Healthy Food Choices: Turkey

Turkey can be eaten on occasions other than Thanksgiving and country fairs. Try these tips for buying turkey in this healthy shopping video.

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Excellent source of lean protein
Remove skin for healthy preparation
White meat has less fat than dark meat
Use healthy cooking methods
Turkey hot dogs are healthy alternative

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Michelle Cooper has been a registered dietician for more than 10 years. She currently works for the state of North Carolina for the New Hanover County School District in the Child Nutrition Department as the supervising registered dietician on staff. She specializes in child nutrition, child fitness and overall child health. She enjoys her job because it allows her to be a pivotal piece of child development.

MICHELLE COOPER: Next, we're going to talk about turkey. Turkey is an excellent lean source of protein. Depending on the way you cook it, you can get some excellent protein and minerals without all the added fat and calories. Make sure that when you prepare your turkey, you remove the skin which contains most of the fat. Another thing to remember is dark meat has more fat than white meat, so you might want to go--opt for a turkey breast over a turkey leg. Use methods of cooking like baking, broiling or barbecuing. You can also use turkey for sandwiches. You can find lean-sized turkey in the deli or in most grocery stores. You can also find a healthier turkey hotdog which would be better than having your beef hotdog or your pork hotdog. It's going to be a little bit lower in fat than its beef or pork counterparts. You might want to opt for turkey for your salad toppings as a good source of protein to complement the vegetables that are on there. So remember, turkey can be a great low-calorie, high-quality source of protein. Just remember, one, remove the skin. Number two, choose the white meat over the dark meat; and number three, make sure that your methods of cooking don't involve frying or adding any additional grease, rather, bake, broil or barbecue.

Healthy Food Choices: Turkey Video

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