Diet gun

Fried food is delicious, but there are many reasons why we should avoid it.

The 3 main reasons to avoid fried food are the following:

1. Fried foods are rich in trans fats

Trans fats come from the use of hydrogenated oils, which are the most common in frying as trans fats increase the shelf life of an oil and its stability during cooking.

Also, if the same oil is used many times at high temperatures, it creates some amount of trans fats, even if it is not hydrogenated but is olive oil.

Trans fats are also added to most packaged foods (e.g. frozen French fries, packaged sweets, popcorn) to make them last longer.

Trans fats have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity.

2. Fried foods are high in calories

Frying adds a lot of calories to fried foods because the food absorbs fat (from the oil it is fried in), thus increasing its calorie content. For example, 200 g of boiled potatoes have 136 calories, but if they are fried with 2 tablespoons of oil, they will now have 406 calories (if they absorb the 2 tablespoons of oil, 1 tablespoon of oil has 135 calories).

3. Fried foods contain the toxic substance acrylamide

Acrylamide is a toxic substance that is formed in foods from the chemical reaction between sugars and an amino acid called asparagine during high-temperature cooking, such as frying.

Acrylamide has been linked to kidney, endometrial, and ovarian cancer in humans.

Starchy foods have higher concentrations of acrylamide than protein foods. It is therefore better to eat fried chicken than French fries if we consider the acrylamide concentration alone.

If you must fry, use olive oil and it is better not to use the same oil more than twice.

Olive oil contains oleic acid, which is not damaged as much by frying. Olive oil also has a lower concentration of trans fatty acids compared to seed oils (canola oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil).


There are alternatives to traditional frying:

Frying in the oven:

It is essentially a baking of food at high temperature (220°C) using minimal oil which allows the food to become crispy and very healthy.

Air frying:

Hot air fryers work by circulating hot air around the food. The food becomes crispy but retains some of its moisture. This method is also healthy and requires about 80% less oil than traditional frying.

A little oil coating of the food that we will put in the hot air fryer is enough to give us the desired result.


Practical shooting and Fried Foods

The heavy feeling we have after consuming fried foods and the delay in digestion they create make these foods prohibitive as a pre-competition menu for practical shooting athletes and for all athletes.

If we consume fried foods the night before the morning match, we may have poor quality, restless sleep, resulting in a feeling of fatigue the next day of the match. If consumption is high, we may also have intestinal problems, so the reduced performance during the match is more than visible.

DO NOT consume fried foods two days before a match.

Fat gives flavor, yes, but it is better if we want to consume fried foods to do it after a match.