Fried and Died

I have a confession to make:  I like to splurge on fattening foods.  There, I said it.

For instance, during the holidays, it’s not uncommon for me to help myself to some tasty wine, a plateful of pasta, and a good-sized cannoli to cap off a calorie-rich meal.  Hey, I’m Italian, and you know what they say about Italians:  You can take the man out of Italy, but you can’t take Italy out of the man.

These are once-in-a-while treats, though, and certainly not something I eat with any regularity.

But if there’s anything that I try to avoid as much as possible, it’s fried foods.  And not just because they’re more fattening than foods that are baked or fried, but because the nutrients in fried foods are much lower than foods that are cooked in another fashion.

And do you know where they’re especially lacking in nutrient density: Omega-3s.

Now, as most of you know, there aren’t a whole lot of foods that have omega-3s, but where omega-3s are replete is seafood.  And seafood is as frequently fried as French fries themselves (is there a boardwalk in America that doesn’t have a fried clam restaurant?).

Researchers from the American Heart Association split approximately 200,000 men and women into two groups based on how often they ate fish fried or baked.  Those that typically ate fish fried were in one group; those that ate fish primarily boiled or baked went into another.

Of course there were lots of health disparities in the two groups, but where it was particularly noticeable was with respect to omega-3 fatty acid content.  In the baked/boiled fish group, they averaged 3.3 grams of omega-3 fatty acids consumed per day.  The fried seafood group averaged less than a gram of omega-3 fatty acids per day.

Other omega-3 stripping methods of cooking include the salting and drying of seafood; omega-3 enhancing methods include baking with tofu or adding low-sodium soy sauce.

“The take-home message is that it’s better to bake or boil the fish instead of frying it,” said study researcher Lixin Meng tjo WebMD in an interview.  Meng is a doctoral candidate at the University of Hawaii.

While this study did not take into account whether or not individuals got omega-3s into their diet through alternative methods, like supplementing, the implication is that they got it primarily from the seafood they ate.

For instance, as we know, a diet that’s high in omega-3 fatty acids can help prevent diseases, especially heart disease.  Well wouldn’t you know it, but those that most frequently ate fried seafood were 15 percent more likely to die from heart disease than those who frequently ate their fish baked or boiled.  About 2,600 men and 1,900 women died from heart disease in the study’s 10-year period.

The findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions Nov. 19th.

Everyone can splurge on fattening foods every once in a while (yes, even fried foods), you just can’t eat that way all the time.  It sounds easy enough but the rate of obesity indicates it’s a lot easier said than done.

For more information on how to get eat great and still lose weight, you’ll want to download my Fat Loss Revealed report.  I’m confident it can work for you.

Sources
NaturalNews.com
americanheart.mediaroom.com
rxlist.com