Think Ground Turkey Is Better For You Then Ground Beef?

Bacon (meaning pork bacon) varies widely in how much fat it has. I know there are some brands that are 60 calories or less for 2 slices, which must not have all that much fat. On the other hand, the kind I get from a local farm has lots of fat, although it's probably "healthier" according to some other measurements, despite having lots more calories than not only the 30 cal/slice kind, but probably the average more processed bacon (all meat you buy is processed, obviously). So it depends on priorities. I don't have it often, but I like it, so on occasion I fit it into my calories.

I don't much care how ground beef compares to ground turkey, since they don't taste at all the same. The question is if there's any reason not to eat ground turkey or ground beef on their own merits. IMO, not for any nutritional reason--both are fine (I generally eat the lean ground beef since I like it just as well for my purposes--a meat sauce, meatball, or burger). I also like ground bison, ground lamb, ground pork, and even ground ostrich on occasion. I don't really like ground chicken or turkey. If I want lean turkey or chicken breast I'd much rather have them unground, IMO they are far superior that way. Not sure why that is.

I guess I've never really compared the labels, but regular bacon just seems to have so much more fat than turkey bacon. I can't eat regular bacon - just thinking about all the fat on it makes me sick. I'm sure any kind of bacon isn't good for you anyways, though.

Regular bacon is slices of pork belly, which is a fatty cut of meat. Turkey bacon is a product made from pulverized turkey and dyed to look like strips of pork belly. Less fat is generally used to make the turkey product.

I'm assuming then that they use every part of the turkey, essentially making it the same as a turkey dog (eeek!). The dye is probably terrible for you too. I have found some Nitrate/Nitrite free pork bacon and as long as I cut the fat off, I have managed to eat it. I have not found any turkey bacon that states it is Nitrate/Nitrite free. Do you think it's really worth it to stick to eating turkey bacon (my son loves bacon), considering the main reason I eat it is because I thought it had less fat?

Why are you so concerned over the fat in it? There's no need to eat a "low fat" diet. If it's the appearance that bothers you, just cook it a bit crisper. I'm not sure the dye would be terrible for you... what exactly is it about the dye you're concerned about?

I totally don't mean this in a disrespectful or b*tchy way at all, but do you enjoy eating straight fat? If there is visible fat on something, I will cut it out/off. Personally, I don't see the point in eating any unnecessary fat. Is this something I shouldn't be concerned about? As for the dye, I suppose I'm going more off of what I hear through the grapevine about how bad dyes are for you. But why even add dye to it in the first place - just to make it look more like pork bacon? Seems kind of silly to me. Just my thoughts, though.

Why are you so concerned over the fat in it? There's no need to eat a "low fat" diet. If it's the appearance that bothers you, just cook it a bit crisper. I'm not sure the dye would be terrible for you... what exactly is it about the dye you're concerned about?

I totally don't mean this in a disrespectful or b*tchy way at all, but do you enjoy eating straight fat? If there is visible fat on something, I will cut it out/off. Personally, I don't see the point in eating any unnecessary fat. Is this something I shouldn't be concerned about? As for the dye, I suppose I'm going more off of what I hear through the grapevine about how bad dyes are for you. But why even add dye to it in the first place - just to make it look more like pork bacon? Seems kind of silly to me. Just my thoughts, though.

In bacon? Yes, I do enjoy it, as do many people. Now I don't sit down and eat a bowl of bacon fat, but the notion that you should avoid bacon just because you can see fat on it is silly to me. It seems like your problem with it is that it's visible, but that you don't visibly see fat in a lot of foods doesn't make those foods any better for you.

In terms of eating "unnecessary" fat, what makes it unnecessary relative to the meat in the bacon? An optimal diet for some people is going to include some fat and if you choose to get that fat from bacon, I'm failing to see the problem. Of course you can overeat on fat, but that's true of any macro. Should you eat purely fat and neglect your other macros? I suppose you could pick off all the fat on your bacon and fill those calories with another fat source (or another nutrient), but what is it you think you're gaining from that? I'd rather just enjoy the bacon, provided it fits my daily allowance (Oh God, listen to me... I sound like an IIFYM'er :laugh: )

And as to why they add dye, it's to make their product more marketable. People buying "turkey bacon" want it to look like real bacon and so if the final product doesn't look like bacon, they dye it accordingly. Even then, I don't believe that all turkey bacon is dyed. For instance, but the typical brand I get at WF doesn't list any dyes on the ingredients.

But at the end of the day, you're better off spending your time and effort optimizing big picture issues, and things like "visible" fat and dyed food are minor issues at best. Eat what you enjoy and don't stress over the little things.