Nutrition

While both are nutritious and excellent choices for healthy lifestyles, turkey is usually considered the most nutritious type of poultry.  A full nutritional profile of chicken and turkey can be found here.

In regards to your question about our frozen chicken breasts, the ingredients are: salt, flavour, corn syrup solids and sodium phosphates. Our product does not contain any gluten.

The answer is no. We don't infuse our fresh chicken and/or turkey with any solution. A good way to know if there is sodium and or phosphates, is by reading the Nutrition Facts Table where you can review both the protein level and the sodium level.

Granny's whole turkeys are gluten free.

Thank you for your question.  Many parents are concerned with their child or children being at a higher than ideal weight. Many lifestyle factors impact on our weight and/or body size including the food choices we make, our level of physical activity and our genetic background.

Suggestions to help your daughter achieve a healthier weight include:

• Follow Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide - Available on Health Canada’s Website.  This provides parents with an excellent nutritional guideline for their children. It's also an easy way to one way to ensure your daughter consumes healthy portion sizes for her age and meets the daily-recommended intake of key micronutrients.

• Involve your daughter in food selection - Children are more likely to eat things they select. Involving children in the selection process is a way to discourage unhealthy meal and snack choices.

• Stay away from fast food - Fast food has little nutritional value, and can be dangerously high in fat. Do your best to avoid fast food, and certainly do not allow it to become a staple in your daughter’s diet.

• Limit sugary snacks - Many snacks available to children after school and in lunches are extremely high in sugar and can have a profound impact on weight gain. Offer your healthy snacks such as fresh fruit, raw cut up vegetables, raisins, yogurt, nuts or low-fat cheese instead.

• Include plenty of low-calorie fruits and vegetables in the diet – Make your daughter’s plate as colourful as possible by including a variety of fresh cut up or steamed vegetables and/or salads.  Provide whole fruit for dessert.  These foods are tasty, high in nutrients and low in calories.

• Provide lean sources of protein – Ensure that your daughter’s diet includes lean sources of protein to help her feel full and satisfied at meal times.  Protein also helps promote healthy growth and development of lean body mass (muscle).  Excellent choices include skinless chicken or turkey breast, lean beef, pork or fish.  A healthy portion size should be the size of the palm of her hand and the thickness of her hand.  Other good sources of protein include: eggs, legumes, lower-fat cheese and small potions of nuts or seeds.

• Incorporate daily physical activity - Make a family walks part of your daily routine year round.  Register your daughter for dance or swimming lesions, or some other type of regular activity that she would enjoy.
• Seek the advice of your physician - Ensure that your daughter has a regular, annual medical exam with a family doctor or a paediatrician to rule our any underlying medical condition that could be resulting in your daughter’s higher than ideal body weight.

Granny's chicken is corn free.

Here are a few recipes that come to mind.

http://www.grannys.ca/recipe/cheesy-chicken-fingers

http://www.grannys.ca/recipe/chicken-quesadillas

(You can use plain cooked chicken breast for this instead of marinated, grilled chicken)

http://www.grannys.ca/recipe/turkey-spaghetti-sauce

(This sauce can be made in advance and frozen in small portions)

You could also try our new Breaded Turkey Breast Strips now available in Federated Co-op stores and many independent grocery stores.

Each individual requires a different number of calories each day to stay healthy.  Calorie requirements depend on your height, weight and gender, as well as if you are trying to maintain your current weight or achieve weight loss.  Health Canada recommends that an average Canadian woman consume approximately 1800 calories per day.  One of the best ways to obtain the calories and nutrients you need is to follow Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide (available on Health Canada’s Website) and eat the recommended number of servings from each of the four food groups.  Another simple way to roughly estimate your personal calorie needs for weight maintenance is to multiply your body weight in kilograms by 30 (e.g., 60.0 kg x 30 = 1800 calories).

Keep enjoying your protein shakes.  They are a quick, convenient option that helps you to increase your intake of disease fighting fruits, essential fatty acids and protein for maintaining lean body mass.  Current research indicates that many women do not get enough protein to optimally maintain their lean body mass.  In addition to consuming protein through your shakes, consider other lean sources of protein in your diet such a poultry (chicken and turkey), fish, lean beef and dairy products such as cheese, milk and yogurt.  You should aim to have three protein servings per day.  Use the palm and thickness of our hand to gauge a healthy serving size from the meat and alternatives group from Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide (available on Health Canada’s Website).

