By now, I am sure you have heard all about this new Kentucky Grilled Chicken.
And while I have no doubt that this is a better option than the fried chicken alternative, it’s still nowhere near an ideal food choice.
Congratulations! You are eating “grilled” chicken with a bunch of garbage on the side. Lord knows that mac and cheese and biscuits aren’t going help you look any better naked!
KFC says the grilled chicken has significantly fewer calories and fat, plus much less sodium, than its Original Recipe fried chicken that launched the brand more than a half-century ago.
After all, just as, if not more, damaging to our waistlines are the high calorie side dishes accompanying the chicken which are filled with refined starches and sugars and unnecessary amounts of saturated fat.
To me it’s like covering feces with a newspaper- it still stinks!
For too long now the fast food industry has made a killing on misinforming consumers about what is and isn’t healthy.
KFC claimed that it recently did switch cooking oils to eliminate all trans fats from their products- a noble effort indeed.
But upon further review, this does not look to be the case…
Here are the ingredients directly from their website:
KFC ® Grilled Chicken
Fresh Chicken Marinated with: Salt, Sodium Phosphate, and Monosodium Glutamate Seasoned with: Maltodextrin, Salt, Bleached Wheat lour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Monosodium Glutamate, Spices, Palm Oil, Natural Flavor, Garlic Powder, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Wheat, Salt), Chicken Fat, Chicken Broth, Autolyzed Yeast, Beef Powder, Rendered Beef Fat, Extractives of Turmeric, Dehydrated Carrot, Onion Powder, and mot more than 2% Each of Calcium Silicate and Silicon Dioxide Added as Anticaking Agents.
Contains Wheat and Soy
I don’t know about you, but this certainly doesn’t sound like a nutritional powerhouse. First of all, “Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil” is not good for you and is a form of trans fat.
Trans fats are synthetic fats that are essentially foreign agents in our bodies. There is truly no room for them in a healthy diet.
Plus, a great rule of thumb is that the fewer ingredients in a food item the better it is for you, ideally less than 5 ingredients being a good marker. Well, if you count the ingredients in this “health” food, there are well over 20!
Fast food and convenience store marketing campaigns make it very hard for us trainers to do our jobs.
When a company says:
“Our _____ (name of product) is good for you because it’s low in fat or fat-free”
OR
“Our _____ (name of product) is good for you because it’s got no sugar”
OR
“Our _____ (name of product) is the perfect snack because it’s only 100 calories.”
In general, here are some great user-friendly guidelines to cut through all of the BS these money-hungry SOB’s are sending our way:
Beware of “Fat-Free or Low Fat” Foods:
These food choices are often high in sugar or contain added sugar to make up for taste lost which wreak havoc on your energy levels and prevent fat loss.
Look Out for “Sugar-Free” Products:
These food choices are typically made with artificial ingredients and sweeteners and/or are sometimes higher in fat to make up for taste lost and/or often contains sugar-alcohols that tear up your digestive system.
Stay Away From “100 Calorie” Items:
These low calorie bags contain ZERO nutritional value with little to no protein and are low in fiber and natural, healthy fats. Plus, these weight-gainers by another name do not fill you up between meals.
Probably the most infamous “healthy” marketing campaign is 100-CALORIE SNACK PACKS.
Which is better for you body: 100 calories of broccoli or 100 calories of mini-muffins?
GET IT?
I know personally I could easily eat 10 of these packs without getting stuffed- I guess that would be a 1,000-CALORIE SNACK PACK 
Unfortunately, we live in a calorie-conscious society, and marketers truly take piggyback on this.
But you don’t need to be a dope like the rest of them.
Educate yourself.
Educate your friends.
Educate your family.
Remember, the market determines the direction companies will go. If we choose not to put this garbage in our bellies anymore, they will make less of it
Crank it!
BJ
PS- I just know you have got something to say about this hot button issue. Please make a comment to this blog post about what pisses you off the most about this KFC Grilled Chicken, or any other fast food marketing campaign for that matter!
