Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner
A Healthy Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner
Thanksgiving Turkey Flavor/Health Trade Off
For many people the problem with turkey for Thanksgiving dinner is that it lacks flavor which explains why some people look for a tastier but not necessarily healthier ways of cooking it. There is always a flavor/health trade off with everything we eat so these tips may help.
Top Tip for Putting Flavor into Thanksgiving Turkey
The best way to put flavor into turkey is to use bacon and put it UNDER not over the skin. Carefully the lift the skin and cover the breast with b smoked bacon and although streaky bacon has the most flavor it should be as lean as possible to keep down the saturated fat. Lining the breast is easy but you can also do the thighs, do not worry if you tear the skin you can stitch it up with using a cocktail stick like a skewer. It’s better to use olive oil instead of butter or lard for basting as it which may help improve the good cholesterol, which then helps the body to get rid of and control the bad cholesterol.
No Thanksgiving to Cholesterol!
While turkey is low on cholesterol there is about 50% more cholesterol in the dark meat of the thighs than the white meat of the breast and just buying a breast may be a better option. There is also a difference between free range and a mass produced turkey that has been caged up all its life. The reason is simple, a free range turkey will have had a better life with exercise and eaten healthier food so it will not only taste better it will have a lower level of cholesterol in its meat. You can cut down on cholesterol even further by limiting your portions, do not eat the skin and if you lined it with bacon do not eat that either.
Stuffing
Most chiefs recommend cooking the stuffing separately from the turkey as it cuts down cooking time and prevent saturated fat from running into the stuffing. Adding garlic which is known to be therapeutic for lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels to the recipe may help offset some of the high cholesterol content. Sausage meat is the most common meat used for stuffing which is notoriously fatty, so try using 50% soya mince or better still use a bread stuffing which should be wholemeal rather than white bread which has very little nutritional value.
Cranberry Sauce
When you buy it in a jar it will only have a trace of cholesterol but it has a high sugar content, so try making your own it’s easy. Buy fresh cranberries and put enough water in a pan to cover the cranberries and add artificial sweetener instead of sugar, bring to the boil and simmer until it starts to thicken up into syrup.
Gravy & Roast Vegetables
Gravy made by frying the flour with the basting oil is delicious but can be very fatty, so use a gravy jug that allows the oil to float on top and pours the gravy from the bottom of the jug. Do not make the gravy too thick or the oil will not separate and float to the top. Again use olive or sunflower oil for roasting vegetables but only use enough to cover the bottom of the pan and use an oil sprayer to spay just enough oil on the vegetables while they roast. Also the variety of potato also makes a difference use those that are recommended for roasting as they tend to be of a floury texture that absorbs less fat as does making them a bit larger than normal.
Digestion
To help your system cope with the extra demand you need to also keep it working and in that respect acidophilus at the recommended dose is highly recommended. Keeping active by helping out but not hard exercise will also help burn off the extra calories.
