VER SAT ILIT Y ? Ever heard of a chicken protein shake How about beef muffins for breakfast? Not so much. The beauty of bug proteins is the many ways in which they can be used. Bugs like crickets or grasshoppers can be dehydrated and ground into flour and spooned into protein shakes, substituted for other flours in baked goods, or purchased like the amazing EXO bars, which were featured at this year’s Paleo f(x)™ Conference. After dehydration, insects can also be roasted in olive oil and salt or or garlic and crunched on like a chip, sprinkled on a salad like croutons — no refrigeration necessary.
NUTRIENT DENSITY Nutrition 101 tells us that not all protein is created equal. For a protein to be considered complete, it needs to contain all nine “essential” amino acids. “Essential” means those the body does not make on its own; that is, diet derived. Crickets, for example, are a complete protein source, containing 16–21 grams of protein per 100 grams of meat, only 5 grams of fat (the good kind), and 121 calories; pretty comparable to beef at 26 grams of protein, 15 grams of fat, and 250 calories per 100 grams, or chicken at 26.5 grams of protein, almost 8 grams of fat, and 195 calories. Crickets and mealworms also boast 2.2 times the iron in spinach, are low sodium, contain 800 and 1100 mcg calcium, respectively, and 11mg of potassium. And though they might sound understandably unpalatable, they certainly aren’t hard on your gut — both are high in omega-3 fatty acids, an important anti-inflammatory. For something you can grab-and-go, that’s a lot of nutrition in a little package!
SUS TAI NAB ILIT Y
tage of eating these critters Undoubtedly the most important advan rces used. Insect farms are resou of ber num small y arabl comp is the ing them releases 100 farm and odor, no st stackable, give off almo making it possible to , cows g times less greenhouse gas than raisin require 2,000 gallons cattle beef while Also, here. anyw st farm almo n per pound of gallo one only re requi of water per pound, bugs drought conditions in many “livestock,” which is significant given t Florida. parts of the country, including Southwes for typical farm animals, For every 100 pounds of feed required ds of pork, or 30 pounds poun 15 beef, of ds the yield is five poun sixty pounds. Harvesting full a of chicken. For cricket protein, it’s metabolism stops, then their until them ng cooli by bugs is done ts can be stored in cool insec d, drate dehy dehydrating them. Once n. Add to all that eratio refrig dry storage, eliminating the need for turned into food and sted, harve n, grow be can ts the fact that insec en, pig, or cow chick a , hand other the in fairly close proximity; on hterhouse, then to the slaug the to farm the from taken be must for much higher travel butcher, then to market, creating a need ing a much greater creat es, and petroleum resource expenditur rint. carbon footp
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