American Heart Association Cookbook?!



13g of fat X 9 cal/g = 117kcal



117 kcal of fat / 262 kcal total =.4466



44% of calories from fat!



I thought heart healthy proponents have told us to get only 30% of calories from fat. Plus it's not so light on the saturated fat and cholesterol.



What's the deal on this recipe? Is it an anomaly for the AHA cookbook?

I think you could serve with rice, and get the total fat percentage down.



I love the concept -- a recipe is weblog-helper, extending your content!

Howcum the other comments are all about the fat here? (Actually that was my first reaction, too, but I have an excuse--my doc has told me to cut cholesterol) Someone should note that this is a funny and clever blog event. Next week: bratwurst special, or "links and links."

I was a little surprised by the fat content too. I also used butter instead of margarine, changing the saturated fat count (not the total)--which, I have to say, makes the food less enjoyable in this case. I was just too lazy to buy margarine.



Confirming the 30% number: "The body can use all three types of fats, but the American Heart Association recommends that the average person limit total fat intake (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated) to no more than 30 percent of total calories." -- American Heart Association



AHA's nutrition-specific web site has Chicken and Broccoli in Mushroom Sauce on their web site. (Their numbers match the above.)



Let's see... You Are What You Eat says 1 cup of cooked chopped skinless chicken has 13 gm total fat (3 gm saturated), and 307 calories. 1 teaspoon of margarine has 4 gm total fat (1 gm saturated), 34 calories. (2 cups chicken + 12 teaspoons margarine) / 6 servings = 12.33 gm total fat / serving (3 gm saturated / serving).



(Footnote: Mississippi State University says, "Equal amounts of butter and margarine contain the same amount of fat. However, the fat in margarine is less saturated and vegetable fats (found in margarine) contain no cholesterol. (NOTE: Regardless of which you select, the total amount that you use is more important than which one you choose.)")

Links and links, I like that.

Regarding margarine vs butter, the process of "partially hydrogenating" vegetable fats in order to get them to be more solid turns them into trans fats that may actually be more harmful than saturated fats. When I read all the research, I stopped buying typical peanut butter -- it's all partially hydrogenated fats and not much peanut (think tan Crisco)!! and started buying all natural PB. I hadn't been using margarine or butter for a while (Olive Oil rocks!) and I read labels a lot to avoid that bad trans fat. Some people are campaigning to get food labels to include transfat grams. Here's an old news item about trans fat. Health information, like the AHA gives, seem to take a long time to catch up to new research. Many health cookbooks I have substitute margarine for butter, and they may actually be making your health worse!

p.s. I loved this entry!! I just used a great shrimp creole recipe and I was trying to think of a clever way to incorporate it into my weblog, but I think you've done it already.