Tags: 100 calorie snack packs, boot, bootcamp, bootcamps, camp, camps, chicken, exercise, fitness, fried, grilled, Kentucky, kfc, personal, trainer, training
I cannot stand it when fast food “restaurants” say they have a healthier alternative..they don’t. I can’t stand the smell of fast food places..I’ll take my veggies any day over anything they serve at these places. Have a great day.
Great points BJ. Just who in their right mind would think “bleached flour” is healthy? I also like the comparison of the the 100 calories of broccoli vs the mini muffins. And you’re right in terms of volume the broccoli will fill you up much faster with sustained energy. And you probably would have to devour about 10 of them to fill you up.
BJ,
I was going to cover this topic sometime this week on my blog. I’ll just send my readers to you since you read my mind! You are right, if it looks like poo, smells like like poo, but is cooked differently, its still poo!! I didn’t do my research and had no clue all of those ingredients are in ‘grilled’ chicken.
Sure the ingredients that KFC puts on the outside of their chicken are horrible, but what about the ingredients they put on the inside!! The amount of horormones they use on their chickens to get them to grow faster and bigger is insane!! Yes the chicken you buy in the food store has horomones (unless its free range) but KFC has the A-Rod’s of chickens!
I would be all for free range chicken, but in this economy I really can’t afford it. If people want to stay healthy and watch their wallets, they will skip the KFC drive-though. They should get their own chicken, put on some healthy spices and grill it themselves!
Again great article BJ!
Hey Sallie and Benson, right on my friends!
Sallie, the smell makes me cringe- it smells like the runs, ha ha
Benson, you said it man, these 100 calorie snack packs just make you insatiable where as I have yet to meet someone who can overeat broccoli (trust me, I’ve tried!)
crank it!
BJ
Hey Mike,
glad I could help bro and pumped to hear you are so on top of stuff like this for your clients, they are lucky to have you as a trainer bro
crank it!
BJ
When are they gonna get it? The Government whether you live in Canada or the USA is in Cahoots with the Food Industry and the Drug Companies!!!!
The truth is, they want you to eat all this crap because it is easier to control you this way.
“They” have caught on to something really significant here!!
It is easier to control ppl who are in debt, depressed, unhappy, and unsatisfied with thier lives, fat, lazy, have heart disease, cancer, diabetes, lung diseases, fertility problems, kidney and liver disease, chronic fatigue etc.
Sick ppl spend more money as a way to try to find some sort of satisfaction!!
Don’t be fooled any longer!!!
Everyone Needs to hit a website Called http://www.foodmatters.tv/
Not that I want ot steer anyone awat from your site BJ! I love it. But it has to be said as many others have said it!
You are what you eat!!!
You ARE what you EAT!!!
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!!!!
Thanks for letting me rant!
Hi BJ,
Excellent post. Although this “grilled” chicken (I’m wondering if the grill marks are tatooed on??) is probably not as greasy a choice as their fried chicken, I worry that the average consumer will be tricked into thinking this new offering is a really healthy choice. NOT. You explained really well here why it’s not.
My “two cents” on an idea for a much healthier chicken meal:Buy some fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts and marinate in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar (or low sodium soy sauce and ginger) and grill ‘em up! Make extra and freeze them for future use in salads and wraps. Easy. Cheaper. Healthier.
Keep up the great blog posts, BJ!
Becky
right on the money BJ! I don’t think we’ve got that crap here in Aus yet otherwise there would’ve been a big fuss over it.
To me it’s the same as Maccas adding their “healthy choices” menu – if white bread (or bread in general) is a healthy choice option than it doesn’t say much for the rest of their menus.
And you’re right. Even if people go for the grilled KFC chicken they’re still going to wash it down with a diet coke which is full of so much rubbish you might was well drink dishwashing liquid.
Chris, Becky, and Daniel- awesome additions, thanks so much for your input, it is much appreciated
crank it!
BJ
It is supposed to be grilled chicken for heavens sake. Why is it so hard to do. Take some chicken and grill it!. How difficult is that? And think of the savings on chemicals they would make. Another one I hate is peanut butter. Take some peanuts and grind them up. That’s it! Why add vegetable oils and salt and SUGAR and who knows what all else? It seems that these days you need to be a chemist to understand what it is you are eating. Yep, give me 100 calories of broccoli any day.