Turkey

Turkey is good for you. Here's the World's Healthiest Foods food of the week!

Food of the Week . . . Turkey
Turkey is our food of the week. Did you know that a 4-ounce serving of turkey breast contains only 1 gram of fat and is the leanest type of meat you can include in your diet? It is easy to reduce the fat content of turkey because most of it resides in the skin, which can be easily removed. By including a serving of turkey as part of your Healthiest Way of Eating, you will not only be reducing your fat intake, but fulfilling 65% of your daily value for protein! Protein is the building block not only for structural tissues, but also for immune defense cells, and it is involved in just about every other physiological function in your body. Turkey also provides 47% of the daily value for selenium (a powerful antioxidant co-factor that helps protect against the damage to cell structure and DNA caused by free radicals), as well as many of the B vitamins, which are essential for energy production. So, sharing your Thanksgiving meal with family and friends also means sharing a w! ! ealth of health-promoting benefits with those you love!Did you know that, unlike other starchy vegetables, sweet potatoes are classified as an anti-diabetic food? Recent studies have shown that sweet potatoes help stabilize blood sugar levels and lower insulin resistance, a problem caused by cells not responding to the presence of insulin, which then prevents the transport of sugars from the blood into the cells. Some of sweet potatoes' anti-diabetic properties are believed to come from their high concentration of carotenoids such as beta carotene (the redder varieties also contain lycopene), which, along with their vitamin A and vitamin C, act as powerful antioxidants to help combat free radical activity that would otherwise damage cells and cell membranes. Sweet potatoes also contain unique root storage proteins with potent antioxidant activity. These proteins, along with sweet potatoes high content of carotenoids and vitamin C, may also make them helpful! ! in reducing inflammation, such as that involved in conditions like asthma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.