19 ms·

All the ethical and taste concerns aside, is that $5 chicken worse, better or about the same for feeding a hungry person? I am thinking of calories intake, pote

by rixrax 8y ago

All the ethical and taste concerns aside, is that $5 chicken worse, better or about the same for feeding a hungry person? I am thinking of calories intake, potential medium/long term health advantages/disadvantages? edit: was pointed to this Reuters[0] article which seems like a reasonable starting point. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-money-chicken-organic/is-organic-chicken-worth-the-price-idUSKBN0FM24Q20140717 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-money-chicken-organic/is-...

ChristianBundy 8y ago
If you're optimizing for caloric intake and health advantages, I'd recommend looking into eating plants (and fungi). Plants are always more efficient than animals for caloric and nutrient intake because animals burn the calories they eat before you eat the animals. You may be interested in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio
- porpoisely 8y ago
  This is simply not true and one of the many lies vegan activists tell. If you are optimizing for calorie and health, you eat a mix of meat, vegetables, fruits, etc ( aka a balanced diet ). Plants require far more effort for the same amount of energy. http://time.com/4252373/meat-eating-veganism-evolution/ http://time.com/4252373/meat-eating-veganism-evolution/ If plant diet was optimizing for caloric intake and health advantages, most human societies would have been vegan. But no human society throughout human existence and pre-human existence were vegan because plant diet isn't optimal. It's also why vegans tend to be lethargic, lose bone mass, teeth rot, joint pains, have trouble concentrating, etc. It's why vegans have to take tons of supplements to even stay alive and while doing so do long term damage to their bodies. Balanced diet folks. It's something humans have been designed to eat since human existence. Not only does your body need it, it also helps with your gut biodiversity which helps prevent anxiety, depression, etc. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/anxiety-head-gut/story?id=20229136 https://abcnews.go.com/Health/anxiety-head-gut/story?id=2022...
  - drcoopster 8y ago
    > It's also why vegans tend to be lethargic, lose bone mass, teeth rot, joint pains, have trouble concentrating, etc. It's why vegans have to take tons of supplements to even stay alive and while doing so do long term damage to their bodies. This is simply not true and one of the many lies anti-vegan activists tell.
    - porpoisely 8y ago
      If it isn't true, why do vegans have to supplement their diets with tons of pills? Also, I was a vegan for while, so I know all the lies. Can you show me one vegan that doesn't take supplements?
      - outworlder 8y ago
        They do have to take supplements, of course. It's their prerogative. It's much harder to have a balanced diet eating only plants. You can't easily compete against organisms that only eat plants, and have been collecting all the nutrients, for their entire existence, for you. Humans are adapted to eat from both plants and animal sources. Take away one source, and you have to adapt.
        gnome_chomsky 8y ago
        The only supplement vegans and vegetarians need to take is B-12. The rest comes from having a varied and balanced plant based diet. Something interesting to note is that many people, regardless of diet, are at least somewhat deficient in B-12 and should supplement. And the meat that contains B-12 usually comes from supplementing the feed given to livestock with B-12.
      - curiousfab 8y ago
        > If it isn't true, why do vegans have to supplement their diets with tons of pills? They don't. All you need to supplement is B12, and that's one small pill a day to take. If you're interested in the background, find some information e.g. here: https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/vitamin-b12/ https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/vitamin-b12/
- thatcat 8y ago
  Humans don't have the cellulase enzyme necessary to digest cellulose, the primary component of vegetables. Cows and other grazing animals do, which is why they can efficiently use plants to gain energy and mass. Humans eat meat because we can not use the majority a plant's mass for energy or mass production. Some day maybe there will be a cellulase supplement or probiotic supplement that allows efficient veganism, but we're not there yet.
- pathseeker 8y ago
  That's a terribly simplistic analysis. First, humans don't digest plants in the same way and won't get the same calories/nutrition out of the plants as a chicken/whatever. Second, feed for animals is significantly cheaper than the plants humans like to eat and what the stores sell them for. Sure, if you could live eating chicken feed then it would certainly be cheaper to eat that instead of chicken for caloric intake. But to optimize for dollar nutritional value in food humans actually eat, it's pretty hard to beat the $5 chicken.
  - bootlooped 8y ago
    Animal agriculture has a lot of externalized costs, so that is one thing to think about when considering what type of diet would be optimal for society. As for the present time, I agree that the retail price of meat and the nutrients offered makes it a pretty good deal.
temporalparts 8y ago
My understanding (no sources) is that better treated chickens have: - Fewer hormones for growth - Fewer antibiotics (diseases spread rapidly in confined spaces) - Higher quality meat (Chicken gets more exercise and movement, as well as increased quality of feed) - Higher nutritional value (increased exercise and sunlight, potentially) In terms of calories though, it's probably a wash, and more inefficient from calories/money. edit: formatting
- waffle_ss 8y ago
  .
  - riffraff 8y ago
    The issue with antibiotics in farming is that they may be used to contrast unhealthy conditions. If your chicken don't get sick because they have free roaming space and don't peck each other and so on you don't need antibiotics.
    - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
      > they have free roaming space and don't peck each other and so on Chickens are assholes no matter the square footage.
      - benj111 8y ago
        I think that's a bit unfair, just because we haven't bred all of their instinctual behaviour out of them.
    - clairity 8y ago
      chicken contact lenses (to reduce aggression) was one of my favorite business case studies: https://gohighbrow.com/optical-distortion-aka-the-chicken-contact-lenses-case/ https://gohighbrow.com/optical-distortion-aka-the-chicken-co... i won't spoil the punchline (it's not obvious from first blush).
totalrobe 8y ago
Anecdotally, those $5 Costco chickens are bigger than competitors' $6.49 rotisserie chickens
- masonic 8y ago
  Costco sells its rotisserie chickens at a loss.
mlindner 8y ago
Organic food is negligibly different from non-organic food and is generally worse for the environment because of the additional resources required for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PmM6SUn7Es https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PmM6SUn7Es

