White meat tips and facts

The final week 3...
White meat refers to any lighter-colored meat, often contrasted with red meat. The meat of young mammals such as veal and milk-fed lamb are considered "white"; while the meat of duck and goose is considered "red", though the demarcation line may be changing. A newer definition in the United States of America emphasizes not the appearance and strength of taste, but the fat content, making "white meat" synonymous with "lean meat"; traditionally "white" meats such as lamb and veal are reclassified as "red". Even fish and seafood, including fatty and dark-fleshed fishes such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna, are called "white meat"

"Turkey is the new new white meat," raves Lisa Sasson, R.D., assistant clinical professor at New York University's department of nutrition, food studies and public health in New York City. "It's a perfect alternative to other meats." And that even includes chicken breast!

Low in fat, high in protein and a good source of iron, zinc, phosphorous and B vitamins, the big bird is also the best caloric value. Skinless white-meat turkey has only 135 calories and less than 1 gram of fat per 3.5-ounce serving. In comparison, skinless chicken breast has 165 calories and 3.5 grams of fat, while trimmed, lean beef has 193 calories and nearly 10 grams of fat.

When choosing prepared turkey, keep an eye out for words like natural, hormone-free, free-range and organic on the label to ensure best-quality meat. Commercially processed and precooked turkey products are timesavers, but they also can be high in sodium and nitrites, so read labels carefully.

When you start week 3, which is a low calorie and low fat plan, make sure you are consuming a balanced and complete amount of vegetable with your choice of lean chicken, turkey or fish. Your assignment is to set realistic and attainable low calorie diet goals.

According to a study that was conducted at The National Cancer Institute by Rasmi Sinha, Ph. D and other doctors, people who chooses red meat (along with processed meat) over white meat on a regular basis have a higher chance of dying of many types of causes than those who choose white meat. Plus, these people have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Eat less total fat. Limit your daily fat intake to no more than 20 percent of your total food calories. This means that if you average 2,500 calories a day, fat should provide no more than 500 of these calories. This means you should eat around 55 grams of fat per day, maximum. (On a 2,000 calories per day diet, you would eat about 45 grams of fat.) Eat the right fat. Eating the wrong kinds of fat may be even more cancer-causing than eating too much fat. Cancer researchers became aware of this fat fact when they noticed that the incidence of most cancers is less in some cultures who actually have a high-fat diet, such as Eskimos (who eat a lot of seafood rich in omega 3 fatty acids) and the Mediterranean diet (which is plant-based, but high in monounsaturated oils).