A low-calorie and tasty snack for those losing weight within 100 kcal. and 100 rubles

Crab sticks are a familiar product that people know little about.
This is primarily due to the name, since it is believed that they are made from crab or its offal. And this is far from the truth. In this material we will figure out how this product is made, how many calories are in crab sticks and what benefits they have besides a pleasant sweetish taste. What tastes better?

• Crab meat 66%, 250 votes
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• Crab sticks 34%, 128 votes

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Total votes: 378

29.11.2019

KBZHU in 100 g

The calorie content of crab sticks per 100 grams is in the range of 100–150 kcal. And this will be true for a chilled product. If it was frozen, then the calorie content of 100 grams of crab sticks will be about 80 kcal. The distribution of proteins, fats and carbohydrates (BJU) will look like 6.10 and 1 grams, respectively. Glycemic index - 40.

It is also worth noting that quality can be determined by caloric content, since the better and more natural the surimi is made, the less energy value they will have, and the less caloric they will be.

Harm and restrictions

Since this product is low in calories, it can be eaten when losing weight, but in small quantities as a snack. Regular consumption of sticks will not lead to excess weight gain, but it is recommended to eat no more than 200 grams of this product per day. Abuse will lead to the development of an allergic reaction and digestive disorders. Allergy sufferers are allowed to consume no more than 100 grams per day.

Since the product is not subject to heat treatment, it is preferable to buy the product in vacuum packaging, which can protect the sticks from dirt and microorganisms.

Before purchasing a product, you should carefully study its composition. If it contains artificial additives such as E450, E171, E420, then you should avoid purchasing it, since these components are the strongest allergens.

In 1 piece

A pack that weighs 100 grams contains 6–7 pieces. If it weighs about 200–250 grams, then there will be at least 12 pieces. Therefore, we can do calculations to find out how many calories are in crab sticks individually:

• Approximately 23 kcal will be for a crab stick (1 piece), which was sold chilled. Its weight will be about 16–17 grams.
• About 13 kcal in crab sticks (1 pc.), which were frozen.

One might assume that with such nutritional value it is an ideal ingredient for a diet, but whether this is true or not is covered in a separate section.

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.

Composition and beneficial properties

Crab sticks are made from fish, and fish is a product that always contains a large amount of protein. So it turned out that when calculating the energy value and nutritional value of protein, there will always be more protein than fats and carbohydrates.

It is worth noting that if the composition does not indicate “surimi”, such sticks are not worth buying. Surimi is the common name for the fish product from which crab sticks are made. It is made from hake, blue whiting, pollock and other white ocean fish.

Thanks to protein, vitamins A, E and PP in the composition are easier to digest. But these substances are useful for keeping the skin and blood vessels elastic, strengthening the immune system and improving the functioning of the digestive tract. But there is no point in saying that surimi brings many benefits. It's just a snack.

May also include:

• Sunflower oil.
• Sugar.
• Chicken egg (whites).
• Starch - corn or potato.
• Salt, etc.

And you also need to take into account that there will always be thickeners, dyes and flavor enhancers. Therefore, you shouldn’t be surprised to see them in the lineup. But you still need to pay attention to the amount of these preservatives, as well as whether they are natural - only in this case there will be no risk of allergies.

Also, have a table with the “E” additive codes, because many of them are codes for common ingredients.

Use in cooking

Crab sticks, the calorie content of which is taken into account by people watching their weight, are an excellent component for preparing appetizing and elegantly decorated dishes. The content, chemical composition, nutritional and energy values ​​of crab sticks are characterized by the absence of a bright taste and pronounced aroma.

However, pink bars are in constant and extremely high demand among consumers.

The secret of this effect lies precisely in the neutral taste of crab sticks, excellent compatibility with almost all products that are used in world cuisine. Fish cubes are combined with mushrooms, rice, eggs, potatoes and other vegetables.

The sticks go well with canned corn, pineapples, and other fruits. The most common culinary use of the fish component is all kinds of salads. Moreover, the sticks not only complement the taste of the combined ingredients well, but also perfectly decorate any dish, be it a holiday snack or a side dish for meat and fish food.

Many types of cubes unfold well, which allows them to be stuffed with various options for created fillings. You just need to properly prepare and process the product. Several examples of recipe execution will help you to use crab products yourself and prepare appetizing and tasty food.

With garlic and cheese

Ingredients:

• hard cheese - 200 g;
• dill sprigs, onion feathers - 2 pcs.;
• crab sticks - 8 pcs.;
• mayonnaise - 2-3 tbsp. l.;
• lettuce leaves.

Cooking method:

1. Defrost the fish product in advance under natural conditions.
2. In order to unroll each bar without damage, you need to dip the product in hot water for 30 seconds. If you gently squeeze the slightly cooled stick from the sides, you can see its layered texture.
3. Finely grate the cheese, combine with chopped herbs and fresh mayonnaise, mix the mixture well.
4. Divide the cubes into plates, coat each with the resulting filling, and roll into a roll. Place the preparations in the refrigerator for an hour.

