CHICKEN

900m Just shy of one billion chickens are eaten in the UK each year. That’s an estimated 15 birds per meat-eating person annually.

Chicken’s packed with omega-3 fatty acids, which can boost the optimum rate at which your heart, lungs and muscles can effectively use oxygen during exercise*. Plus, all the branched-chain amino acids present in your nuggets support both cardiac and skeletal muscle. Protein-rich chicken has a well-deserved rep for muscle growth – 100g serves up 31g of the stuff and just 3.6g fat (provided you avoid eating the skin) – and it’s also high in selenium, which is linked to fat loss. Intensive farming led to the unnecessary deaths of 1.35 million chickens between 2016 and 2017. It pays to buy free-range. Pasture-raised chicken is higher in vitamin E and can also be up to 50% lower in fat. ‘The more nutrient-rich portions of chicken tend to be in the dark meat. Thighs and legs contain a little more iron and zinc; I encourage my clients to eat both light and dark meat for a nutritional mixture.’ Rick Miller, clinical and sports dietitian