Which foods should you eat with the skin on, and with which foods should you remove the skin before eating them? The answer to this question definitely varies depending on what you are eating, so I will break it down into 3 categories;

1/ Fruits and Vegetables

As a rule, a lot of the goodness in fruits and vegetables is in the skin. (Obviously i’m just talking about soft skin fruits such as apples and pears, i’m not suggesting you eat the skin on a melon or kiwi!) So you miss out on a lot of the vitamins, minerals, fibre, etc if you don’t eat the skin.

That being said the skin is the part of the fruit that is most exposed to any pesticides and chemicals that are used on them. So where possible buy organic to avoid this, but if not at least make sure they get a really good wash.

2/ Meat

Skin from meat such as chicken or turkey is very high in fat, and therefore also high in calories. Not just fat, it’s saturated fat that is very bad for your health. And on top of this there is no nutritional value to the skin, i.e. no nutrients that your body can use. So from a health and weight management perspective, meat skin is a definite no-no.

3/ Fish

Skin on fish is perhaps the most controversial area. Firstly, as with fruits and vegetables, there is a lot of goodness in the skin. Particularly in oily fish such as salmon and mackerel. A lot of the omega 3′s are in or just underneath the skin.

However a lot of the fat is also in or just underneath the skin, which means eating it will increase the calorific value of your meal.

So if you are trying to cut calories and lose weight I would keep the skin off. If you are trying to be as healthy as possible and  boost your intake of omega 3′s I would leave ther skin on.

Today’s Takeaway – As you can see some ‘skins’ are good for you and some aren’t. Be sure to make the right choices are eating/not eating the skin can make a big difference to you intake of nutrients and calorific intake.