Diet with crab sticks: how much you can lose, menu for every day, recipes

Losing weight with crab sticks: features, essence

You should immediately decide that crab sticks are not made from crabs at all. Manufacturers prepare the product from minced fish (surimi), using inexpensive fish as the raw material. Minced meat is subjected to special processing, as a result of which the content of useful substances and vitamins in the fibrous mass is reduced to zero.

Subsequently, starch, dyes, salt, and flavorings are introduced into the raw materials. The end result is beautiful sticks, reminiscent of crab meat in color, smell and taste.

According to many, the use of this product is extremely harmful to the body, but the results indicate the opposite. By introducing it into your diet, you can lose extra pounds without hassle.

What is the advantage of losing weight on crab sticks:

• minced fish contains a lot of protein;
• quickly satisfies the feeling of hunger;
• dishes prepared using crab sticks have a pleasant taste and are low in calories;
• the cost of the product is low.

Composition and calorie content

In any supermarket you will find a large selection of sticks - in various packages and individually, with or without minced fish. A quality product can only contain minced ocean fish, natural vegetable oil, egg white, a little starch and sugar, and table salt.

In other cases, various flavor enhancers are used, identical to natural ones, as well as dyes, aromatic compositions and thickeners. To understand what you are buying, read labels carefully and choose only natural ingredients.

The total calorie content of the product is not high. A standard 100 gram package contains no more than 90 kcal. The amount of proteins depends on the amount of minced fish added to the product; there is not much fat, and there are practically no carbohydrates. For convenience, you can calculate the calorie content of one stick. If there are 10 pieces in a package, then with a calorie content of 90 kcal, the value of one piece will be 9 kcal.

How much weight can you lose?

Using this nutrition system, you can lose up to six kilograms in a week. This is a high figure. Good results are achieved due to the low calorie content of the daily menu.

In addition to crab sticks, you should include in your diet:

• fermented baked milk, kefir;
• boiled vegetables;
• dishes from cottage cheese, eggs;
• berries, fruits;
• olive oil, bran;
• green tea, herbal decoctions, mineral water.

Be sure to read: Oatmeal diet: quick and effective weight loss, menu, cooking methods

And completely exclude sugar, baked goods, fatty meats, smoked meats, and mayonnaise from the diet.

Potential Benefits

There are several reasons why crab sticks are popular. One of them is their affordable price, which is about 1/3 the cost of real crab (1).

Crab sticks are also convenient because they can be added to a variety of dishes without pre-cooking.

If you're concerned about the additives in crab cakes, there are healthier versions of this product.

For example, some brands use more natural ingredients such as pea starch, cane sugar, sea salt, oat fiber and natural flavors.

Additionally, some products are gluten-free and made without genetically modified (GMO) ingredients.

However, these more natural products tend to cost about 30% more and are not as widely available.

Summary:

Crab sticks are affordable and convenient. A few brands contain more natural ingredients, but you'll have to pay more for it.

Diet with crab sticks: menu for every day

The peculiarity of this nutrition system is the complete rejection of flour, fatty foods, and sweets. The basic principle is split meals (at least 5 times a day), drinking plenty of liquid between meals.

All dishes should be boiled or steamed. The main ingredient is crab sticks (one package per day), other products can be replaced based on taste preferences.

Example of a daily menu:

1. Breakfast. Omelet with chopsticks, a glass of curdled milk.
2. Snack. A handful of green peas, tea.
3. Dinner. Salad of sticks, corn, cucumber. Fruits, a little cottage cheese, herbal decoction.
4. Afternoon snack. A couple of crab sticks, kefir.
5. Dinner. Turkey fillet, stick salad with tomatoes, bell peppers. Tea.

KBJU for 100 g

The product contains about 90 calories per 100 grams. According to the ratio of BJU: proteins – 6; fats – 1; carbohydrates – 10 (in grams).

Due to this, the human body is saturated for a long time, it is easier to get the right amount of protein per day and lose a few kilograms.

Crab sticks on a human diet are quite nutritious and safe, the main thing is to correctly formulate the diet.

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Menu for 4 days

A diet designed for four days is a tough option for the body. The technique can be used if no chronic diseases are detected.

The daily menu includes:

• package of crab sticks (250 grams);
• 4 glasses of fermented baked milk, snowball, low-fat kefir;
• a large amount of liquid (tea, filtered water).

The ingredients should be divided into 5-6 servings, eaten throughout the day, and drink plenty of fluids between meals.