Chicken and other poultry such as turkey are excellent sources of protein and many other important nutrients such as B-vitamin, zinc and iron –all important for maintaining optimal health.  Poultry counts as a Meat and Alternatives choice from Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide (available on Health Canada’s website).  The food guide recommends that adults consume between two and three meat and alternative servings each day.  Please feel confident that consuming chicken daily is a healthy low-fat, high protein, versatile option.  Also consider enjoying a variety of other protein options such as eggs, fish and low-fat dairy products.  Remember the more varied your diet is the healthier it is.  Take a look at the entire Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide to provide yourself with an action plan for healthy eating, and for giving you ideas for selecting a variety of nutritious food choices.

Based on 1 serving from Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide for Meat and Alternatives (75 gram cooked portion) of each white turkey meat and dark turkey the following is their calcium and cholesterol content according the Health Canada’s Canadian Nutrient File, 2009:

75 gram cooked portion or 1 Food Guide Serving               Cholesterol         Calcium

Dark Turkey Meat (no skin)                                                 99 mg                    8 mg

Dark Turkey meat (with skin)                                              99 mg                    8 mg

White Turkey Meat (no skin)                                               76 mg                    6 mg

White Turkey Meat (with skin)                                            81 mg                    6 mg

According to Health Canada’s Canadian Nutrient File Database, 2009 ground turkey is a little leaner than ground chicken.

Based on 1 serving (75 grams cooked poultry) from the Meat and Alternatives group from Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide:  Cooked ground turkey contains:  6.5 grams of total fat, (for a 75 gram cooked portion) and ground chicken contains 9.3 grams of total fat (for a 75 gram cooked portion).

We will be producing flocks of Ginseng Chickens rather than Turkeys and they will have the same calorie content as our regular ones.

The gluten in the feed eaten by our birds does not transfer into the meat and therefore would not be transferred to you.

Thank you for your excellent question.  Granny’s poultry (both chicken and turkey) are naturally low in sodium (or salt), however it is important that when preparing fresh, unseasoned poultry,  you do not add a lot of salt or seasoning salt to the poultry as this will significantly increase the sodium content.  Based on 1 serving from Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide for Meat and Alternatives (a 75 gram cooked portion) of turkey breast contains: 32 mg of sodium and chicken breast contains:  38 mg of sodium, based on Health Canada’s Canadian Nutrient File, 2009.

Additional nutrition tips for reducing the sodium content of your diet include:

• Eliminate salt from food preparation.
• Do not consume more than 2300 mg of sodium per day (according to Health Canada) –this is equal to approximately 1 teaspoon of table salt.
• Check the sodium content of packaged foods, snacks foods and condiments including ketchup, prepared mustard, soy sauce, chutneys, barbecue sauce, pickles, olives, bouillon cubes, salad dressings, deli meats, hot dog wieners, cheese, cheese spreads, frozen entrees and pizza, canned soup, canned fish, salted nuts, salted crackers, chips, popcorn.
• Choose fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned.
• Read the Nutrition Facts panel on food packages for sodium and to look for the words “sodium” or “salt” in ingredient lists. 
• Seek out products that are labelled salt-free, no added salt, low in sodium, or sodium reduced. 
• Limit how often you eat in restaurants. 
• Reduce fast foods and take-out meals.
• Enjoy unsalted snack foods such as chips, pretzels, nuts and crackers.
• Flavour food with lemon juice, fresh garlic, spices and herbs.
• Choose unprocessed, fresh foods because they are naturally low in sodium.

Using a soft-tub non-hydrogenated margarine such as Becel is a healthy choice.  It is made from a natural blend of wholesome vegetables oils, such as canola, sunflower and/or olive oil (it does not contain plastic).  These types of oils provide essential fats that our bodies need, and can actually help lower blood cholesterol levels.  Butter naturally contains higher amounts of saturated fat than margarine.  Saturated fat can raise blood cholesterol levels and therefore, it is best to avoid saturated fat whenever possible.  Studies show that switching from butter to a soft, non-hydrogenated margarine can help lower cholesterol levels, and reduce the risk of heart disease.  The 2002 Dietary Reference Intakes from the Institute of Medicine suggest using soft, non-hydrogenated margarine in placer of butter.

