Turkey lunch meat may be a healthy choice for your lunch. The lunch meat which is also called as cold meat is the sliced turkey breast with high protein. It is usually used for sandwiches or wraps. Thus, turkey lunch meat may provide you with dense nutrients in a pack of simple and easy to grab lunch.
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We can easily pack this for takeout and eat it fur lunch at the office. Speaking about the nutrients contained in turkey lunch meat, recently people are talking about the health benefits of turkey lunch meat.
In this article, we are going to deep down in the health benefits of turkey lunch meat along with the nutritional information, precautions, and recommendation in consuming the meat.
Nutritional information of turkey lunch meat
Actually we can make this lunch meat at home. But today, the lunch meat is largely available in stores, so that we can easily grab some packages from the shelf. A package usually contains some slices of meat so that we can just take the slices for our wraps and sandwiches.
We even don’t need to worry slicing the meat as they have sliced the meat for us. And from each standard slice of 3.5” square meat we can get the following values:
- Calories 22
- Total fat 0.4 g
- Saturated fat 0.1 g
- Trans fat 0 g
- Cholesterol 9 mg
- Sodium 213 mg
- Total carbohydrate 0.9 g
- Dietary fiber 0.1 g
- Sugars 0.7 g
- Protein 3.6 g
- Calcium 1.7 mg
- Potassium 63.4 mg
The Health Benefits of Turkey Lunch Meat
There are some health benefits of turkey lunch meat you can get from the healthy turkey sandwich lunch you prepare every day.
1. Provide energy
We need lunch to top up energy we spent during the office hour. Therefore, it is important to stock our lunch with energizing stuff. In this case, we can choose turkey lunch meat for our healthy and energizing lunch. Turkey lunch meat contains beneficial value including vitamin B6 which aids the formation of energy.
For the carbohydrate, you can employ some bread such whole wheat bread or loaf bread. Loaf bread is able to give you the Health Benefits of Loaf Bread.
2. Rich with protein
Turkey is considered to be high protein poultry. Eating a single serving of 4 oz. turkey may provide you with 65% of your protein daily need.
Therefore, eating turkey lunch meat in a sandwich for lunch may closely cover your need of protein in a day. In addition, protein may also be your potential energy source besides carbohydrate.
3. Low fat
Taking about meat from poultry, some of you might be the fans of duck meat with its Health Benefits of Duck Meat . Actually we can also use duck meat for the lunch meat, but sadly duck contains more fats compared to turkey. Therefore, using turkey lunch meat might be healthier choice for you. The lower fats mean the lower health risk you may encounter.
4. Source of minerals
We can have the health benefits of turkey lunch meat as this meat contributes beneficial value for health. Well, turkey lunch meat is infamous with its content of minerals. We can get many essential minerals for health from turkey lunch meat such potassium, selenium, iron, and calcium.
5. Lower cholesterol
Turkey lunch meat is not only tasty, but also low in calories, fat, and cholesterol. Consuming sandwich with turkey lunch meat may help you lower the bad cholesterol level while maintaining the beneficial cholesterol within the blood.
6. Control blood sugar
In spite of the delicious taste, turkey meat lunch surprisingly contain low glycemic index. It means that this lunch meat is considered to be safe for diabetics. Foods with low GI tend to hold the raise of blood glucose.
7. Improve immune system
From a bite of turkey lunch meat, you gain a bit of selenium. Selenium is one of the minerals in turkey lunch meat which aid thyroid hormone and further improve the immune system. In addition, Turkey meat also contains tryptophan, the amino acid which is able to improve immunity.
8. Lose weight
Is it possible for you to have a rich flavored filling lunch which is able to control your weight? The answer is yes, if you pack turkey lunch meat sandwich every day. It is because turkey lunch meat is able to make you sated with low calorie level.
To add the health benefits of turkey lunch meat to control your weight, you can add some beneficial ingredients into your sandwich such lettuce, with its Health Benefits of Lettuce.
9. Improve sleep quality
Some people feel sleepy right after they eat turkey. Wait, it is not a myth. It is science backed fact that turkey meat makes you sleepy. It is contributed by the content of tryptophan in turkey.
Tryptophan which is the amino acids with the ability to regulate sleep have a big concentration I turkey meat. Thus, the consumption of turkey meat may be beneficial for those with insomnia.
10. Fight depression
Tryptophan in turkey meat may also take a role in fixing your mental problems such depression. This is because tryptophan possesses an ability to enhance the production of serotonin.
As we know, serotonin is a hormone which functions as neurotransmitter in brain which enables brain to release the feeling of happiness. A study even reviewed tryptophan as the effective treatment for depression more than a placebo.
11. Reduce the risk of cancer
Having turkey lunch meat in between your bread may also contribute in reducing the risk of cancer. It is possible since turkey lunch meat contains antioxidants which are able to fight free radicals as the main culprit of many types of cancer.
