Beef vs Turkey
serindipte
Posts: 1,557 Member
When I first started changing my eating habits, one of the things I did was switch from ground beef to ground turkey. In my mind, it sounded healthier, I guess. I still eat beef occasionally. Nothing beats a good steak. I started wondering, though, why? I'm searching the nutritional values for each and, from everything I can find, there is no real benefit of switching...
At the 85% lean level, there is approximately 10 more calories per ounce in the beef but a great deal more nutrients when you look at the micros, from B12 to iron, magnesium, and several others.
At 97% lean, there is only 10 calories more in four ounces of beef...
Does anyone know of some hidden benefit that I'm missing or should I go back to buying beef (or whichever happens to be on sale at the leaner levels)?
(Edited for typo)
At the 85% lean level, there is approximately 10 more calories per ounce in the beef but a great deal more nutrients when you look at the micros, from B12 to iron, magnesium, and several others.
At 97% lean, there is only 10 calories more in four ounces of beef...
Does anyone know of some hidden benefit that I'm missing or should I go back to buying beef (or whichever happens to be on sale at the leaner levels)?
(Edited for typo)
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Replies
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I thought there was a bigger difference in calories than that... but I haven't compared it in a while. I actually go for grassfed beef. I only eat it maybe once a month. It's supposedly higher in Omega-3 and the taste is amazing. I haven't bought ground turkey in a while. For recipes that call for ground meat - I have just been cutting up chicken or chicken sausage or chicken keilbasa and putting that in instead. But I really enjoy my grassfed beef in moderation.0
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Turkey & Chicken breast are more healthy than red meat in their most fundamental forms. Go chicken and turkey, with beef a couple of times a month.0
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I like red meat: beef and venison for flavour as steaks (i also use them for iron along side green leafys as i've had anemic issues in the past)
I like turkey thigh for stir fries and curries as it doesn't dry out as much as breast so i feel that it tastes better and i'd rather eat a little less of it
I don't eat meat every day - i'm not a vegetarian, but I prefer to eat a little of something that i really like than a lot of something I don't really care about either way if both are available for the same cost0 -
It's not really the calories, but the "red meat scare", that it supposeldy causes cancer and heart attacks. This has been debunked. Just eat what you like best. Alternating between the two sounds most appealing to me.0
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I would pick beef over turkey any day of the week. I prefer the taste and texture. Plus the iron.
We buy our beef from a rancher and buy 1/4 of a cow at a time. The taste is amazing and the beef is so tender.0 -
There's nothing wrong with a nice steak, i would probably opt for a leaner cut, just to save on calories. If it's grass fed, that's even better, lots of good fats, but I can't always afford grass fed because I buy half a cow when I do. Chicken and turkey get boring after a while, switch it up and enjoy
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No hidden benefit that I know of. I was surprised by the lack of calorie difference too. And I have gone through the label comparisons twice on regular vs. natural peanut butter, and still can't see any reason to give up my usual pb.0
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Depends on the meat. Grass fed beef is very nutritious, much more so than factory farmed. The Omega 3's are higher in grassfed (good) and the Omega 6's are higher in factory farmed, corn fed (we need Omega 6 as well but most of us have too much of it), amoung other health benefits.0
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Yeah i'd go with the 93% lean ground beef. That's what I buy for the whole household-even though i'm the only one dieting. No one has seemed to notice. Ha ha!
Besides-Ground turkey just doesn't TASTE the same. lol.0 -
Huh... I thought there was a bigger fat/calorie difference than that... how eye opening. I just bought 4lbs of ground turkey instead of beef.0
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ribeyes once a month and a hamburger every now and then to satisfy the burger monster inside me. other than that its all chicken, pork, and ground turkey. Turkey chili, turkey meatloaf, tacos using ground turkey, and the occasional turkey Asian slider. I just prefer it as ive been eating the ground turkey for so long. I had guests over once and we did turkey tacos and they didnt even know they were eating turkey until i told them.0
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Turkey & Chicken breast are more healthy than red meat in their most fundamental forms. Go chicken and turkey, with beef a couple of times a month.