One of the best ways to determine the recommended number of servings of poultry to provide your sons with each week is to follow Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide (available on Health Canada’s Website) and provide them with the recommended number of servings from each of the four food groups.  Poultry counts as a serving from the Meat and Alternatives group.  Use the food guide by finding your sons age category.  For meat and alternatives it indicates that children ages 4-8 years of age require 1 serving per day (up to 7 servings per week) and children ages 9-13 years of age require 1-2 servings per day (up to 14 servings per week).  Poultry is a very healthy, lean, high protein choice from the meat and alternatives group.  Other good choices from this group include fish, eggs, legumes, nuts, beef and pork.  A serving is 75 grams, or 2.5 oz of cooked food portion.

Overall, yogurt is a healthy choice from the Milk and Alternatives group from Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide.  Yogurt is a calcium rich food choice that aids with helping us maintain strong bones.  Some yogurts even have the added health benefit of containing vitamin D and health promoting bacteria called probiotics to improve digestive health.  I usually try and select yogurts that contain 10 grams of sugar or less per 100 gram portion, so your choice comes very close to the 10 gram mark.  A general recommendation for selecting healthy yogurt options and other options for sweet foods is to choose products that have 10% sugar or less per food serving.  Something to keep in mind with yogurt is that it will always contain some sugar because it is made from milk, and milk naturally contains a type of sugar called lactose.  One of the best ways to obtain a yogurt with the lowest amount of sugar is to select a product that contains no added sugar. 

Using a pastry brush to coat the outside skin of your turkey does not add a significant amount of fat or calories to your turkey dinner.  Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fat, a heart healthy variety of fat, and therefore in small amounts is considered part of a heart healthy diet.

General food safety guidelines for storing cooked turkey:  cooked turkey and cold cuts can be stored in a covered container, plastic bag or aluminum foil for up to 4 days in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer.  After cooking turkey it is important to keep it hot, above 140°F (60°C) or at refrigerator temperature, below 40°F (4°C).  It is important not to leave turkey at room temperature for more than two hours.

Both chicken and turkey are super healthy options from the Meat and Alternatives group from Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide.  Both provide excellent sources of protein for tissue healing, repair and muscle building; and have many other beneficial nutritional properties such as being good dietary sources of iron for healthy red blood cells, zinc for immune function and contain several B- vitamins important for helping our body use energy effectively.  Some subtle nutritional differences when comparing 100 grams of cooked turkey breast to 100 grams of cooked chicken breast include:

Turkey contains: 135 calories, only 1 gram of fat and 1.5 grams of iron

Chicken contains:  147 calories, 2 grams of fat and 1.1 grams of iron

According to Health Canada it is important that we limit our intake of sodium to not more than 2300 mg per day.  Both chicken and turkey are naturally low in sodium and make excellent meat or protein options.  Other good protein choices that are low in sodium include:  eggs, unsalted nuts, poached or baked fish (not smoked or canned), legumes (prepared from dried, not canned varieties), unsalted cottage cheese, yogurt, and beef or pork, as long as salt is not added in the preparation or cooking process.  Protein rich food choices that should be avoided or consumed only occasionally when following a reduced-sodium diet include:  processed deli meats (e.g., bologna, salami), smoked meats (e.g., ham, bacon) and canned fish (e.g., salmon, tuna, sardines), also be careful of the sodium content of dried meats such as beef jerky, dried pepperoni sticks, canned legumes, and cheese, as these all tend to contain significant amounts of sodium. 

My wife is also on a gluten free diet. If you have a favourite gluten free bread you can substitute it in a tradition stuffing recipe. I find that bread made with brown rice flour works best.

Here are a couple of my stuffing recipes in case you would like to try one:

http://www.grannys.ca/recipe/traditional-turkey-stuffing

http://www.grannys.ca/recipe/fennel-saskatoon-berry-turkey-stuffing

Both white (breast) and dark meat from chicken and turkey are healthy, protein rich choices, from the Meat and Alternatives group from Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide.  Based on the Canadian Nutrient File, 2010 data the following is a comparison of some of the nutritional attributes of chicken and turkey.