Cut the rolls into portions slightly diagonally and serve.

Crab rafaello

Grocery list:

• frozen sticks - 400 g;
• eggs - 12 pcs.;
• hard cheese - 150 g;
• boiled potatoes - 6 pcs.;
• thick mayonnaise - 4 tbsp. l.;
• garlic cloves - 3 pcs.

Cooking process:

1. Finely grate the frozen sticks.

2. Boil hard-boiled eggs, cool, remove shells, and pass through a grater.
3. Mash the tubers with a fork.
4. Combine the prepared ingredients, add chopped garlic and chopped herbs, season the food with fresh mayonnaise. Mix everything well.
5. Form small balls from the resulting mass and roll in cheese shavings.

Before serving, keep the rafaello in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Fried sticks

List of components:

• sunflower oil;
• salted cheese - 200 g;
• rice flour - 35 g;
• eggs - 2 pcs.;
• soy sauce - ½ tsp;
• crab sticks - 6 pcs.;
• mayonnaise - 50 g.

Creating a dish:

1. Mix fresh eggs, rice flour and sauce in a bowl.
2. Unwrap the sticks, grease with filling made from finely grated cheese and mayonnaise. Make tight rolls.
3. Dip each portion in rice batter and fry in hot deep fat.

Serve the dish with sweet ketchup. The advantages of crab sticks lie not only in the low calorie content of food, but also in the convenient ability to add products to dishes without preliminary heat treatment. Products from well-known brands, made from natural ingredients, will provide a person with healthy and wholesome nutrition.

Article design: Anna Vinnitskaya

Crab sticks in dietetics

This product can be used during a diet when a low-calorie source of protein is required in the complex. Although, for the same purposes, you can use healthier dairy products or regular fish, so surimi has no advantage here.

You cannot lose weight by making them the main ones in your diet. Even if you only drink tea or kefir and eat surimi and vegetables, then:

1. Body weight will decrease slowly, almost imperceptibly.
2. Eating only low-calorie surimi means eating only proteins. And mono-diets have long been called harmful and ineffective; they can cause digestive problems. Achieving an acceptable weight should never be harmful to your health.

So you can use crab sticks during a diet only if they are part of the complex. And if a person loves them, because daily consumption of surimi gets boring quickly.

And again about losing weight

Once again, we want to get a little boring and remind you of important truths: a person can lose weight without exercise, on conditionally “unhealthy” foods, if he follows the most important condition - spending more calories than he receives.

Please note that we are not talking about health or well-being now, we are talking specifically about losing weight. Products are not divided into “fat-gaining” and “weight-loss”, as people often subconsciously divide them - not at all.

Any product, even low-calorie and conditionally classified as “healthy” (for whom, in what case?) will help you gain weight if you eat tons of it. And a cheeseburger will not cause any damage to your figure if you previously ran a 21 km marathon.

Don’t try to find some magical list in the style of “weight loss products” - there simply isn’t one. Yes, it is much more difficult to gain weight on celery and eggs than on food from McDonald's, but this does not mean that the latter should now be completely ostracized.

Food is an excellent source of useful and simply necessary substances for our body, energy and nutrition for the brain, but it is also the simplest source of pleasure. This is not about food addiction and eating disorders , but about a simple and banal “mmm, how delicious.”

Many of us are accustomed to subconsciously perceiving the body as an enemy. Relatively speaking, it’s summer, it’s time to put on a swimsuit, and your body wants to get fat! Well, let's quickly starve him, lose two kilos in three days!

We do not respect ourselves, do not listen to the needs of the body and do not feel sorry for ourselves in those moments when it is most needed. In fact, the body is simply trying to adapt to the conditions in which we have placed it.

Every person is unique. There is not a single universal diet that is medicine for one person, but stress for another . Therefore, the criteria for the usefulness of food are as follows: its freshness, whether your body wants this food or not, how much and often you are going to eat it.

The 80/20 principle (80% of the diet - unrefined, plant-based foods, a la cereals, vegetables, fruits, lean white meat and dairy products), 20% - sweets and fast food) works, forgive the stupid pun, 100%.

How to lose weight without dieting - what should you eat to lose weight?

How to choose quality

Choosing a quality product is easy. They should be:

1. In original packaging. There should not be a lot of liquid in it, it should not be damaged or swollen.
2. From the middle or high price category.
3. Not frozen, but chilled.

Additionally, it is worth dispelling the myth that surimi sold by weight is safer than those sold in factory packages. The latter will cause less harm than the former, which are not checked and not processed at the production stage.

The product must be stored in the refrigerator; it is also worth saying that they will not lie open for a long time, so do not delay preparing a dish from them.

