The Turkey Burger Knocks Out the Beef Burger

I’m the first one to admit one of my food weaknesses is a good burger.

I was raised on cooked hamburgers on the grill.

There’s nothing like the first day of the year that’s warm enough to fire up the grill. It’s a summer classic.

Yesterday, I had a change of heart.

Why?

Because yesterday I ate my first turkey burger.

I’ve eaten ground turkey before--in chili, meatloaf, and one-pot meals, but never as a stand-alone.

I was very skeptical at first. In fact, even when I was in the grocery store I thought twice about purchasing the turkey for the grill. However, the low price was just too hard to pass up.

So, I took my ground turkey home, added a few spices--salt, pepper, and garlic, a little thyme, marjoram--formed it into a patty, and put it on the grill.

The smell wasn’t exactly the same as beef, but it still smelled good.

Still not sure, I added my favorite burger toppings--lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard, and salsa.

It tasted great!

But, the benefits didn’t end there.

After lunch, I looked up the nutritional information of Turkey and Beef, and here’s what I discovered:

	Turkey	Beef
Calorie:	193	204
Carbohydrate:	0	0
Protein:	22.44g	19.95g
Fiber:	0	0
Fat:	10.78g	13.23g
Saturated Fat:	2.78g	5.02g

This nutritional analysis is based on a ¼ lb of each meat cooked.

Not too much difference in the calories, however turkey is a little lower.

But, look at the fat!!

The beef is higher in both total fat and saturated fat.

Plus, the turkey has more protein.

So, beef loses on all three nutritional components.

After looking at the food facts, but more importantly, tasting the product, I’ll be eating turkey burgers much more frequently, because

After all, it’s about a healthy lifestyle!

Photo courtesy of WayTru

Tags: beef, calories, fat, food, grill, protein, turkey

Comment by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H. on October 3, 2008 at 12:50pm: All the burgers I eat are turkey or gardenburger types. I lot of restaurants have delicious bean burgers, some better than others

Comment by Susana on October 3, 2008 at 1:55pm: Great picture Lisa! But I will replace the turkey (poor guy!) burger for any meatless one.

Some commercial ones are very high in sodium so I have to be very careful... I make them from scratch as well.

James, the problem about eating a gardenburger,bean burger or any other one at a restaurant is that they use the same grill where they cook meat. So I eat them at home :)

Comment by Joe S on October 3, 2008 at 4:45pm: You can actually do better than that. I eat Jennie-0's turkey burger that is "Extra Lean" For 112 grams (I think thats 1/4 lb) heres what you can get: 120 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and 26 grams of protein. So that definetly blows away ground beef. Its going to be a little more dry than both of those choices mentioned above but you they can't compete with the numbers.

Comment by Mike Foster on October 4, 2008 at 2:00am: I'll tell ya, being a vegetarian, I find I miss a nice, juicy burger more than anything...soy burger? Veggie burger? Mushroom burger? I guess I'll have some veggie lasagna or a slice of pizza...but I wouldn't mind discovering a good veggie burger...any suggestions?

peace,
mike
livelife365

Comment by Mark Salinas on October 4, 2008 at 8:36am: My wife started sneaking the Turkey burger in a few years ago. The kids and I objected until we realized how tasty they really are. Nice post!

Comment by Susana on October 4, 2008 at 10:43am: Mike, Trader Joe's has a good variety of veggie burgers. There should be one store where you live. I like the tomato-basil one. It smells and tastes delicious! Of course I have tried Gardenburger, Morningstar Farms, and Boca Burger along other ones... even Indian burger :)

Comment by Robin Plan - Whole Food And More on October 4, 2008 at 5:06pm: Interesting post - I can only assume you are talking about feedlot grain fed beef.
I do not eat any grain-fed meat after following reseach from experts like www.eatwild.com
More here,
Yet another study shows that grass-fed meat is nutritionally superior to feedlot meat. This newest study examined the differences in fat content between four breeds of cattle that were either 1) raised on pasture or 2) given grain and other feedstuff in a feedlot.

As in previous research, the results showed that meat from cattle raised on pasture had much healthier fats. The researchers concluded that grass-fed meat is “clearly superior” and “remarkably beneficial.” They stated that grass-fed meat “should be promoted as an important part of a healthy balanced diet.” Read the study summary.

For all the meat eaters - do your health and the animals a huge favor and support Grass-Fed!!!
Please...
Robin

(Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, June 2008, 56:4775-4782.)