get others opinion on this? I eat organic boneless skinless chicken breasts 2x a week at most just for convenience. There is supposed to really be no fat in there but i wanted to see others opinion on the matter. I almost always eat it with rice cooked in coconut oil and sargento reduced fat cheese and a coke. Therefore, the minimal PUFA should be nullified.
 

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