3 Facts About Poultry

Poultry meat is the best option for filling a daily food basket. This is a valuable source of protein, which is so important for building a beautiful and strong body. Poultry primarily includes chicken, turkey and duck.

Fact 1. poultry is not only the protein

Chicken, turkey and duck meat are excellent sources of vitamins and minerals. Poultry meat contains a large amount of  the group B vitamins. In addition to vitamins, it also contains a significant amount of zinc, iron, phosphorus, selenium and other minerals.

It is important to note that duck meat contains much more iron than chicken and turkey. For comparison, chicken, turkey and duck breasts contain 1 mg, 1.5 mg and 4.5 mg of iron, respectively. The same goes for zinc: 1 mg, 1.7 mg and 2.6 mg, respectively.

It’s interesting that the darker parts of poultry contain a high concentration of myoglobin transport protein. Usually the dark meat is located in the most active muscles – in the thighs. That is why thighs contain the most amount of myoglobin, as it helps in transporting and storing oxygen in muscle cells. For the same reason, thighs have about 2 times more iron than the breast. But there is also a flip side to the coin: the darker parts of the meat contain more fat, and this should also be taken into account when planning the diet.

If to speak about protein, 100 grams of poultry meat contain about 28-31 g. The difference between the various types of poultry meat is insignificant.

Fact 2. poultry meat is less caloric and fatty than red meat

Red meat (pork, veal, beef, lamb) contains much more fat than poultry, even when comparing the leanest parts. This affects both the amount of fat in the diet and the total calorie content.

Poultry meat has another significant advantage – it has much less saturated fats, which, according to the recommendation of the World Health Organization, should be less than 10% of the total calorie intake. At the same time, the American Heart Association even recommends limiting saturated fats to 5-6% of total calories. In order not to go beyond the norms of consuming saturated fats, I advise you not to eat a lot of red meat and fatty kinds of cheese, as well as to adhere to the recommendations from the next paragraph.

Fact 3. poultry must be properly chosen and cooked

Here I will list the most important recommendations for choosing and cooking poultry meat:

• Buy the leanest poultry parts, ideally the breast only;
• Remove all the visible fat and skin, if there is any. The presence of skin (due to its fat content) increases the caloric content by about 25-30%;
• In order to get more zinc and iron, as well as to satisfy your taste preferences, you can sometimes buy thighs, removing skin from them;
• Skin from the thighs can be removed not before, but after cooking, and thanks to this trick the meat will be more juicy and soft;
• Try to marinate meat using lemon or lime juice, or add some balsamic vinegar to the marinade – this will reduce the concentration of harmful substances and make the meat softer;
• Give preference to the mild methods of cooking meat: stewing, steaming, baking in the sleeve. Try to minimize frying;
• Remember to follow the diversity principle – do not buy only chicken or turkey, eat different types of poultry;
• Eat meat with vegetables.

In conclusion, I would like to say that according to several scientific reviews, regular consumption of poultry meat has a neutral or neutral-positive effect on health. Of course, this refers to the meat without fat, prepared by some of the mild methods. By the way, the diets in our nutrition programs are formed in such a way that your food is varied and you get enough protein from a range of sources – both animal and plant origin. 

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