Healthcheck: Benefits of cooking with crickets

It's a unique food ingredient that's widely used in 80 percent of cultures and has a number of health benefits but it still may not be for everyone - crickets!

For those feeling apprehensive, you don't have to eat the crickets whole. They also come ground up and are said to be a great source of protein.

In fact, many food makers are now using them in protein bars and other health foods.

"I think in the future of eating insects is going to become more commonplace," said Dr. Charlie Seltzer.

Dr. Seltzer says we're part of only 20 percent of cultures who don't eat insects.

He's a weight loss doctor and also competes in body competitions.

So when he learned about the nutritional value of crickets, he couldn't wait to cook using cricket flour. It's made of pure, organic ground up crickets.

"Ten grams of cricket flour has six grams of protein, two grams of healthy fat and only one gram of carbs," said Dr. Seltzer.

Plus Dr. Seltzer says unlike some other protein sources, breeding crickets creates little impact on the environment.

I joined him in the kitchen to make a healthier higher-protein pizza using cricket flour to make the crust.

"In the beginning, it's going to look like a big goo of mess," said Dr. Seltzer.

However it will turn out quite different.

"It's a bit stickier but that might be because I am not a great pizza crust maker," said Dr. Seltzer.

Next comes the usual pizza toppings - fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan. Then it is put in the oven and baked at 450 degrees, when done just add basil.

Then comes the taste test.

It looked good, it smelled good but I was a bit nervous. In the end it was good and it did taste like pizza.

Dr. Seltzer says you can use cricket flour in other recipes as well or you can sprinkle on yogurt or a smoothie to add protein.

He recommends buying it from an organic farm that breeds crickets for human consumption.

For more information on where to buy crickets: http://www.nextmillenniumfarms.com/