The Skin Is NOT “In”

It’s that time again – Thanksgiving!  Right up there with Christmas, Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday of mine.  It’s a time where family meets around the dinner table, indulges on great food, engages in great conversation and appreciates our great blessings.

As you may remember last year, I wrote about some of my favorite Turkey Day staples (turkey, cranberries, pumpkin and potato).  These were some of my more enjoyable columns to write, mainly because I LOVE food, especially food that’s both good for you and good tasting.

But this year, I have a somewhat less enviable task.  This year, I’m going to put a spotlight on the foods you may want to pass on rather than dish from when the platter reaches your end of the table.  I’m conflicted in doing this, though, because since festive feasts like these are so rare, I hate to tell people to NOT eat something that ought to be enjoyed.

But, seeing as how more calories are consumed on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year, days like these can really cramp the style of people trying to lose weight.

So, with the weight-conscious in mind, I present to you the first Turkey Day Danger food:  Turkey skin.

Every turkey is covered in it.  It’s the thing hungry eyes peer at through oven glass to see if the bird is ready (is it that crisp, golden brown) and it’s the thing kids like to peel off and snack on as dad does the carving.  Yep, it’s turkey skin, and while its salty taste, crisp texture and unique scent make it almost impossible not to salivate over, the skin is definitely not “in.”  In fact, it’s a food you’re better off without.

Here’s why:  Fat.  Plain and simple.

As I’ve written in other articles, fat, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.  We all need fat, but turkey skin has almost no nutritional value other than saturated fat.  In fact, it actually decreases the amount of protein when it’s served with the turkey meat.

For example, according to the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory, 3.5 ounces of turkey breast without skin has about four grams of fat and 30 grams of protein.  A great protein source with a perfectly suitable amount of fat, right?  Well, add the skin to that perfectly portioned piece, and that extra bit of skin doubles the amount of fat and drops the protein content from 30 grams to 29 grams.

Granted, a one gram drop is not a whole heck of a lot, but it illustrates how the skin of turkey is actually a nutrient-robbing food source.

Now, let’s get foolish for a moment and imagine that we didn’t want any turkey meat; we just wanted turkey skin.   So if you were to replace 3.5 ounces of high quality white or dark turkey meat with 3.5 ounces of greasy turkey skin, that’ll run you a whopping 44 grams of fat, 482 calories and a measly 19 grams of protein.

With a fat profile that high, you’re better off eating a quarter-pounder with cheese from McDonalds (30 grams of fat)!

Of course, you probably already know that the skin of turkey isn’t good for you.  But every now and then – especially around the holidays, when tasty temptations lurk around every corner – a healthy, friendly reminder can be the difference between a pound gained and a pound lost come Friday morning.

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Source
web.aces.uiuc.edu