The world’s healthiest foods – Turkey!

Let’s face it, we don’t eat turkey very often, but when we do, you start hearing a lot of noise about working off the turkey. Turkey is not the culprit, unless you are consuming the fatty skin. Gravy, white bread and white potatoes are. Or maybe too much chocolate. And eating past satiety – stuffing yourself!

In fact, grass-fed skinless turkey is one of the world’s superfoods. Skinless turkey is one of the leanest meats on the earth. Skinless roasted white chicken meat is higher in saturated fat than skinless white turkey meat. Turkey is heart healthy and helps lower the risk of cancer.

Ham has significantly more saturated fat. As a comparison, three ounces of meat contain the following quantities of saturated fat:

Ham       5.5 grams

Steak     4.5 g

Turkey   0.2 g

A low-fat protein source, turkey helps promote a positive outlook as well as high levels of energy and vitality. Turkey is known for its high tryptophan content, a protein from which the body makes serotonin. Serotonin is a mood, sleep and appetite-regulating brain neurotransmitter. The selenium content of turkey also promotes sleep and boosts immunity. The B vitamins, specifically B3 and B6, are helpful in controlling insomnia as well.

Turkey’s high protein also helps control appetite by balancing blood sugar levels which curbs sugar cravings and energy fluctuations. The white meat of turkey is considered healthier than the brown meat due to its lower fat content, but dark meat has more iron, zinc, folate and B vitamins. Ironically, dark meat can raise your metabolism more than white meat making you more efficient at burning fuel, more likely to lose weight, and less susceptible to overeating.

A 100g serving of turkey contains the following nutrients:

• Calories 110 
• Protein - 24.6 g 
• Fat  - 0.21 g
• Vitamin B3 - 6.23 mg 
• Vitamin B5 - 0.72 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 0.58 mg
• Iron - 1.17 mg
• Selenium 29 mcg
• Zinc - 1.24 mg

Turkey also contains glutamic acid which helps balance blood sugar and combat the aging effects of stress.

Free-range, organic skinless chicken is the next best thing to turkey, with many similar benefits but more fat. A free-range bird which has had a healthy diet and lived more naturally, will be leaner, tastier, and lose less water when it is cooked.

Happy Easter everyone! Feel good and sleep well!