Friday Food Pharmacy: Turkey
The
That said, of all the meats, turkey (especially white meat) is the best for you in terms of low fat and high protein and nutrients. It is the best source of tryptophan, the amino acid that is carried to your brain to be turned into serotonin, the relaxing and "feel good" brain chemical believed to be low in people who suffer from depression.
I would, however, like to dispel an urban legend: many people believe that the tryptophan you ingest by eating turkey on Thanksgiving makes you sleepy. Not true. You would have to eat three or four whole turkeys by yourself to ingest enough tryptophan to make you sleepy. It's far more likely that what makes you sleepy after dinner is the amount of food intake (there's always someone urging you to "have s'more" of everything!) and the fact that eating a meal with great friends and family keeps you at the table longer so you really do eat more, often without even realizing it!
For any last-minute turkey-cooking crisis you may experience, aid is just a phone call away, and is available in both Spanish and English. You can call The Turkey Talk Line often referred to as the Butterball Hotline at 1-800-BUTTERBALL (1-800-288.8372.255 Yes, I realize there are extra digits in the phone number. Just keep punching numbers until something rings!)
Operating hours for the Talk Line are:
Thanksgiving day 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Central Standard Time
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM Central Standard Time
Enjoy the fun and interesting turkey facts that follow the nutrients chart below!
Here are the statistics from the USDA Nutrient Database for one serving of turkey – about 3.5 ounces which, I've read, is a stack of sliced meat about the height of a deck of cards.
Turkey, young hen, dark meat, meat and skin, cooked, roasted
Refuse: 27% (Bone)
Scientific Name:
NDB No: 05240 (Nutrient values and weights are for edible portion)
Nutrient | Units | Value per | Number | Std. |
Proximates | | | | |
Water | g | 59.61 | 15 | 0.448 |
Energy | kcal | 232 | 0 |
|
Energy | kj | 971 | 0 |
|
Protein | g | 27.37 | 15 | 0.399 |
Total lipid (fat) | g | 12.78 | 15 | 0.645 |
Ash | g | 0.98 | 15 | 0.009 |
Carbohydrate, by difference | g | 0.00 | 0 |
|
Fiber, total dietary | g | 0.0 | 0 |
|
Minerals | | | | |
Calcium, Ca | mg | 31 | 15 | 1.352 |
Iron, Fe | mg | 2.28 | 15 | 0.085 |
Magnesium, Mg | mg | 23 | 15 | 0.21 |
Phosphorus, P | mg | 196 | 15 | 2.995 |
Potassium, K | mg | 276 | 15 | 3.241 |
Sodium, Na | mg | 72 | 15 | 1.032 |
Zinc, Zn | mg | 4.10 | 3 | 0.118 |
Copper, Cu | mg | 0.139 | 3 | 0.005 |
Manganese, Mn | mg | 0.023 | 3 | 0.002 |
Selenium, Se | mcg | 37.2 | 0 |
|
Vitamins | | | | |
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid | mg | 0.0 | 0 |
|
Thiamin | mg | 0.055 | 15 | 0.002 |
Riboflavin | mg | 0.223 | 15 | 0.007 |
Niacin | mg | 3.659 | 15 | 0.097 |
Pantothenic acid | mg | 1.117 | 0 |
|
Vitamin B-6 | mg | 0.310 | 0 |
|
Folate, total | mcg | 8 | 0 |
|
Folic acid | mcg | 0 | 0 |
|
Folate, food | mcg | 8 | 0 |
|
Folate, DFE | mcg_DFE | 8 | 0 |
|
Vitamin B-12 | mcg | 0.34 | 0 |
|
Vitamin A, IU | IU | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Vitamin A, RAE | mcg_RAE | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Retinol | mcg | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Lipids | | | | |
Fatty acids, total saturated | g | 3.860 | 0 |
|
10:0 | g | 0.000 | 0 |
|
12:0 | g | 0.020 | 0 |
|
14:0 | g | 0.090 | 0 |
|
16:0 | g | 2.330 | 0 |
|
18:0 | g | 0.990 | 0 |
|
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated | g | 4.060 | 0 |
|
16:1 undifferentiated | g | 0.660 | 0 |
|
18:1 undifferentiated | g | 3.300 | 0 |
|
20:1 | g | 0.030 | 0 |
|
22:1 undifferentiated | g | 0.020 | 0 |
|