If, when opening the package, you find mucus, an unpleasant odor, or the sticks have become covered with water in the refrigerator, throw them away immediately and do not try to resuscitate them.

Summarize

• Crab sticks are a highly processed food made by combining ground fish with starch, egg whites, sugar, salt and additives to imitate the taste, color and texture of real crab meat.
• While this product is significantly cheaper than real crab, it is also less nutritious and contains questionable additives.
• If you're cooking for a special occasion and don't want to spend a lot of money on real crab meat, crab sticks are a good alternative that's easy to use.
• However, for daily consumption, it is better to choose affordable, minimally processed protein foods such as cod, chicken and lean beef.

Crab sticks

Cooking technology

We have already looked at the composition, so it will be easy to understand the production principle:

1. First, minced surimi is made - usually it is impossible to find out what kind of fish was included in the composition. That’s what they say – “surimi”.
2. Sugar, salt, starch, butter and egg white are added to this minced fish.
3. The minced meat itself is almost tasteless, so the “crab” taste is achieved by flavorings and enhancers. You will need to make sure that they are natural.
4. Carmine and paprika will create a characteristic color. And here it is worth paying attention to the areas of coloring - they should only be on the outside of the product and not have strange smudges.

Given this composition, the minced fish inside is no more than 30–50%, which is why the nutritional value is so low.

But to tell you what surimi is combined with will require a separate article, and more than one. There are more than a hundred recipes for crab salad alone.

Contraindications

The use of crab sticks is contraindicated for people suffering from pancreatitis or gastritis, since the flavors and dyes present in the product provoke irritation of the mucous membrane of the digestive organs and increase the inflammatory process.

You should not include crab sticks in your diet if:

• individual intolerance to product components;
• liver and kidney diseases;
• pregnancy and breastfeeding.

You should not feed crab sticks to small children under 3 years of age. This product will do more harm to their health than good, since it is not completely natural, and the digestive system of babies is extremely sensitive to various industrial chemical components. It is not advisable to include this product in the diet of preschool and school-age children.

Fully or partially limited products

Any products other than crab sticks, kefir, green tea and still water are prohibited.

Table of prohibited products

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;
• They are a source of vitamins and minerals, unsaturated fatty acids, since they are made from fish.

A low-quality product will not help you lose weight. The starch in crab sticks is not only a cheap substitute for high-quality raw materials, but it is also a high-calorie product, and since cheap crab sticks contain a lot of salt, their frequent use can lead to heart problems (increased blood pressure, heart rhythm disturbances) . Often, in order to make the production of crab sticks cheaper, soy is added to them, naturally reducing the proportion of fish raw materials, but soy can cause serious allergic reactions or simply not be absorbed in the intestines of certain people.

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.

Special diet

The standard crab diet is based only on the consumption of sticks (200 g per day) and low-fat kefir (1 liter). The components in the specified quantities are divided into 5 doses. You need to eat every 3 hours.

It is also allowed to consume non-carbonated water and green tea in unlimited quantities. Drinks cannot be sweetened.

Attention! Drinking more fluid than usual speeds up your metabolism and, therefore, the weight loss process. Green tea has been proven to be effective for weight loss. It contains substances that accelerate metabolism and also improve blood flow in small vessels. Green tea also has a tonic effect on the human body. Plus, green tea contains a significant amount of vitamin E - a natural antioxidant that slows down the aging process of the body, improves metabolism, has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the cardiovascular system and prevents the development of malignant neoplasms (generally cancer).

Kefir is selected in such a way that its shelf life is no more than a day. Otherwise, the diet may cause problems with stool.

The crab diet is especially suitable for those losing weight who cannot give up meat or fish for a long time, but tolerate the restriction of sweets and starchy foods well. Thanks to this approach, it will be possible to burn fat deposits without harming muscle mass. After all, crab sticks contain protein (the greater the proportion of fish raw material, the more protein there is in the final product), necessary for the formation, development and functioning of all cells, and especially muscle cells.

Sample menu for the day during the crab stick diet:

1. Morning: crab roll (filled with garlic, cottage cheese and herbs), tea.
2. Lunch: a glass of kefir.
3. Day: salad of crab sticks and eggs, dressed with low-fat yogurt, green tea.
4. Afternoon snack: a glass of kefir.
5. Dinner: salad with crab sticks and herbs, kefir.

It is advisable to adhere to this type of diet for no more than 2 weeks to avoid intestinal problems. While losing weight, it is prohibited to add store-bought sauces (mayonnaise, mustard) and vegetable oils to dishes. These ingredients will not achieve any weight loss effect. And if you consume vegetable fats in parallel with kefir, then there is a high probability of harming the pancreas. Store-bought sauces contain many unnecessary calories that will not allow you to achieve the desired effect from your diet.

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: Peas for weight loss, in what form, can you eat them: diet based on cereals, soups +3 salad recipes

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