Pop Quiz: Would You Eat Crickets?

It started innocently enough.  I was doing my cardio and reading a copy of my husband’s Men’s Health and noticed a huge picture of a cheese burger.  But if you look closer you realize it’s made of crickets.

Pop Quiz:  Would You Eat Crickets?

A)  Eeeew, yuck, never, not even if I was on Survivor and offered $1,000,000 to eat them.  No.

B)  Will it help me grow lean muscle mass?  I’m in.

C)  Yes, subject to certain provisions:

• The crickets must be ground up into a powder so I cannot see them looking at me
• It can’t taste gross
• There better be a lot of data to support me doing this

My answer:  C.

“But, Lisa,” you say, “That’s gross!  Are you crazy?”  In my defense of giving the creepy crawly cuisine a try, you must remember that I’m the gal who drinks egg whites and eats bison meat, so I’m open to trying new things if I believe there is a benefit.

Crickets are the new beef, at least in the bodybuilding world it seems, where guys will eat damn near anything if they think it will help them grow bigger guns.  Crickets provide more than double the protein beef does (64 grams vs. 30 grams) and contain lots of other nutritional superstar bona fides, such as 19 grams of fiber, 132 mg of calcium, 22 mg of zinc, 6 mg of iron and 109 mg of magnesium.

They pack so many more nutrients because you’re not just eating the muscle, like you do with a good steak, with crickets you are eating the bones and organs too.

Right about now, I’ll bet you’re saying “ick”.  But what if I told you they come in protein bars and all-purpose baking flour so you get all that protein and don’t realize that you’re eating insects?  Would you maybe consider trying it?

Well, even if you don’t, you now know what’s trending in the world of weird bodybuilder food.  How about you?  Would you ever eat crickets?

Lisa

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