Let’s be honest, we don’t exactly associate crawfish boils with “health food” – but crawfish are surprisingly nutritious and can fit into a heart-smart diet. Today we’re getting the rundown on 5 key health benefits of this South Louisiana favorite!
CAVEAT: TYPICAL BOILED CRAWFISH ARE VERY HIGH IN SODIUM. CRAWFISH NATURALLY, HOWEVER, IS NOT.
Low-Calorie: Ounce-for-ounce, crawfish tails have nearly 50% fewer calories than roasted, skinless chicken breast.
Low-Carb +Protein-Rich: Not only are they low in calories, they’re high in protein and essentially carb-free. A six-ounce serving of tails (about what you get from 3 pounds of boiled crawfish) has about 30 grams of protein, and zero carbs.
Zero Saturated Fat: They’re relatively high in cholesterol (a 6-ounce serving of tails has 232 milligrams), but cholesterol in food has minimal impact on our own cholesterol levels. Saturated and trans fats actually have more of an impact on our cholesterol levels, and crawfish tails have less than one gram of total fat, and zero saturated fat.
Loaded with vitamin B12: A six-ounce serving of crawfish tails provides nearly a day’s worth of vitamin B12
High in Selenium: Six ounces of tails packs in more than 80 percent of our daily requirement for the antioxidant selenium.
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