The Truth About Turkey

Roast turkey has always been associated with the year end festivities. You know, the Thanksgiving turkey. The Christmas turkey. Roast turkey stuffed with a delicious stuffing, served with gravy or cranberry sauce is a must for the end of the year celebrations.

The fact is, turkey is such a healthy meat, it should not be reserved ONLY for Christmas and Thanksgiving. You should have turkey as part of your daily diet. Especially the breast meat of the turkey, without the skin.

Why?

3 reasons.
1. Turkey meat has a very high protein content.
2. Turkey meat itself has low fat content.
3. Turkey can be really delicious. My mom cooks a fantastic roast turkey.

Here are 2 of her roast turkey recipes.

Protein

Ok, so we can get lots of protein from meat, fish and soya beans. Sure, beef packs plenty of protein that you body needs, but red meats are high in cholesterol.

For example, 1 oz of turkey contains between 15 mg and 24 mg cholesterol while 1 oz of beef contains 20 and 30mg of cholesterol. It all adds up to a large difference in artery clogging cholesterol between beef and turkey. That means if you have heart disease or high blood pressure, switching from beef to turkey can make a big difference.

As for protein, USA Poultry and Egg Export Council billed turkey as the perfect protein. It has more protein than chicken, or even a top loin beef steak.

That makes turkey the ideal food for growing children, athletes and anyone who wants lean muscle.

Fat

Most of the fat in poultry is found in the skin. That means, by trimming off the skin in chicken or turkey, you remove most of the fat. Beef, pork and lamb on the other hand have the fat embedded in the meat itself. So just by switching to poultry alone, and removing the skin, you effectively remove most of the fat.

In fact, 3 ounces of skinless, boneless turkey breast contains a mere 1g of fat and no saturated fat. That is a weight watcher's dream. This is about as healthy as you get.

This makes turkey the ideal meat for anyone who wants to stay slim, yet eat to his or her heart's content, without consuming much fat. Still even if you do switch to turkey, watch your portion size. Double the amount you eat and you will still gain weight.

The flip side is the lack of fat in turkey meat compromises the taste. After all, the yummiest food contain fat. Fat flavors food.

Then again, with the right seasoning, gravy and all, turkey can be delicious. Just try my mom's recipes like her roast turkey with rice stuffing or the roast turkey with bread crumb stuffing. It is time to switch to something healthy and yummy.. like turkey.