Prerequisites for weight loss:

• using a high quality product;
• drinking large amounts of liquid;
• the right way out of the diet.

Preparation

You are required not only to rebuild your diet. It is very important to adhere to a number of rules that ensure the achievement of results.

• The last meal should be three hours before bedtime.
• You need to eat at least 6 times a day.
• Any alcohol should be excluded.
• All products should be selected with a minimum amount of fat.
• You need to drink at least 2 liters of regular still water per day.

Protein diet

The principle of the protein diet is quite simple - for several days the menu consists exclusively of protein foods. While using the technique, you need to completely review your diet, exclude fruits and baked goods. This method helps burn fat without affecting muscle mass.

Sample menu for the day:

1. Breakfast. Cottage cheese mixed with crab meat and herbs. Sugar free coffee.
2. Snack. A glass of fermented baked milk.
3. Dinner. Turkey fillet stewed in cream. Vegetable stew, tea.
4. Afternoon snack. A glass of baked milk.
5. Dinner. Stick salad with egg, boiled veal, herbs. Herbal decoction.

Be sure to read: Buckwheat diet for a week - minus 10 kg in 7 days: rules, menu types, output, results

The protein nutrition system can be used for no more than 14 days, otherwise a number of diseases may develop.

Menu Features

Please note that products can be changed using what is currently on hand. The main thing is not to go beyond 1800 kcal per day.

Popular recipes for the “crab” diet

Salads are the most popular dish in the “crab” diet. The dishes are low in calories, relieve hunger for a long time, and are easy to prepare.

Diet salad

Ingredients:

• crab meat - 1 package;
• red bell pepper – 1 pc.;
• cucumbers – 2 pcs.;
• garlic – 1 clove;
• dill - to taste;
• natural yogurt – 3 tbsp. l.

Preparation:

1. Cut crab sticks and bell pepper into cubes.
2. Add cucumbers, grated on a coarse grater.
3. Chop the garlic and dill and sprinkle them on the salad.
4. Top with yogurt.

Crab balls

Ingredients:

• crab meat - 1 package;
• egg – 1 pc.;
• garlic – 1 clove;
• low-fat sour cream - 3 tbsp. l.
• dill - to taste.

Preparation:

1. Boil the egg, separate the white from the yolk.
2. Grate the crab meat and egg white.
3. Mix the ingredients with grated garlic (1 clove), chopped dill, and a spoonful of low-fat sour cream.
4. Form into balls.
5. Mash the boiled yolk with a fork and roll the balls in the yolk mixture.

Contains dyes, preservatives and other additives

Several additives, including some you might want to avoid, are commonly added to crab cakes to achieve desired color, flavor, and stability.

Here are the most commonly used additives in crab sticks (1, 5, 12):

• Stabilizers : These help ingredients stick together and stabilize the product. Examples of stabilizers are carrageenan and xanthan gum.
• Red dyes : Carmine, which is extracted from tiny insects called cochineal, is widely used to color crab sticks. Paprika, beet juice extract and lycopene from tomatoes can also be used.
• Glutamates : Monosodium glutamate (E621) and a similar compound, disodium inosinate, can serve as flavor enhancers.
• Other Flavors : These include natural crab extract, artificial crab flavors, and mirin (fermented rice wine).
• Preservatives : Sodium benzoate and several phosphate-based additives are regularly used to increase shelf life.

Although some of these supplements are generally recognized as safe by the FDA, their use is associated with health problems and may need further study (15).

For example, MSG may cause headaches in some people, while carrageenan has been linked to gut damage and inflammation in animal and test tube studies (16, 17, 18).

Additionally, research suggests that phosphate supplements may cause kidney damage and increase the risk of heart disease—in part because high intakes of phosphate from supplements can damage blood vessels. People with kidney disease are at higher risk (19, 20).

Additionally, some people may be confused by the knowledge that carmine, often used to color crab legs, is extracted from insects.

Summary:

Crab sticks use several additives to achieve the desired color, flavor and stability. Some of them are associated with potential health problems.

About the pros and cons

When trying to lose weight on a “crab” diet, it is worth remembering that this method of eating has a number of pros and cons.

More details about the benefits:

• By following the recommendations, you can quickly get rid of 4-6 kilograms without harming your health.
• Using high-quality products, you can saturate the body with useful substances and strengthen the muscular system.
• You can cleanse your body of toxins and reduce cholesterol.