by rixrax 8y ago

ChristianBundy 8y ago

If you're optimizing for caloric intake and health advantages, I'd recommend looking into eating plants (and fungi). Plants are always more efficient than animals for caloric and nutrient intake because animals burn the calories they eat before you eat the animals. You may be interested in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio

porpoisely 8y ago
This is simply not true and one of the many lies vegan activists tell. If you are optimizing for calorie and health, you eat a mix of meat, vegetables, fruits, etc ( aka a balanced diet ). Plants require far more effort for the same amount of energy. http://time.com/4252373/meat-eating-veganism-evolution/ http://time.com/4252373/meat-eating-veganism-evolution/ If plant diet was optimizing for caloric intake and health advantages, most human societies would have been vegan. But no human society throughout human existence and pre-human existence were vegan because plant diet isn't optimal. It's also why vegans tend to be lethargic, lose bone mass, teeth rot, joint pains, have trouble concentrating, etc. It's why vegans have to take tons of supplements to even stay alive and while doing so do long term damage to their bodies. Balanced diet folks. It's something humans have been designed to eat since human existence. Not only does your body need it, it also helps with your gut biodiversity which helps prevent anxiety, depression, etc. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/anxiety-head-gut/story?id=20229136 https://abcnews.go.com/Health/anxiety-head-gut/story?id=2022...
- drcoopster 8y ago
  > It's also why vegans tend to be lethargic, lose bone mass, teeth rot, joint pains, have trouble concentrating, etc. It's why vegans have to take tons of supplements to even stay alive and while doing so do long term damage to their bodies. This is simply not true and one of the many lies anti-vegan activists tell.
  - porpoisely 8y ago
    If it isn't true, why do vegans have to supplement their diets with tons of pills? Also, I was a vegan for while, so I know all the lies. Can you show me one vegan that doesn't take supplements?
    - outworlder 8y ago
      They do have to take supplements, of course. It's their prerogative. It's much harder to have a balanced diet eating only plants. You can't easily compete against organisms that only eat plants, and have been collecting all the nutrients, for their entire existence, for you. Humans are adapted to eat from both plants and animal sources. Take away one source, and you have to adapt.
      - gnome_chomsky 8y ago
        The only supplement vegans and vegetarians need to take is B-12. The rest comes from having a varied and balanced plant based diet. Something interesting to note is that many people, regardless of diet, are at least somewhat deficient in B-12 and should supplement. And the meat that contains B-12 usually comes from supplementing the feed given to livestock with B-12.
    - curiousfab 8y ago
      > If it isn't true, why do vegans have to supplement their diets with tons of pills? They don't. All you need to supplement is B12, and that's one small pill a day to take. If you're interested in the background, find some information e.g. here: https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/vitamin-b12/ https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/vitamin-b12/
thatcat 8y ago
Humans don't have the cellulase enzyme necessary to digest cellulose, the primary component of vegetables. Cows and other grazing animals do, which is why they can efficiently use plants to gain energy and mass. Humans eat meat because we can not use the majority a plant's mass for energy or mass production. Some day maybe there will be a cellulase supplement or probiotic supplement that allows efficient veganism, but we're not there yet.
pathseeker 8y ago
That's a terribly simplistic analysis. First, humans don't digest plants in the same way and won't get the same calories/nutrition out of the plants as a chicken/whatever. Second, feed for animals is significantly cheaper than the plants humans like to eat and what the stores sell them for. Sure, if you could live eating chicken feed then it would certainly be cheaper to eat that instead of chicken for caloric intake. But to optimize for dollar nutritional value in food humans actually eat, it's pretty hard to beat the $5 chicken.
- bootlooped 8y ago
  Animal agriculture has a lot of externalized costs, so that is one thing to think about when considering what type of diet would be optimal for society. As for the present time, I agree that the retail price of meat and the nutrients offered makes it a pretty good deal.

temporalparts 8y ago

My understanding (no sources) is that better treated chickens have: - Fewer hormones for growth - Fewer antibiotics (diseases spread rapidly in confined spaces) - Higher quality meat (Chicken gets more exercise and movement, as well as increased quality of feed) - Higher nutritional value (increased exercise and sunlight, potentially) In terms of calories though, it's probably a wash, and more inefficient from calories/money. edit: formatting

waffle_ss 8y ago
.
- riffraff 8y ago
  The issue with antibiotics in farming is that they may be used to contrast unhealthy conditions. If your chicken don't get sick because they have free roaming space and don't peck each other and so on you don't need antibiotics.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    > they have free roaming space and don't peck each other and so on Chickens are assholes no matter the square footage.
    - benj111 8y ago
      I think that's a bit unfair, just because we haven't bred all of their instinctual behaviour out of them.
  - clairity 8y ago
    chicken contact lenses (to reduce aggression) was one of my favorite business case studies: https://gohighbrow.com/optical-distortion-aka-the-chicken-contact-lenses-case/ https://gohighbrow.com/optical-distortion-aka-the-chicken-co... i won't spoil the punchline (it's not obvious from first blush).

totalrobe 8y ago

Anecdotally, those $5 Costco chickens are bigger than competitors' $6.49 rotisserie chickens

masonic 8y ago
Costco sells its rotisserie chickens at a loss.

mlindner 8y ago

Organic food is negligibly different from non-organic food and is generally worse for the environment because of the additional resources required for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PmM6SUn7Es https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PmM6SUn7Es