Would you mind explaining why turkey and chicken are more healthy than beef despite beef having similar macros and greater micronutrients?0 -
Yeah, what he said... I too am waiting for this knowledge bomb to be dropped.Turkey & Chicken breast are more healthy than red meat in their most fundamental forms. Go chicken and turkey, with beef a couple of times a month.
Would you mind explaining why turkey and chicken are more healthy than beef despite beef having similar macros and greater micronutrients?0 -
Yeah, what he said... I too am waiting for this knowledge bomb to be dropped.Turkey & Chicken breast are more healthy than red meat in their most fundamental forms. Go chicken and turkey, with beef a couple of times a month.
Would you mind explaining why turkey and chicken are more healthy than beef despite beef having similar macros and greater micronutrients?
Third-ed.
Triced?
Threesies?0 -
Sausage though, turkey sausage is a lot lower in calories than pork sausage. Spaghetti.0
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Yeah, what he said... I too am waiting for this knowledge bomb to be dropped.Turkey & Chicken breast are more healthy than red meat in their most fundamental forms. Go chicken and turkey, with beef a couple of times a month.
Would you mind explaining why turkey and chicken are more healthy than beef despite beef having similar macros and greater micronutrients?
Third-ed.
Triced?
Threesies?
How dare you question the guy in the Papa Smurf shirt!!!!0 -
Huh... I thought there was a bigger fat/calorie difference than that... how eye opening. I just bought 4lbs of ground turkey instead of beef.
Depending on which grade of turkey you got, you may well be eating more fat than if you'd gone with a higher grade (but similarly priced) ground beef. This is what struck me when I started really researching it today. Turkey sounds great, better, but when it comes right down to it, I'm struggling to find the advantage.
The "it just is" does not cut it for me.0 -
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We buy ground turkey instead of ground beef because it's cheaper per pound, and we're on a budget. 0
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Sausage though, turkey sausage is a lot lower in calories than pork sausage. Spaghetti.
By about half, yes, definitely. Turkey bacon is much lower than real bacon but I can't bring myself to eat it. It's just... NOT bacon. Turkey sausage, though, I do use that.0 -
Sausage though, turkey sausage is a lot lower in calories than pork sausage. Spaghetti.
Yes but Pork apple sausauges are so much tastier
or a Maple pork sausage, or really a pork sausage is so much tastier.0 -
Sausage though, turkey sausage is a lot lower in calories than pork sausage. Spaghetti.
By about half, yes, definitely. Turkey bacon is much lower than real bacon but I can't bring myself to eat it. It's just... NOT bacon. Turkey sausage, though, I do use that.
With you there.0 -
Ground turkey tastes disgusting to me. I eat 90% ground beef, or sometimes I grind my own beef from the whole rib eye which is higher in fat but also higher in flavor.0
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Sausage though, turkey sausage is a lot lower in calories than pork sausage. Spaghetti.
By about half, yes, definitely. Turkey bacon is much lower than real bacon but I can't bring myself to eat it. It's just... NOT bacon. Turkey sausage, though, I do use that.
Turkey bacon isn't that much lower than regular bacon...0 -
Turkey & Chicken breast are more healthy than red meat in their most fundamental forms. Go chicken and turkey, with beef a couple of times a month.
What makes them more healthy fundamentally? Expand please.0 -
Even if ground turkey was leaner or some how magically better, I just hate the flavor. I can handle it in tacos - maybe even chili but spaghetti has to be beef. Sometime you just got to go with taste so you don't feel like its a diet. Nothing wrong with doing combo plates as well - smaller steak with chicken breast? That's my version.0
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As someone above stated, the only minor health benefit to turkey and chicken over beef is the Omega3 to Omega6 ratio. But that ratio is diminished when the skin is consumed.
I will take ground beef three weeks to Sunday over ground turkey and chicken solely for the b-12 and iron micros. But I'm not willing to give up whole turkey and chicken because they're delicious.0 -
I use turkey or chicken because personally I cannot stand the taste of red meat most times. It's putrid to me. The smell of steak cooking makes me want to throw up which stinks because when I see it on TV it looks SOOOO GOOD, but I just cannot stand how red meat tastes. Other than that..I'd probably eat it over turkey. 0
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I can't eat beef, although I love it. It makes my guts feel like I swallowed fishhooks.0
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yeah, there's nothing inherently evil about beef...I eat all the animals, birds, and fishes...0
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