Question about chili

[shaihulud]

I'm a firm believer that chili is one of the most delicious foods ever. I'm currently on a bulking diet, and I try to eat healthy most of the time, but I'm not sure if chili would qualify as a good meal or a cheat meal. Most of the time, due to time constraints, I'm forced to use a store bought chili. Here are the stats, can you tell me if this is good or not?

1 cup (247g)
servings per container about 2

Calories 310 (from fat 150)
total fat 17 g 26%
saturated fat 7 g 35%
trans fat 1g

cholesterol 35mg 12%
sodium 760mg 32%
total carbs 24g 8%
dietary fiber 6g 24%
sugars 7g
protein 16%

I'm mostly worried about the cholesterol and sodium. I also cut fresh green bell peppers, onions and garlic too. Thanks for the help in advance.

Ingredients are: tomatoes, beef, water, pink beans, kidney beans, dehydrated onions, natural flavoring, modified food starch, jalapeno peppers, paprika, salt, dehydrated bell peppers, sugar, vinegar.

[D1rtyJerze16]

First off, nice username. I love chili probably more than anything, but refuse to eat it due to its sodium. If you love it like I do who can eat only 1 cup in a sitting? So by the end, your probably consuming 1000+mg of sodium. Maybe someone on this site has a recipe for a homemade chili that they could provide us with.

[shaihulud]

First off, nice username. I love chili probably more than anything, but refuse to eat it due to its sodium. If you love it like I do who can eat only 1 cup in a sitting? So by the end, your probably consuming 1000+mg of sodium. Maybe someone on this site has a recipe for a homemade chili that they could provide us with.

You know what Shai Hulud is? That's awesome.

Yeah, I can eat a whole cup in a sitting, but that sodium is a huge turn off. I was kind of hoping that the garlic, green bell peppers, and onions would sort of even it out, but I guess not. Haha. Guess that's wishful thinking on my part.

[BackInTheJox]

You should make your own, and you can certainly find recipes that others have posted if you do a search. Since time is an issue, cook up a real big batch and refrigerate/freeze it, possibly even freezing it in individual portions so that all you have to do is thaw out one serving at at time when you want it.

[shabbadoo]

I have questions about that too... I hope someone "in the know" responds um, not to sound too dumb, but why is sodium so bad? especially if it's the only higher-sodium meal of the day?

[Cynical_Simian]

Assuming adequate water and potassium intakes, sodium itself isn't a problem unless you have issues with high blood pressure or hypertension or are preparing for a contest and want water retention to be as low as possible. The more relevant issue with sodium and food selection is that a high sodium content is nearly always an indicator of a high degree of processing, poor ingredients, and undesirable additives. Also, the sodium in these foods often comes from compounds that are a lot less benign than table salt (e.g. sodium nitrate in beef jerky). Some foods (CC, tuna) that have high levels of sodium are fine for a meal or two per day on a diet that's otherwise low in sodium since they're excellent sources of protein.

Also, your chili has much bigger issues than sodium: 7 grams of saturated fat and 1 gram of saturated fat in a 300-calorie serving would make it a terrible choice even with no sodium or additives. It's rather ironic that you're concerned about the dietary cholesterol in a food with that much saturated/trans fat.

[erbear]

I got this recipe from the "Abs Diet" book, and its soo easy to make and tastes reallllly good!

Ground turkey (not sure how much, I just use a reg size pkg)
1 can of tomatoes
2 cans of mushrooms
green pepper chopped
onion chopped
1 lrg can of black beans
corn (frozen or canned)
1/4 cup of water
1 pkg of chilie seasoning mix

Throw er all in a pot and there you go! Mmmm good chilie! and good for you as well!

[sbert]

chilli is really easy and healthy. i never follow a recipe but it usually looks something like this.
fry up about 1 1/2 lbs of extra lean ground beef( i have also used ground buffalo, its awesome) or add more meat if you like your chilli meaty.
throw in some chopped onions, greenpeppers, what ever else you think might be good i might use celery and a carrot if i have one.
2 cans of stewed tomatoes
2 cans of kidney beans (drain the beans first)
2 can of chick peas (drain the beans first)
1 can of tomato paste, add about 1 cup of water
1/3 cup of chilli powder.
2 heaping table spoons of cayanne pepper
stir all in one large pot, simmer for about 15- 20 minutes. stir ocasionally. while the chilli is simmering, taste it and add more chilli powder, cayanne, or hot sauce if needed, also add more water if needed. and its done. the left overs freeze really well. and a way to change it up a little is to fry up two chirizo sausages, chop them up and add them in.

[gpfreek]

My recipe..
1-2 lbs ground turkey or chicken (Brown it off, drain and set aside)
1 onion (I prefer a red onion)
2 cloves garlic crushed/chopped
1 jalapeno or 1 smoked jalapeno
saute the 1/2 the onion and jalapeno. Add 1 clove of garlic about 45 seconds before you add..
2 cans of kidney beans liquid and all (you can buy kidney beans canned for chili if you wish)
2 cans of stewed tomatoes
Add turkey and bring back to a simmer. Add the following to taste.
cumin
chili powder
paprika
1 bottle of your favorite LAGER. Yep beer. No dark beer as the flavor is way too strong. The alchohol cooks out, don't worry. Add the other half of the onion and the other clove of garlic and simmer all of it for about an hour or so and check the flavor. Notice I add no salt because I feel like there is plenty in the canned beans and tomato's.
Take off heat and let cool to room temp. After it is cool put it back on heat and bring back to a simmer. The secret is now add a can of fat free refried beans and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Stir constantly because the refried beans will burn to the bottom of the pot. This makes a GREAT freezer then reheat meal!