Dark Meat vs White Meat: What's the Difference?

Good post. I am having the hardest time convincing this girl that my 4% extra lean ground beef patty is not worse than her ground turkey patty (not ground turkey breast, mind you-- the cheaper 15% fat stuff) because she has white meat good red bad so fully engrained. Yech.

I personally think that the "dangers" of saturated fat are blown out of proportion. The additives and preservatives added to already overly-processed food (not to mention HFCS, copious amounts of soybean oil, and trans fats) are much higher on my list of concerns. Would I live solely on cheese and drumsticks? Of course not. But dark meat chicken has more nutrients, is juicier AND tastes better (to me), so when I'm eating straight chicken, I'll choose the dark meat. White meat works better for chicken salads (of which I eat a lot). It's all about balance.

I hate ground turkey. Won't eat it. Blah. Much prefer ground beef, preferably sirloin.

I've never liked dark meat. Even as a kid, I wanted the breast. I still only really eat breast and wing. The only time I can eat dark meat is if the sauce overpowers the taste of the meat, like Bourbon sauce or a strong Teriyaki. Interestingly, my mom and dad and elder sis and brother are dark meat eaters. But my middle sis and I have a sensitivity to the flavor of dark meat. We gag. Actually gag to a plain bit of dark poultry. I have no idea why that is, cause the example we got from home was that dark was BETTER...moister. Maybe it is all the extra nutrients somehow giving it a flavor that we're sensitive to? I also sometimes gag at steak, and definitely often gag at turkey, especially reheated turkey and chicken.

My hubby, who is a supertaster, can't abide dark meat either. So, we just buy chicken breats here. Not for the diet purposes. Just for taste preferences.

The Princess

I think dark chicken got a bad rep when we were children. I could eat a drumstick but the thigh was a difficult piece to eat.
I think the ease of eating and appearance had more to do with it.

It's good to know dark meat contains all those nutrients, but I eat it because it just tastes better.

It is hard to believe how much dark meat fat there is compared to light meat. When always eating turkey white meat is the healthiest choice by far. Eating leaner and less fat content meats and proteins will aid in your decreasing of calories more than most people think. Choosing light meat is always the smart way to go.

I don't eat meat now, but when I was a kid, I LOOOOVED dark meat. As I got older, however, the strong taste started to get to me, and I'd gag when biting into something like a chicken thigh. I had to switched to white meat for reasons of taste even though I'd always loved dark meat.

I love the darker meat poultry but my husband does not. So I cook a whole chicken and he gets the breast meat and I eat the succulent dark meats. I am also more overweight than he is. :(

I am sorry, but turkey can be as bad as a fatty steak or worse. According to the Department of Agriculture, a (Beef, ground, 90% lean meat / 10% fat, raw) compared to (Poultry food products, ground turkey, raw) are almost identical in calories, beef being a bit higher, but turkey has more cholesterol & sodium.

As a matter of fact, there is even leaner (95%/5%) ground beef, which is definitely healthier.

Beef also beats turkey when it comes to essential amino acids and vitamins.

nutritiondata.com is a simple place to compare the two.

top weight loss site said:
It is hard to believe how much dark meat fat there is compared to light meat. When always eating turkey white meat is the healthiest choice by far. Eating leaner and less fat content meats and proteins will aid in your decreasing of calories more than most people think. Choosing light meat is always the smart way to go.[...]

Great article. I love it when people say I'm on a diet and they avoid eating the dark meat or lean beef. Sometimes I wonder where they get this stuff.

Why the gratuitous slam on organic milk at the end?

By the way, folks, dietary fat is good for you. Have you read Good Calories, Bad Calories yet?

I eat either skinless breasts or thighs, depending on what's on sale. They aren't that different in calorie content, but I do think the thighs taste a little better. It's the skin that'll do you in on poultry. Just take the skin off and most poultry meat is pretty identical. As for beef, I rarely eat it, but when I do, I like mine VERY lean and I don't eat a lot of it.

And THANK YOU for backing me up on my ground turkey debate! My husband INSISTS that ground turkey is "healthier" than ground beef because it's turkey. But it's 15% fat, whereas the ground sirloin I buy is something like 7% fat or less.

weasel! said:
Why the gratuitous slam on organic milk at the end?[...]

It is actually a slam on the organic milk farm industry (a la Vander Eyk, Aurora Organic Dairy), and it is an inside joke for ... well, me on the organic industry.

Don't ever forget - it is an industry.

Good post here. Choosing dark meat is better than white meat. Dark meat do always taste better besides the nutritional content.

I still think white tastes better anyhow, heh.
I would also take a bowl of "cereal twigs" over a wood-chipped (??) steak. Only I don't like cow's milk, organic or otherwise.

Confusion still abounds in me over the "cereal twigs and organic milk" comment, however.
Organic milk is an industry, yes.

So is meat.

I will go into the cereal twigs and organic milk, again despite my concern the primary point will be lost int he background noise.

We have heard horror stories on the meat industry for decades. We are aware of the serious concerns.

The organic milk industry concerns, and I think to the whole organic industry concerns, are blows to a shiny new armor.

Most people presume organic to be healthy, and expect (rightfully so) to be organic.

Cereal twig to steak, as quiche to steak, but quiches are rarely mentioned nowadays in the food/diet/health news.

Next time I will come up with a more apt corny parallel.

Saturated fats are essential, healthy nutrients:

Dr. Enig also states that saturated fats are needed for the production of hormones, the stabilization of cellular membranes, the padding around organs, and for energy. Biochemical signalling processes involving G-protein, and other, receptors make extensive use of the lauric, myristic and palmitic fatty acids, since the receptors must be "coupled with lipids in order to provide localization of function", etc.