Comparing 100 grams of cooked turkey breast to 100 grams of cooked chicken breast:  Skinless turkey breast contains: 135 calories, only 1 gram of fat and 1.5 grams of iron.  Skinless chicken breast contains:  147 calories, 2 grams of fat and 1.1 grams of iron. 

Comparing 100 grams of cooked turkey dark meat to 100 grams of cooked chicken dark meat:

Skinless dark turkey breast contains: 190 calories, 6 gram of fat and 1.7 grams of iron.  Skinless dark chicken meat contains:  205 calories, 10 grams of fat and 1.3 grams of iron.

Keep in mind that all varieties of poultry (white and dark, chicken or turkey) are excellent sources of protein for tissue healing, repair and muscle building and have many other beneficial nutritional properties such as being good dietary sources of zinc for immune function and contain several B- vitamins important for helping our body use energy effectively. 

Special considerations:  If you are needing to watch your caloric intake white turkey breast would be the best option for you because it is the lowest in calories.  Also if you are needing to watch your intake of fat to manage your blood cholesterol again skinless turkey breast has the lowest fat content.  However, if you require additional calories or need to focus on increasing you intake of highly usable iron (heme iron) than the dark varieties of chicken and turkey are your best choices.

Thanks for your question. Here is my recommendation.

• Follow Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide instead of counting calories - Available on Health Canada’s Website.  This provides parents with an excellent nutritional guideline for their children. It's also an easy way to one way to ensure your daughter consumes healthy portion sizes for her age and meets the daily-recommended intake of key micronutrients.  This is a much easier method for than attempting the time consuming task of calorie counting. 
• Calories –The number of calories we need each day is highly variable depending on our size and activity level and whether or not we are in a period of rapid growth.
• Involve your daughter in food selection - Children are more likely to eat things they select. Involving children in the selection process is a way to discourage unhealthy meal and snack choices.
• Stay away from fast food - Fast food has little nutritional value, and can be dangerously high in fat. Do your best to avoid fast food, and certainly do not allow it to become a staple in your daughter’s diet.
• Eliminate the competition by limit sugary snacks - Many snacks available to children after school and in lunches are extremely high in sugar and can have a profound impact on weight gain. Make available and  offer your healthy snacks such as fresh fruit, raw cut up vegetables, sliced or cubed roast chicken or turkey breast, yogurt or low-fat cheese instead.
• Include plenty of low-calorie fruits and vegetables in the diet – Make your daughter’s plate as colourful as possible by including a variety of fresh cut up or steamed vegetables and/or salads.  Provide whole fruit for dessert.  These foods are tasty, high in nutrients and low in calories.
• Provide lean sources of protein – Ensure that your daughter’s diet includes lean sources of protein to help her feel full and satisfied at meal times.  Protein also helps promote healthy growth and development of lean body mass (muscle).  Excellent choices include skinless chicken or turkey breast, lean beef, pork or fish.  A healthy portion size should be the size of the palm of her hand and the thickness of her hand.  Other good sources of protein include: eggs, legumes, lower-fat cheese and small portions of nuts or seeds.
• Incorporate daily physical activity - Make a family walks part of your daily routine year round.  Register your daughter for dance or swimming lesions, or some other type of regular activity that she would enjoy.
• Seek the advice of your physician - Ensure that your daughter has a regular, annual medical exam with a family doctor or a pediatrician to rule out any underlying medical condition that could be resulting in your daughter’s desire to overeat.

Your liver plays many important functions in your body.  An overall healthy lifestyle can help you feel your best and help your body cope with liver damage.  However, it is very important that you seek the advice of your physician and obtain a personalized nutrition and plan from a dietitian that specializes in liver disorders and can assess your full medical history.

Some of the following general healthy eating recommendations may help your liver renew itself.

