Chicken Wings: The Healthy Choice for Meals and Snacks

There is a food that many gravitate to when they host parties for sporting events and other parties, the chicken wing.

People will eat plates of 20-30 wings quite frequently all by themselves, so are they helping you get results, and are they a good choice to snack on, today we answer the question, how healthy are chicken wings?

They are fairly high in protein and average about 7g of protein per standard-size wing (3-3.5oz uncooked). They are healthy when not fried in oil and highly battered as studies have shown fat and carbohydrates to be bad when ingested together. The air fryer is your friend to keep fat levels down.

So let’s look a little deeper into chicken wings and explore how they can help you in your journey to whatever fitness goals you are aiming for.

From fat loss to qualifying for the Arnold we will dive into the choice of chicken wings for your goals!

Are Chicken Wings Good for Weight Loss?

If you are trying to drop body fat for weight loss and not just water weight then chicken wings can be a good source of easy-to-cook meals.

They are pretty fast to cook in your high-velocity air fryer and a simple meal when looking to bring food for lunch to be reheated.

As I stated above though any food can be good for weight loss, or as I always say, fat loss. Honestly, does anyone want to lose their muscle mass, yeah, I didn’t think so.

Fat loss is incurred when you use more energy than you consume, this doesn’t mean you need to be a gym rat and work out constantly but just have to think about the food you shove in your face.

Are Baked Chicken Wings Healthy?

When you bake out a chicken wing you help to remove more of the fat content and increase your protein to fat overall ratio.

This can be particularly helpful when you are looking to pack in protein from actual foods and not from protein powders like ghost protein.

I prefer them either baked with no seasonings other than salt and pepper or air fried with salt and pepper.

Each sauce adds a decent chunk of calories, with the exception of mustard, but I can’t even consider eating a wing with mustard for some reason.

Are Air Fried Wings Healthy?

As long as you don’t bathe them in sauces or add in a large volume of fats and let them cook in their own fatty juices you will have one healthy meal or snack.

Air fryers are a super cool gadget since they don’t require you to add anything to cook the chicken wings.

Are Chicken Wings Bad For You?

If you coat them in a batter that increases the overall carbohydrate count and linked caloric values which can escalate them into the “easy to overeat” category.

This category I try to avoid as it is the easiest one to lead you into fast weight gain and set bad habits.

This is due to the high fat and carbohydrate count which when paired causes your mind to fall in love and almost subconsciously tell you that you NEED to eat more, your body’s goal is to put on weight for the next famine.

If you are better at managing your wing creations with salt and pepper and avoiding sauces then these are little protein packs that will allow you to get some fats in addition to satiating your overall hunger pangs.

What About the Sodium Content in Chicken Wings?

If there is an issue that can hang people up it appears to be sodium, while some may want to manage their sodium intake it is proven if you over-consume sodium you are just going to pee it out overall.

If you are trying to maintain a good sodium count per the RDA then you need to know that one raw wing contains about 81mg of sodium so then you need to add on anything in your batter or sauces on a per-wing basis.

Why Are Chicken Wings so Expensive?

Overall chicken wings aren’t too expensive though they can vary depending on the time of year and demand. Like during football season, for example, you may find in your store that prices go up as the demand for them grows.

The other thing of note is that there are only 2 wings on a chicken, which means it takes a great many chickens to provide enough wings to fill a bag that you purchase, the costs are typically based on all the costs added together.

Why are Boneless Wings Cheaper?

To be honest this is more straightforward than you are probably thinking, it is due to the fact that these can be made from more than just chicken wings.

This allows them to use more of the less used parts of the chicken to create more “wings” per chicken than the physical wings they have.

While this may sound gross this is exactly what fast food joints have done for ages to create “chicken nuggets”, which are really ground up and pressed into shape “chicken” in name only.

This also allows them to sell 10 for $1 and still make a profit though, now you’ll probably not want to eat nuggets for a while…

Final Thoughts on Are Chicken Wings Healthy

I absolutely love chicken wings and would never worry about adding them to my dietary choices, but I also understand that I can’t have all the sauces and batters on them if I want to stay healthy.

If you choose to add on batter and sauces you will need to balance out with either extended workouts to add on the caloric burn, weights or cardio is your choice, or you need to balance out the other days’ worth of foods.

Many try to manage their calorie intake based on a single day, instead try to hit a balanced goal over your week, this will lead to much easier success for many.

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