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated | g | 3.420 | 0 |
|
18:2 undifferentiated | g | 2.890 | 0 |
|
18:3 undifferentiated | g | 0.150 | 0 |
|
20:4 undifferentiated | g | 0.260 | 0 |
|
20:5 n-3 | g | 0.000 | 0 |
|
22:5 n-3 | g | 0.040 | 0 |
|
22:6 n-3 | g | 0.050 | 0 |
|
Cholesterol | mg | 84 | 15 | 3.021 |
Amino acids | | | | |
Tryptophan | g | 0.303 | 0 |
|
Threonine | g | 1.196 | 0 |
|
Isoleucine | g | 1.375 | 0 |
|
Leucine | g | 2.130 | 0 |
|
Lysine | g | 2.495 | 0 |
|
Methionine | g | 0.771 | 0 |
|
Cystine | g | 0.300 | 0 |
|
Phenylalanine | g | 1.072 | 0 |
|
Tyrosine | g | 1.041 | 0 |
|
Valine | g | 1.427 | 0 |
|
Arginine | g | 1.927 | 0 |
|
Histidine | g | 0.825 | 0 |
|
Alanine | g | 1.741 | 0 |
|
Aspartic acid | g | 2.639 | 0 |
|
Glutamic acid | g | 4.372 | 0 |
|
Glycine | g | 1.624 | 0 |
|
Proline | g | 1.264 | 0 |
|
Serine | g | 1.208 | 0 |
|
USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 19 (2006)
Finally, here are some fun and interesting turkey facts from the website of University of
· Ben Franklin, in a letter to his daughter, proposed the turkey as the official
· In 2003, the average American ate 17.4 pounds of turkey.
· The heaviest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds, about the size of a large dog.
· A 15 pound turkey usually has about 70 percent white meat and 30 percent dark meat.
· The wild turkey is native to
· The male turkey is called a tom.
· The female turkey is called a hen.
· The turkey was domesticated in
· Wild turkeys can fly for short distances up to 55 miles per hour.
· Wild turkeys can run 20 miles per hour.
· Tom turkeys have beards. This is black, hairlike feathers on their breast. Hens sometimes have beards, too.
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· Baby turkeys are called poults and are tan and brown.
· Most of the turkeys raised for commercial production are White Hollands.
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· It takes 75-80 pounds of feed to raise a 30 pound tom turkey.
· Male turkeys gobble. Hens do not. They make a clicking noise.
· Gobbling turkeys can be heard a mile away on a quiet day.
· A 16 week old turkey is called a fryer. A five to seven month old turkey is called a young roaster and a yearling is a year old. Any turkey 15 months or older is called mature.
· The ballroom dance the "turkey trot" was named for the short, jerky steps that turkeys take.
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· A large group of turkeys is called a flock.
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· Wild turkeys spend the night in trees. They especially like oak trees.
· Wild turkeys were almost wiped out in the early 1900's. Today there are wild turkeys in every state except
· In
· June is National Turkey Lover’s Month.
· Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented a live turkey and two dressed turkeys to the President. The President does not eat the live turkey. He "pardons" it and allows it to live out its days on a historical farm.
· The five most popular ways to serve leftover turkey is as a sandwich, in stew, chili or soup, casseroles and as a burger.
· Eating turkey does not cause you to feel sleepy after your Thanksgiving dinner. Carbohydrates in your Thanksgiving dinner are the likely cause of your sleepiness.
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· White meat has fewer calories and less fat than dark meat.
· For their first meal on the moon, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin ate roast turkey in foil packets.
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1 comment:
Hi Emily,
Glad you like it. I just finished adding a few new selections, too, on some alternative topics such as chakras and acupressure. Enjoy!
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