And, contrary to uneducated opinion:

Various studies have found that women who had regularly consumed the greatest amounts of saturated fats had the least amount of additional atherosclerotic plaque buildup in their arteries. Also, women who ate more saturated fat had a healthier balance of HDL and LDL cholesterol, and more desirable blood serum concentrations of triglycerides and free fatty acids.

This is just all from the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturated_fat#Controversy

Basically, avoid saturated fats if you don't like to have healthy hormonal levels, or strong cell membranes. But listen to the "government" if you want to do what's best for Big Ag's bottom line (suck grains).

Just about any diet will advise white meat over dark meat. Always the skinless chicken breast over the leg. Always turkey over the steak. Can you blame people for avoiding dark meat? It's been drilled and drilled that it is more fatty, more caloric, and it will clog the arteries faster than Elmer's Glue.

I'm so sick and tired of trying to figure out what is "good" and what is "bad". If you listen to the latest "news", you'll end up not eating anything. Either it will kill you because the nutritionals are bad or because it is contaminated with e coli. Sigh...

Ground beef is only bad when you add it to a box of Hamberger Helper. But dam it is good. Stay away from the processed stuff and its all good.

I'm a dark meat kinda girl; I generally find turkey and chicken breast to be on the dry side (though I roasted my Thanksgiving turkey breast-side DOWN yesterday, and it was nice and moist) and just eat what I like rather than what I "should" be eating.

Christine said:
though I roasted my Thanksgiving turkey breast-side DOWN yesterday, and it was nice and moist

Yeah, I roast a chicken a week, breast-side down, and it's still too dry.

So then I drizzle the drippings on it (a combination of chicken fat and stock), to get in some more flavor and savory-chickenness.

And of course, I eat the skin too. I also craft the bones into fishhooks and sewing needles.

Just kidding on that last one.

High saturated fat diets work wonderfully to me. More performance in the gym, lower blood pressure, better sense of well-being, etc. Wouldn't trade it for anything. Eat the white meat if you like retinol deficiency.

i just have to say i love how the community helps me understand things more. thx guys.

Uh, so you're recommending we eat sub-prime beef because of its lower fat content? Anyone who knows anything about food will realise that fat marbling is an indicator of flavour and quality in beef, which is why the "Prime" grade has more. Maybe it's because I'm European but I'll always go for a small well-marbled, well-hung steak over a big slab of poorer quality meat. Most Americans simply over-consume and a better way to "get healthy, get fit and live happy" would be to learn to appreciate quality more than quantity.

Brit said:
Uh, so you're recommending we eat sub-prime beef because of its lower fat content? Anyone who knows anything about food will realise that fat marbling is an indicator of flavour and quality in beef, which is why the "Prime" grade has more. Maybe it's because I'm European but I'll always go for a small well-marbled, well-hung steak over a big slab[...]

Well, don't forget that most people in America are eating corn-fattened beef. Yeah, that's right - we feed our cows an unnatural diet of corn and soy, rather than allowing them the grass and hay to which they have adapted and feel best eating upon.

So maybe it's good for most Americans to avoid beef fat, and the associated omega-6 superfluousness. However, savvy folk like myself find grass-fed beef, even in the land of the stupid, and chew the fat like a good 'ole boy.

You can't beat that for real health. And good taste.

Thank you so much for this post. I agree the the dangers of dark meat have been blown way out of proportion. My Chinese family never understood the American obsession with white meat! Everything in moderation, eat a little of both and get the best of both worlds. Just don't gorge yourself.

I appreciate that this article sheds light on the fact that the benefits of eating only white meat aren't clear cut black and white!

I allow myself to eat pretty much anything. I just eat smaller amounts of the high calorie foods. And if I accidentally overeat I don't beat myself up over it, I just spend a little more time at the gym and maybe eat a little less the next day :)

Regardless of what this post says, I have a very hard time believing this spin that dark meat is healthier than white meat.

This is good info. I tell you lean ground beef is great for the body. Oxygenating your blood is wonderful for producing new blood cells and helps your body in motion. White meat is good, but you need less for sure. Ultimately, you only need 3-4 servings of any meat per week. Processed meats are okay, but real shaved deli meats are better. Those natural meats are even better!!!

Hahahaha, It makes me laugh how the media tries to make you believe saturated fat is bad for you.
Carbs, and other, things are usually the culperate of bad health. People should look into information provided by Paul Chek, and Sean Croxton at Underground Wellness.com
We evolved on saturated fat. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for meat. And why would the creater of the earth (who ever, what ever, you think that is) put bad things in our food for us to become ill from!?
It's like cholesterol, our liver makes around 75% of our cholesterol - why would our body do this if it was bad for us, it WOULDN'T! There is no such thing as good and bad cholesterol, cholesterol is cholesterol. It's oxidized cholesterol that causes problems. Cholesterol is our natural anti inflammatory amongst other important things. We need it for hormones and it is what our brains are made of etc.
But back on the subject of fat, our hormones need this too. People are made to believe if you eat fat you get fat. It isn't true. You should look at how most people eat far too many carbs.
Comercially farmed animals are fed that much rubbish (including sawdust, plastic etc) and given drugs, animals put fat on to protect it's organs from the toxins put into its body. If you ate organic, grass fed and free range meats there would be no problem with dark/red meats. The problem is with animals that are farmed wrong for quick profits! People, you can research and find much nonsense that you could end up believing if you know nothing of the subject. Learn the truth through good places like youtube.com and type in Paul Chek or Sean Croxton Undergound wellness.

People check this link out:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zUSEbEB7z3k

It is full of correct information, if how carbs, sugars and a low fat diet will cause diabetes, obesity, inflamation and heart disease!

whats d basic difference btwn white and red meats? is mutton red or white? Joey. San Francisco