Every Tuesday, KidGlue presents “Healthy Pick/Makes Me Sick” where Sarah Matheny takes a popular restaurant’s menu and uncovers the most healthy and least healthy items on the menu. This week: Chicken Nuggets.
If you watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on Friday, you were treated to a rather graphic depiction of how chicken nuggets may or may not be made. The British chef’s “experiment” showed grade schoolers from the midwest that fast food (or school cafeteria) chicken nuggets are made from leftover chicken skin, bones and connective tissue, ground to an disgusting fleshy mush, coated in breadcrumbs and fried. His intention was for the kids to be so repulsed that they would then think twice the next time they were offered a nugget. However, to Jaime’s surprise, the kids wanted nuggets, and not just any nuggets, the very nuggets he had made from kitchen scraps right before their eyes. Perhaps he underestimated just how much kids love their nuggets.
If your kids are going to eat nuggets, here are those you should choose and those you should send packing.
Makes Me Sick: Burger King Chicken Fries
As if chicken cut into fries and then deep fat fried weren’t bad enough, this confusing “food” is actually comprised of 35 ingredients, including “sodium phosphate” and “autolyzed yeast extract.” At least I knew what everything in Jamie’s nuggets was. To make matters worse, a 9 piece order with ranch has 510 calories and 37 grams of fat.
Healthy Pick: Gardein Seven Grain Crispy “Chicken” Tenders
Created by chef and recent Oprah guest Tal Ronnen, Gardein products are made from organic soybeans, whole grains and vegetables. They can be found in your frozen food section and not only do they taste fantastic, but a serving has only 90 calories and 9 grams of protein. My kids think they taste better than “the real thing,” whatever that means.