As the addition to the health benefits of turkey lunch meat, you can also pour some pepper flakes. Pepper flakes not only boost the flavor of your turkey sandwich, but also present the Health Benefits of Pepper Flakes in reducing the risk of cancer.
12. Good for pregnancy
During pregnancy, women need the nutritious food to make sure both mother and fetus stay healthy. The high protein food is preferable for pregnant women. In this case, we should include turkey lunch meat into pregnant mothers’ diet as it contains good amount of protein for the mother’s fitness, B vitamins for the mothers’ energy, and amino acids for the fetus.
It is suggested that pregnant women choose the organic based turkey lunch meat to enhance the health benefits of turkey lunch meat. You can also stuff the sandwich with beans, as beans are very good for pregnancy. For instance, obtain the Health Benefits of Green Beans during Pregnancy along with the turkey lunch meat.
The other health benefits of turkey lunch meat are:
• Aid nervous system
• Control mood balance
• Improve metabolism
• Prevent inflammation
• Reduce the risk of coronary heart disease
Precautions in Consuming Turkey Lunch Meat
Beside the health benefits of turkey lunch meat, consuming the turkey lunch meat available in store may stuff you with lots of sodium. Sodium is one of the minerals of which the excessive intake may increase your blood pressure, and even be a potential threat to your heart health.
Moreover, the widely marketed turkey meat may also contain some additive substance such artificial flavor and perseverance which may be harmful through long term consumption. In addition, you should also be careful to the content of tryptophan in it.
As we know, tryptophan may improve your sleep. However, taking too much tryptophan for lunch in the middle of office hour might not be a good idea for your work.
Recommendation in Consuming Turkey Lunch Meat
In consuming turkey lunch meat, you need to consider the following points to optimally get the health benefits of turkey lunch meat.
• Choosing the supple lunch meat is essential since it indicates whether the meat is good to consume or not.
• If you are in a health condition where you can’t take too much sodium from your food, you can choose the low sodium lunch meat. It is now widely available, the low sodium turkey lunch meat.
• It is better if you can make sure that the turkey used in the lunch meat is the organic raised turkey. It contains lower health risk.
• Since turkey meat is very easy to dry, make sure you avoid overcooking the meat. You just need to roast a few minute before you piled the lunch meat with the other ingredients such lettuce and tomato with its Powerful Benefits of Tomatoes for Eyes Health.
• In term of storage, make sure you put your turkey lunch meat in the freezer. Keep away from gravy and stuffy food to keep the quality. In addition, it is better to put the meat no more than 3 days in the freezer before you use it.
Meat is a valuable source of protein and other nutrients. But when it comes to a healthy diet, it's important to choose the right kind of meat and eat the correct portion size. The Australian Guide To Healthy Eating recommends we eat one serving of meat per day, the equivalent of 65 to 100 grams of cooked meat.
Turkey meat is sold in various forms, including whole, prepackaged slices, breast, thighs, mince, cutlets and tenderloins. Turkeys are not native to Australia (today's domestic turkey is a descendant of the wild turkey native to northern Mexico and the eastern US) and turkey farming is significantly different from other poultry farming. However, turkey consumption is growing. This year each Australian will have consumed an average of 1.7 kilograms of turkey meat, and the Australasian Turkey Federation estimates this will grow to 2.5 kilograms by 2011.
The pros
• Turkey is a rich source of protein.
• Skinless turkey is low in fat. White meat is lower in kilojoules and has less fat than the dark meat. A typical turkey consists of 70 per cent white meat and 30 per cent dark meat.
• Turkey meat is a source of iron, zinc, potassium and phosphorus.
• It is also a source of vitamin B6 and niacin, which are both essential for the body's energy production.
• Regular turkey consumption can help lower cholesterol levels. The meat is low-GI and can help keep insulin levels stable.
• Turkey contains the amino acid tryptophan, which produces serotonin and plays an important role in strengthening the immune system.
• It is also a source of selenium, which is essential for thyroid hormone metabolism. It also boosts immunity and acts as an antioxidant.
The cons
• Turkey can be high in sodium.
• Some meat, particularly prepackaged slices, can be processed and contain other substances.
• Turkey skin is high in fat.
• Research suggests large amounts of tryptophan can make you sleepy.
Turkey tips:
If you can, buy organic. Turkeys raised organically will have been treated humanely and are less likely to contain pesticides and herbicides.
Look for meat that is supple.
A turkey roast is cooked properly when it is piping hot all the way through.
Turkey dries out quickly, so don't overcook it.
If marinating turkey meat, put it in the fridge straight after you've finished, as it is highly sensitive to heat.
Store turkey separate from any gravy, stuffing or raw food.
Refrigerated turkey will keep for about one or two days. If it is already cooked, it will keep for about four days.