One Month Of Turkey

Last month I ate turkey twice a week as part of a nutrition make over challenge with British Turkey. It was a really easy change to make, it took a little planning but I managed to eat turkey for dinner twice a week for the whole month and it wasn't a chore at all, I discovered some great new recipes and really enjoyed all of the meals. More surprisingly, I felt less sluggish and more alert later in the day when I was previously having a mid afternoon slump.

Did you catch all the posts?
Week One-Fragrant Turkey Pho and roast turkey dinner
Week Two- Turkey Critters and turkey fajitas
Week Three - Parmesan crusted turkey with Peppadew relish
Week Four- Turkey with hot mushroom sauce and turkey Curry
Week Five - Turkey stir fry and Fajitas

My makeover with nutritionist Azmina didn't just add turkey to my diet but I made other changes too. We haven't had dessert every night and when I do have something sweet I have a smaller portion. If I'm cooking it myself I've also looked at ways to reduce the sugar. One useful tip that I  picked up at a Christmas Cake class over the weekend was that you can substitute sugar in a Christmas Cake recipe for the same amount (in weight) of dates and take advantage of their natural sugars.
As part of the nutritional makeover I swapped sugary breakfast cereal for porridge but that's the only thing I cut out everything else was just tweaking what I was already eating.

Today, I had a follow up call with Azmina and she was so enthusiastic about how I had embraced the changes that I almost swore off cake forever. If you were following my Great British Bake Off Bake Along series you will know I ate a lot of cake, no wonder I was sluggish. I'm not giving up cake, Azmina had lot's of useful tips on ways to still eat what you enjoy but I am much more aware of what I do eat.

This week the headlines have been filled with news about meat (red meat in particular) causing diabetes and calls for us to reduce the amount of meat we eat. I took the opportunity of the follow up call to ask Azmina about this. Sensibly she is all about moderation, she agrees we shouldn't eat meat every day and added that we can get protein from other sources like peanuts or soya. When we are eating meat turkey is a good option because it's so lean. As a guide she recommends a portion of meat should be about the size of the palm of your hand and as thick as your little finger.

Using the British Turkey recipe index to find turkey dishes to cook for the challenge led to me finding this amazingly simple turkey pho. It's already become a regular on our dinner table. Going forward I'll be continuing to enjoy regular turkey meals and I'll certainly be continuing to apply Azmina's advice to my diet. For more tips you can follow Azmina on Twitter and facebook.


*This is a sponsored post for British Turkey, all opinions are my own