Damn Good Reasons to Eat Insects

  Posted on February 17, 2017  by insectrecipes  No comments

What is really in the food you eat, or the food you are feeding your family?  Are you one of those label conscious people?  Do you steer away from artificial/GMO ingredients?  Maybe you are the kind that is aware and simply try to pick the “best” or “cleanest” versions of products at the store.  Whoever you are, and wherever you fall on this spectrum, I think you should definitely entertain the idea of adding insects to your diet!

 DID I LOSE YOU?

 I know it may sound crazy.  Considering the fact that you are reading this article in the first place lends me to believe that it may not sound so crazy to you.  At first, I could not really wrap my brain around it.  However, once I actually dived in and started to explore this new world of entomophagy, it really made a lot of sense.  I want to share with you the main reasons I have found that eating insects (or at least incorporating them into your diet) is beneficial.  Then, if you are still on board this ship, I have some resources to give you to help you get started.

 

INSECTS ALIGN PERFECTLY WITH A VARIETY OF SPECIAL DIETS

 This goes back to my original question about where you lie on the spectrum with regards to how concerned you are about what you are ingesting.  When you look around yourself, I am sure you see more and more people that are gluten free, non-GMO, organic, paleo, high protein/low carb, etc.  In fact, you may actually adhere to one of these special diets. Insects fit into all of the above categories!!!!  They are perfect for almost every diet.

 

INSECTS ARE SUPERFOOD

 Yep, that is right!  Insects pack in a ton of protein (about 60%) and are full of Vitamin B-12, calcium, and amino acids.  They are also low in fat, cholesterol, and calories.  The average serving size of crickets is about 3.5 ounces, which equates to 13 g protein and 121 calories.  This is the same amount of protein in two eggs!

 

SAVE WATER, EAT INSECTS

 Yet another wonderful reason to incorporate insects into your diet, they require much less water to farm than beef.  It takes 1 gallon of water to supply 1 pound of cricket protein vs. 500 pounds for a pound of chicken and 2000 pounds for a pound of beef.  Another interesting statistic I found (according to Crunchy Cricket Farms) stated that if a family substituted insect protein in place of beef protein in just one meal per week, they would save approximately 235,000 gallons of water.  Think of the repercussions that would have on our water supply!  Farming insects also takes up less space and gives off much less greenhouse gases.

 

WHERE TO GET STARTED

 HOTLIX.COM  – insect candy

WORLDENTO.COM – organic crickets/mealworms/cricket flours/mixes

ALLTHINGSBUGS.COM – cricket powder

ENTOMOFARMS.COM – powders/oven roasted/specialty (this is also a great website for info and resources)

THAILANDUNIQUE.COM – candy/powders/whole insects

CHAPUL.COM – protein bars

EXOPROTEIN.COM – protein bars

CHIRPSCHIPS.COM – chips

 

Happy bug eating!