• Follow Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide (available on Health Canada’s Website) to select a variety of healthy foods from all four food groups.
• Consume plenty of vegetables and fruit and grain products.
• Eat at least 2 servings from the Meat & Alternatives food group (such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, peanut butter, and cooked legumes (e.g. dried beans, peas and lentils).
• Focus on lower fat choices within each food group.
• Drink 6 to 8 glasses of fluids every day.
• Keep your energy level up by eating smaller meals and snacks more often.
• Avoid alcohol.
• Enjoy light to moderate physical activity, such as walking,  gardening and stretching.
• Avoid food poisoning by storing and preparing foods safely. Wash your hands often.

You should definitely seek the individualized in-person advice of a dietitian if you have:

• Complications related to advanced liver disease, such as cirrhosis or fluid retention
• Another medical condition, such as diabetes or HIV
• A problem with weight loss or weight gain
• Diarrhea for more than 3 days

 (Information adapted from Dietitians of Canada)

Smart cooking ideas for managing diabetes include making a few simple changes to some of your favourite recipes.  Give your recipes a makeover by modifying the fat, fibre, sodium and carbohydrate content. Also try some new healthy poultry recipes by visiting the recipe section of www.grannys.ca

Try making some of these simple changes to your favourite recipes to make them healthier:

Reduce carbohydrate (sugar):

• Use less sugar, honey, syrup or chocolate chips in a recipe • Use a sugar substitute • Make the portions smaller by getting a larger yield per recipe (e.g., make 15 muffins instead of 12) • Eliminate frosting, glazes or other toppings from baked goods.

Reduce fat:

• Fry less often – bake, braise, broil, grill, poach or steam instead • Reduce the amount of nuts in the recipe to decrease fat and calories • Roast poultry and meats on a rack so that the fat drips through, and opt for skinless turkey and chicken.
• Remove the fat that accumulates on the top of soups, stews and chilli • When baking, decrease the amount of fat like margarine and sour cream added to the recipe.

Reduce sodium:

• Rinse canned beans, lentils or vegetables before adding to a recipe • Use less condiments, e.g., ketchup, mustard, pickles, season salt.

(Some suggestions adapted from the Canadian Diabetes Association)

Seeds can be a difficult part of berries to digest for many individuals; especially if you are experiencing digestive difficulties such as irritable bowel syndrome or diverticulitis.  Berries are noted as being super healthy choices because they contain high amounts of plant based compounds called antioxidants.  These are natural disease fighting compounds that protect healthy cell in our body.

However, there are still several dietary options for consuming antioxidant rich foods, to achieve the disease fighting potential berries offer.  Consider consuming small amount of antioxidant rich berry juices on a daily basis, such as 2 oz. (60 ml) serving of a pomegranate-blueberry type juice.  Look for juice that states on the label that it is 100% pure juice with no added sugar and not from concentrate to obtain maximum antioxidant benefits. 

Keep in mind that other fruits and vegetables without seeds are also excellent sources of nutrients and disease fighting antioxidants such as cherries, melons, mangoes, peaches, nectarines and apricots, and dark coloured vegetable also have a lot of disease fighting potential as well.  A great nutrition “rule of thumb” is to make your diet as colourful as possible. 

Part of a heart healthy diet is minimizing your intake of dietary cholesterol.  However, consuming lean sources of high quality proteins is also an equally important component of a healthy diet.  Chicken is considered one of the healthiest sources of lean, high quality protein in the diet, aiding in maintaining lean body mass.  All animal-based foods, including poultry will naturally contain cholesterol.  A 100 gram portion of ginseng-fed chicken only contains 75 mg, a minimal amount of cholesterol in comparison to other high quality animal-based sources of protein such as beef, pork or shrimp.  In comparison, 100 grams cooked of each: beef roast = 95 mg of cholesterol, pork roast = 94 mg cholesterol and shrimp = 195 mg cholesterol.

Another important consideration to keep in mind is dietary cholesterol does not have a strong correlation to blood cholesterol.  In fact, consuming saturated and trans fats in the diet have a stronger impact on increasing blood cholesterol levels.  These fats are used as building blocks by the liver to manufacture blood cholesterol.  You can lower your cholesterol by reducing your intake of these fats.  Check the Nutrition Facts on packaged foods to help you limit saturated and trans fats. Opt for foods with heart healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats including vegetable oils such as canola oil.