cheaper

What’s in your chicken sandwich? DNA test shows Subway sandwiches contain just 50% chicken

by
What's in your chicken sandwich? DNA test shows Subway sandwiches contain just 50% chicken

What are you eating? Do you really have any idea what you are buying when you whip into a fast food restaurant?

CBC’s Marketplace recently had chicken from 5 fast food restaurants DNA tested to see what is actually in their chicken.

If you can believe it, DNA tests on Subway’s Oven Roasted Chicken show that just 53.6 per cent was chicken! The majority of the remaining DNA was soy.

Two major red flags are waving here.

1. What else is the company hiding in their products?
2. What if someone was allergic to soy and unknowingly eating it in a piece of chicken?! Additionally, regular consumption of soy can wreak havoc on the hormonal system.

Subway states that “Our recipe calls for one per cent or less of soy protein in our chicken products.” This is still quite concerning for those of us who like to know what we are actually consuming.

• A&W Chicken Grill Deluxe averaged 89.4 per cent chicken DNA
• McDonald’s Country Chicken – Grilled averaged 84.9 per cent chicken DNA
• Tim Hortons Chipotle Chicken Grilled Wrap averaged 86.5 per cent chicken DNA
Wendy’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich averaged 88.5 per cent chicken DNA

Each restaurant’s chicken actually averaged approximately 15 ingredients per piece of chicken.

How is this even possible? Isn’t chicken supposed to be just chicken?

These restaurant chains are actually serving meat that has been “restructured”.

Restructured products are smaller pieces of meat or ground meat that are bound together with other ingredients to make them last longer, taste better and ‘add value’ – i.e. – to make them cheaper.

The ingredients can include simple items like salt, honey or onion powder, as well as shocking industrial ingredients. They most likely also contain transglutaminase, which is meat glue. Yes – glue to hold together scraps of meat to bind them into a new form for consumption.

What is the Solution?

Plan ahead and bring your own food when you’re on the road, or when you go to work. It’s much cheaper to eat food that you prepare yourself, and you will also have a better idea as to what you are eating! Here is a quick recipe to make your own delicious chicken wrap that is actually 100% chicken, instead of just half!!

RECIPE: Savoury 100% Chicken Wrap – Great for Lunches

Slice 3 organic chicken breasts into strips and bake or fry ahead of time. (this will make several lunches for a few days for yourself or a day of lunches for your family)

Grab a whole wheat wrap and spread hummus onto it.
Place a large lettuce leaf in the middle.
Add sliced tomato, cucumber and onions.
Add your chicken slices.
Sprinkle with pepper and wrap it up!
Hold it together with a tooth pick and you’re out the door!

Whenever possible, avoid fast food by planning ahead and bringing your own food. Take control of your health and empower yourself by being proactive about your meal choices!

With Sources from:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/meat-glue-an-ingredient-to-fear-or-cheer-1.855985

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-chicken-fast-food-1.3993967

Is Eating Healthy More Expensive Than Junk Food?

by

Many people think that eating healthy is more expensive than eating junk food.

While this argument could be proven true by eating very inexpensive, very bad for you junk foods, there are several tricks that you can use to eat healthy on a budget.

If you have perused the junk food aisle at the grocery store lately, a bag of potato chips can run upwards of three or four dollars. Just imagine reallocating those three dollars to the produce department to buy a bag of oranges, grapes, or even a full pineapple. Now that is a healthy (and inexpensive) snack!

If you’ve turned on the TV lately, then it’s probably safe to say that you’ve seen Tim Horton’s latest commercial introducing their “Perfect Pairings” menu which allows consumers to pick and choose what “convenience” they are craving for a quick meal.  While this concept is probably enticing to many customers with a price of only $5.99 for a lunch on the go, by the time you add a beverage and tax you are likely breaking the eight dollar mark for ‘fast food’ that is not going to fuel your body for greatness.

I’m going to show you how you can spend less than $25 at the grocery store and make five healthy and delicious lunches for the entire week.

WHICH IS DEFINITELY CHEAPER THAN SWINGING INTO TIM HORTON’S EVERY DAY!

Packing a lunch doesn’t have to be time consuming or exhausting. It is as easy as adding a few items to your weekly shopping list to have fresh vegetables and fruit on hand. If you find that you run short on time in the mornings, you could prepare your lunch the night before or even on Sunday afternoon so lunches are ready in the fridge to grab and go in the morning.

Shopping List

1 large container of organic mixed lettuce $5.99
1 bag of 5 avocados               $2.49
2 bell peppers                        $2.00
1 cucumber                            $1.49
1 sweet onion                         $0.75
1 bag of carrots                      $1.99
4 limes                                  $1.00
3 bananas                              $1.00
3 apples                                 $2.00
1 bag of clementines               $3.00
1 bag of raw sunflower seeds   $3.00

  $24.71

Using the lettuce, bell peppers, cucumber and onion, prepare 5 garden salads.
For a very basic dressing, place half a lime in your salad container to squeeze over your salad when you are ready to eat it.

Or a homemade salad dressing could also be made using extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and your favourite herbs and spices. Just mix up the dressing at home and store it in your fridge at work. Add one avocado to each salad when you are ready to eat it (otherwise it will turn brown if exposed to the air).

Cut up carrots into carrot sticks for an afternoon snack.  Grab two pieces of fruit each day and carry the bag of sunflower seeds for snacking if you feel like your energy is dropping or you are having a craving for something crunchy.

There you have it! Five quick and easy lunches that are so easy you won’t even have to think about it! There are a plethora of healthy lunch options out there that are easy on the wallet, but more importantly, they will provide you with the nutrients and energy that you need to fuel your day.