They inhabit the waters of all climatic zones.
Their body sizes range from 25 cm to 16 m.
In the northern seas, these mollusks do not have an expressive color and grow small.
Whereas their main accumulation falls on the water world of the subtropics.
Having a torpedo-shaped body shape and cartilage in the form of an arrow along it, these creatures develop tremendous speed, and they are unable to outrun, perhaps, only dolphins. Cephalopods of the seas and oceans breathe with the comb gills, and eyes and tentacles help them to distinguish their surroundings.
On the same tentacles there are suckers, individually for each mollusk, like a fingerprint. This is their weapon for catching prey and for protection from enemies. Each of the three pairs of tentacles hides within itself one cephalopod mollusk heart. This feature allows them to be regenerated.
These are lightning predators, ready to feast on smaller representatives of their own species. And the name of them - squid. Whose meat is so loved by people. And this is not surprising, because it is the most useful of all currently available in human food.
Calorie calamari and how to prepare them to preserve all the beneficial properties
Squids supplied to our supermarkets with their useful properties are prey to handicrafts in the southern seas of China, Japan and Vietnam. For cooking, use the tentacles and carcass of the mollusk, peeled from the entrails and skins. In the process of heat treatment, squids do not lose their beneficial properties for the human body, but have different calories:
• Fresh - 98 kcal;
• Boiled - 122 kcal;
• Fried - 188 kcal;
• Stewed - 156 kcal;
• Dried - 286 kcal;
• Grill - 115 kcal.
In addition to salads, squid is also prepared delicious soups. Great snack - skewer of squid meat strung on a skewer. They are extinguished, marinated, fried, mixed with other seafood or vegetables. Squids give any dish a rich pleasant flavor.
The health benefits of squid are colossal:
• Iron - a good level of hemoglobin in the blood, respectively, its saturation with oxygen;
• Potassium is a healthy heart and muscle muscles;
• Magnesium - strong nervous system, resistance to stress;
• Calcium - healthy teeth, strong bones, healthy hair and skin;
• Sodium - controls metabolic processes in the cells of the body, supports acid-base balance;
• Iodine - thyroid health, hormone balance;
• Copper - necessary for the formation of blood with the correct indicators, which implies the health of all organs;
• Fluoride - bone formation and strong healthy tooth enamel;
• Manganese - is contained in the human body in a very small amount, but participates completely in all the processes occurring in it;
• Selenium is a powerful antioxidant and immunostimulant;
• Cobalt - a beneficial effect on the thyroid gland;
In terms of iodine and cobalt, squid meat is the leader among all other products.
The benefits of squid for the body
Squid meat has high content squirrel. The presence of vitamins B, C, E and PP in it make squid extremely healthy. Including this clam in your diet, man optimizes thyroid function. This mainly affects the production of hormones that affect absolutely all organs and systems in the body.
Squids include trace elements that are beneficial properties for the cardiovascular system and the musculoskeletal system. Diluting your diet with this marine product, a person provokes the immune system and the body’s ability be cleansed of toxins and cholesterol. This reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, narrows and strengthens blood vessels.
Potassium and sodium, which are part of meat, have a slight diuretic effect. This prevents the accumulation of excess fluid in the body, which eliminates the appearance of puffiness and high blood pressure.
Squid meat, carrying health benefits, may well be part of the diet.
Squid harm to the body
Doctors, gastroenterologists and allergists noted a small percentage of people who have individual intolerance to squid along with other seafood. Of course, in this case, eating squid will bring only harm to health.
Dried Squid - another potential source of harm. When buying this salty snack, be sure to familiarize yourself with the composition shown on the package. Manufacturers of dried squid meat from Asian countries add to it a lot of flavorings and preservatives, in addition to high salt content. That certainly does not make this delicacy useful.
Abusing dried squid, a person increases the likelihood of harm from their own health. Indeed, besides the high caloric content of this product, the salts contained in it will sooner or later begin to be deposited in the body, disrupting its metabolic processes.
The benefits of squid for the child's body
Squid meat does not contain fat and cholesterol, which puts it on one of the most important positions in baby food. The phosphorus, calcium, potassium, iodine and other useful properties that are part of squid indicate that this sea product is mandatory in the child's diet. This will allow the child’s body to develop correctly and harmoniously, both from all internal processes and from external factors.
The children's brain is a 24-hour working organ that needs constant nutrition. The nervous system that is not formed yet, is a musculoskeletal system that can withstand large daily loads - squid have benefits for the whole body.
Contraindications for eating squid meat can only be an individual intolerance to his child. In this case, this product is better to completely eliminate from the diet. Anyway, for a while. After all, as you know, the children's body is formed and at the same time changes. Therefore, the former allergy to seafood can disappear in the process of growing up.
The benefits of squid during pregnancy and lactation
Cobalt, which is part of the squid meat, contributes to the production of RNA and DNA cells, while controlling the preservation of genetically important data in them.
The diet of the future mother must include up to 350 grams of squid with their beneficial properties per week. After all, at the time of carrying a child, doctors usually recommend to refrain from eating any marine fish. This is due to its ability to accumulate mercury from sea water. A fish poisoned by mercury, getting into the body of a pregnant woman, is unlikely to somehow affect itself. After all, the content of this poison is too small. But having penetrated to the emerging fetus, it is likely to leave a mark on the child’s future nervous system.
Squids are good because they do not absorb mercury and other harmful substances. Therefore, they can be safely used to prepare various dishes. throughout pregnancy.
After the birth of the baby, the nursing mother will have to abandon all possible seafood for a while. And only after 8 months, you can eat a small portion of the dish, including squid meat. Following the reaction of the child's body, it becomes clear whether the child is allergic to this seafood or not. In the presence of undesirable reactions to repeat the experiment is not worth it. But if the child feels fine, his chair is not broken and his cheeks are clean, it means that he and his mother can benefit from squid for their health.
Rules for choosing good squid
To get all the benefits for the body from squid, you need to pay attention to a few points when buying them:
• Carcasses should be well frozen if frozen, peeled squid are purchased. Even with the smallest hint that the product was defrosted, and then froze again, we must bear in mind that it will have a bitter taste;
• Each frozen carcass must be separate from each other. Clumped squids are bad squids.
Remembering these simple rules, it is easy to choose a good product.
When buying fresh squid, you first need to pay attention to his skin. It should be gray-violet or pink-brown. Inside the meat should be white. The very fresh carcass must be dense and elastic. In order to get your own health benefits from squid, you cannot buy cleaned fresh squid. So it will be impossible to assess the shade of the skin and thus determine the freshness of the product will not work.
How much do you need to cook squid, leaving them with useful properties and pleasant taste
If you bet squid meat too long heat treatment, it will become rubber and tasteless:
• Fresh squid boil 2 minutesuntil the meat turns white;
• Frozen squids, defrost, lower in boiling water and right there turn off the fire. So they insist 10 minutes, then take out;
• Fry squids in batter for no more than 5 minutes, boil them beforehand;
• Squids on the grill or in the oven are cooked until golden brown appears, but they are pre-marinated for several hours.
Squids preserve their beneficial properties and taste only with a short heat treatment.
Squids in mythology
Squids are not only invaluable beneficial properties for human health. In the distant 1770s, Icelandic sailors claimed that they had to meet a huge cephalopod that sank ships. They called him the Kraken. Whether this was true is difficult to argue. But these days, the attack of large squid individuals on humans has been repeatedly recorded.