Now about the cons:

• Failures are possible due to the low calorie content of the daily diet, and the return of lost kilograms.
• The protein option is an unbalanced diet and is not suitable for people with a number of chronic diseases.
• Using cheap crab sticks for diet contributes to the development of gastrointestinal diseases.

Benefits and harms

Any product can have positive and negative sides, most often it depends on the individual characteristics of people due to which they gain weight or lose weight.

Benefits of crab sticks for weight loss:

• high protein content;
• a small amount of carbohydrates (a person is full for a long time);
• the presence of microelements and vitamins: A, B, E;
• low calorie content and lower cholesterol in the body;
• low cost of goods.

Harm of crab sticks when losing weight:

• the presence of chemical additives (dyes, preservatives, taste and smell enhancers, etc.);
• If you eat only this product for a long time, vitamin deficiency and deterioration in health may occur.

Advice: to maintain health, you need to buy high-quality and proven products rich in useful substances.

Potential Disadvantages

Besides the fact that crab legs are a highly processed, highly additive-laden, less nutritious version of real crab, they also lead to environmental and allergy problems.

Environmental impact

The fish used to make surimi have been overfished—endangering animals like sea lions that eat pollock, pollock and other fish—or caught in ways that harm the habitat of other marine life.

However, surimi producers are increasingly using other types of white-meat seafood, such as cod, Pacific burbot, and squid (1, 12).

Non-fish meat, such as chicken, beef, or pork, may also be used in the production of crab sticks—although this is unusual (1, 14, 21).

Another environmental concern is that the ground fish meat used to make surimi is washed several times to improve the color, texture and smell. This requires large amounts of water and produces wastewater, which must be treated so that it does not pollute the oceans or harm fish (1).

Mislabeling, food safety and food allergies

Some packages of crab sticks do not accurately describe the ingredients they contain, compromising safety and increasing allergy risks.

The ingredients they contain cannot be identified without special testing.

In a test of 16 types of surimi-based crab sticks purchased in Spain and Italy, 25% of them contained fish species other than those identified by DNA analysis.

Most of the mislabeled products were imported from Asian countries. Some packages did not even indicate that surimi was made from fish, one of the most common allergy-causing foods. Labeling of common food allergens on packaging is required in the EU and US, including for imported products (12, 22).

Inaccurate and insufficient information about a product's ingredients increases the risk of an allergic reaction to an ingredient that is not properly disclosed on the label.

Incorrect labeling also hides potentially toxic fish. In fact, two of the unlabeled Asian surimi products contained fish species associated with ciguatera, the most common disease associated with the presence of a biological poison in the meat of some reef fish (12, 23).

If you have food allergies, it's best to avoid unknown crab cakes, such as in party appetizers, as they may contain common allergens, including fish, crab extract, eggs, and wheat (13).

Summary:

Pollock, pollock and other fish used in surimi production are sometimes harvested in ways that can harm other marine life, and the production of crab sticks uses excessive amounts of water. The seafood used in crab cakes is sometimes mislabeled, which can improve food safety and reduce allergy risks.

Advice from nutritionists

Previously, crab sticks were considered a harmful product that was definitely not used for proper nutrition. But still, many manufacturers offer products that are made from natural white meat of ocean fish. This is exactly what is required to maintain normal functioning of the body, strengthen the immune system and normalize metabolism.

Modern nutritionists have found a new use for crab sticks, including them in a variety of diets for weight loss. And according to them, they help you lose a decent amount of kilograms in a short time. In just 3-4 days you can lose up to 5 kilograms.

But nutritionists recommend following a number of important rules on which the effectiveness of a diet based on crab sticks depends:

• Crab sticks must be of high quality. They should ideally be made from processed white fish protein, namely surimi. Also, a small salt content is allowed in the composition;
• You are allowed to eat no more than 200 grams of this product per day;
• Between meals, be sure to drink a glass of water. Instead, you can drink a cup of green tea without adding sugar or honey;
• To maintain the achieved results, it is important to exit the diet correctly;
• This diet can be repeated only after 4 months.

Are they suitable for proper and dietary nutrition?

Only natural products are suitable for proper nutrition, which retain their valuable properties even after freezing. Their advantages include:

• the ability to quickly lose weight;
• easy digestibility by the digestive system;
• cleansing the intestines of toxins and blood vessels of cholesterol.

A low-quality product will not help you lose weight. The salt, soy and starch in its composition retain fluid in the body, which prevents the loss of extra pounds.