I know you know that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but do you know the nutritional differences between white and dark turkey meat? I'm a fan of all parts of the bird, but I know many people who avoid dark meat because they think it's much more unhealthy than white meat. So I made a handy chart so you can see how they compare. I also added the nutritional info for turducken (for you serious poultry lovers), and Tofurky (for you vegans and vegetarians).
To see get a gander at the chart, just read more.
| Meat Type (3.5 ounce serving) | Calories | Total Fat (g) | Saturated Fat (g) | Protein (g) |
| White meat | 156 | 3.2 | 1 | 29.7 |
| White meat with skin | 188 | 7.4 | 2.1 | 28.5 |
| Dark meat | 186 | 7.2 | 2.4 | 28.4 |
| Dark meat with skin | 220 | 11.5 | 3.5 | 27.3 |
| Turducken, dark meat | 187 | 8.6 | 2.8 | 27.4 |
| Turducken, light meat | 161 | 4.9 | 1.5 | 29.4 |
| Tofurkey | 280 | 16 | 1 | 24 |
While dark meat does contain a few more calories and fat, it also contains a considerable amount of iron, so go ahead and eat that drumstick you crave. Keep in mind that the skin contains a ton of calories and fat, so feel free to indulge a little, but don't go overboard. As for the Tofurkey, I'm surprised to see that it contains so much fat and calories. At least it's low in saturated fat.
Enjoy whichever protein you choose, but remember that these numbers don't include stuffing or gravy on the side. So if you want to save room for a slice of grandma's famous pumpkin pie, limit the turkey fixings.
Sportmax
Christian Louboutin
Mothercare
Tofurky is delicious, and I look forward to having it this Thanksgiving! Also, because it's vegan, it's cholesterol free
1This is just what I was looking for but what does 3.5 oz of turkey look like??? help!
2laurmigs,
a 3.5 serving of turkey will be around the size of a deck of cards.
3Again, soy is good for you only if it is fermented, and I believe tofu is not. Anyway I don't eat meat often, so I will stick with real turkey for this time.
4Tofurky is disturbing on too many levels. There's nothing wrong with tofu as it is, why mess with it to make it look and taste like something it's not?
5I've just come to like tofu recently, but tofurkey grosses me out so much! I tried it at my sister's one year, and I actually had to spit it out because I was afraid I might throw up if I followed through and swallowed it.
6Yikes. I've been trying to drastically limit my meat and fat intake...but that tofurkey has way too much fat and calories for me to feel safe eating it. I've always liked white meat turkey; I'll stick with that.
7Great info. thanks, Fit.
8I don't like Tofurkey, but I'm making my own seitan "meat" this year. I hope it turns out well.
9Wow, good thing I am good w/ portion control! And another good thing is I'm not eating Tofurky this year- skipping meat and protein altogether as I'm off with relatives out of town and I'm the only veggie
but I do still get to eat almost everything else!
10I love turkey and I can't wait to eat it tomorrow!
11-Turkey, ingredients: Turkey (pref. pastured and humanely raised and slaughtered)
-Tofury, ingredients: water, vital wheat gluten, organic tofu (water, organic soybeans, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride), white beans, garbanzo beans, non genetically engineered corn starch, natural vegetarian flavor, expeller pressed non genetically engineered canola oil, shoyu soy sauce (water, non genetically engineered soy beans, wheat, salt, culture), spices, lemon juice, calcium lactate from beets.
I just feel that it just means so many ingredients and if you don't eat meat, thats great and your choice, just enjoy all the REAL foods that nature has to offer (Yummy roasted veggies and creamy pureed soups and warm freshly baked breads and such).
12LOL...meant to type "TOFURKY" not Tofury...although is sounds like a cute little furbie-looking creature.
13I like both white and dark meat, but I never eat the skin. I try not to obsess too much about it...it's Thanksgiving and I don't eat turkey all that often.
14The tofurkey has so many calories because that includes the stuffing. If you added the calories and fat from the stuffing to the regular turkey I'm sure the nutrition information would look similar.
15Aww I had Tofurky this Thanksgiving and I thought it was really good. Plus, I ate a lot less of it than I ever did of turkey because it's very filling.
"-Turkey, ingredients: Turkey (pref. pastured and humanely raised and slaughtered)" Aaaand I assume you're a hunter. Most likely THIS is how your turkey was raised:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E1DB123BF937A15752C1A...
But I'm sure eating 100 less calories is totes worth it.
16Fit- the nutritional information you got for the Tofurky is for the serving size, which is not 3.5 ounces.
According to their website, Tofurky has 190 calories for a 4 oz. serving.
http://www.tofurky.com/products/tofurky_turkey.htm
17Thanks for the info on the Tofurky serving sizes and nutrition info, snowbunny. I've never had Tofurky but I'm open to the idea in the future. Usually I just eat all the sides minus the turkey, but this year I made honey-thyme tofu and it was good! Made me feel like I wasn't missing out on a protein source for my Thanksgiving dinner.
18This is highly misleading nutritional information on Tofurky. I am amazed stuff like this gets posted. As snowbunny points out,
19the real story from www.tofurky.com is:
100 gram serving of Tofurky Roast and Stuffing(3.5 oz)
170 calories
4 g Fat
0 mg cholesterol (80 mg cholesterol in 3.5 oz Turkey)
Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.