• NATIONAL SITE
  • BRITISH COLUMBIA
  • SASKATCHEWAN
  • ALBERTA
  • MANITOBA
  • ONTARIO
  • QUEBEC
  • NEW BRUNSWICK
  • NOVA SCOTIA
  • PEI
  • NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
  • YUKON
  • NUNAVUT
  • NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

Fuel Your Health with Turkey

If you’ve got eating well, being active and feeling great on your intentions list for January (and beyond!), turkey is a terrific choice to help you meet your goals.

Here’s why you can feel good about adding turkey to your menu:

 

Turkey is packed with protein.

Protein foods are an important part of a nutritious diet. Not only is protein a main building block in your body and part of every cell, but it also plays a vital role in keeping your immune system healthy.

Protein is also a muscle booster; it helps build and maintain lean muscle mass to keep you strong. Turkey is an excellent source of protein; each 100-gram serving of turkey has about 30 grams of high quality protein.

Working out? Eating a small snack with high quality protein (e.g., turkey, Greek yogurt, eggs) after intense exercise can help maximize muscle repair and growth so you’re ready to work out again the next day.

Try this: Grab and Go Turkey Muffins. These tasty turkey muffin frittatas are the ultimate grab-and-go snack after a workout. They provide satisfying protein from turkey, eggs, and milk. Make them ahead of time and freeze them.  Reheat them in the microwave or toaster oven for a super convenient snack to re-energize.

 

Turkey is a nutritional powerhouse.

Turkey is a nutritious choice to fuel your wellness routine as it’s lean* and nutrient-rich (i.e., it has a whole lot of nutrients per calorie). Every bite of turkey provides you with health-boosting nutrients such as:

  • vitamin B12 (for a healthy nervous system, including your brain)
  • zinc (for a healthy immune system)
  • selenium (an antioxidant mineral)

Build your meals with whole grains, lots of veggies and protein foods like turkey to get the nutrients your body needs for good health.

Try This:  Turkey Soba Noodles. This dish is balanced, flavour-filled and delivers a powerful nutrition punch! If you’re not familiar with soba noodles, they are made with buckwheat flour and common in a variety of Japanese noodle dishes. Buckwheat is a whole grain which gives these noodles a nutty flavour and higher fibre content than many other pastas. This dish also has lean turkey and tofu for protein and lots of vitamin C-rich veggies.  Vitamin C is important for immune health and will also help to increase the absorption of iron in the tofu. See, I told you this dish delivers!

*Per 100 gram serving, dark meat without skin has 8 grams of fat; white turkey meat is extra lean with just 3 grams of fat

 

Turkey can help keep you feel energized and satisfied.

Eating meals that include enough protein, along with fibre and a bit of healthy fat, can help you to feel satisfied and to stay full longer (i.e., satiety). And that helps you to stay energized so you can tackle your day and power through your activities and workouts.

Try this: Mediterranean Turkey Nourish Bowl with Lemony Vinaigrette. Nourish bowls are an ideal way to create a balanced, healthy meal. As a busy parent I love how quickly bowls come together and how you can customize them depending on your family’s tastes. This Nourish Bowl provides you with enough protein (from the turkey), fibre (from the chickpeas, veggies, and whole grains) and healthy fat (from the vinaigrette) to stay satisfied for hours! Be sure to make extra and pack up for fast lunches.

 

For those of you that have great intentions, but not a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, I’ve got you covered!  You’ll love these 3 Easy Meals Made with Big Batch Ground Turkey with time-saving tips.

Happy Healthy Cooking and Eating,

Shannon

 

 

Sources:

Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Position of the Dietitians of Canada, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American College of Sports Medicine.  Feb 2016 (rev Dec 2016). Available from: https://www.dietitians.ca/DietitiansOfCanada/media/Documents/Resources/noap-position-paper.pdf?ext=.pdf

Yang D et al. Acute effects of high-protein versus normal-protein isocaloric meals on satiety and ghrelin. Eur J Nutr., 2014;53(2):499-500.