Turkey – a good option for post bariatric diets
Turkey is a great choice for post bariatric diets because it’s high in protein, and, if cooked properly and moistly, can be pouch-friendly. Stripped of its fat-laden skin it also comes in with some very impressive nutritional stats for healthy eating.
When cooking turkey the prime concern is always to keep the breast meat moist whilst ensuring that the thigh and leg meat is sufficiently cooked.
Chefs often remove the breast or crown and cook this separately to the legs to ensure both are cooked to perfection but if you want to keep your bird whole then this little tip gives great mouth-watering results:
Cook the turkey breast-side down in a roasting pan for two-thirds of the cooking time, turning breast-side up for the final one-third to crisp and brown the skin. This ensures that any cooking juices flow or seep into the breasts keeping them deliciously moist during cooking. It also helps if the turkey is tightly covered with foil to keep in the moisture during the first stage, removing for the final 15-20 minutes cooking time.
So once cooked which is best … white or dark meat for the weight-loss surgery patient?
Well the truth is that while the white breast meat is lower in fat it can be drier and harder to digest. Brown meat is frequently much more tender but can be higher in fat and calories, especially if eaten with the skin. Take a look at the calorie stats:
Turkey breast with skin 194 calories per 100g
Turkey breast without skin 161 calories per 100g
Turkey wing with skin 238 calories per 100g
Dark turkey meat with skin 232 calories per 100g
Dark turkey meat without skin 192 calories per 100g
Turkey skin only 482 calories per 100g
The stats show that the dark meat is higher in fat and therefore calories than the white breast meat, but the chart also clearly shows that it’s the skin that drives the fat and calories up fast.
So my advice is to eat the breast meat without skin if you can tolerate it and then as a close second select the dark meat without the skin – there’s little difference calorie wise between the two, but at all costs avoid the skin!
