Healthy BBQ
It is that time of year — tis the season for barbecues!! Although barbeques are great for the whole family, BBQ foods can be high in saturated fat, low in fiber and packed with calories. If you are trying to maintain your shape or lose a few pounds for bikini season, don’t fret, there are so many healthy and delicious foods to substitute.
1) Simply grill it: With barbeques comes barbeque sauce. One tablespoon of sweet barbeque sauce has 20 calories, 4 carbohydrates and no fiber. Although this doesn’t seem like a lot of calories, who only uses 1 tablespoon of BBQ sauce? Eliminating sauces can be an easy way to cut calories.
2) Choose lean protein: Lean meats, such as, chicken, fish, turkey, and sirloin provides less calories, saturated fat and cholesterol than high fat meats, such as dark meats, hot dogs, and full fat hamburger meat. One ounce of lean protein has 45-65 less calories and 5-8 grams less fat than high fat meat. Opt for chicken or shrimp skewers but if your hamburger craving is a must, choose USDA Select or Choice grades of lean beef trimmed of fat, such as ground sirloin.
You would be surprised to learn that dark meat chicken with skin contains more calories and fat than a hot dog and hamburger:
BBQ chicken (2 pieces) 390 calories, 20 grams of fat
Hot dog contains 260 calories, 17 grams of fat
Hamburger contains 245 calories, 10 grams of fat
3) Choose whole grain buns: Whole grain products have more fiber than white bread. Remember fiber is the indigestible part of carbohydrate that provides bulk without any calories. Fiber fills you up without filling you out.
4) Skip the potato and pasta salad: Traditionally made potato and pasta salad are loaded with calories and fat. They provide excess calories in the form of carbohydrate without any fiber, which may cause drops in blood sugar, making you feel lethargic and irritable an hour after you eat them.
Cole Slaw, 1 cup: 400 calories, 20 grams of fat
Potato Salad, 1 cup: 430 calories, 24g fat
Instead, make a big salad mixed with all your favorite veggies. Spinach and rocket lettuce are in season. Or throw some sliced vegetables on the grill – asparagus is also in season and grilles very nicely.
5) Choose your alcohol wisely: When it comes to alcohol, some choices are better than others. So, if you want to have a drink in the shade and you are a beer -lover, try low-carb beer. Otherwise, chilled white wine is always yummy or vodka and crystal light tastes great, especially when it is blended with some ice!!
6) Don’t forget to hydrate: Alcohol plus sun can equal headache and dehydration. Therefore, it is important to drink adequate water when the sun is hot, especially if you are drinking alcohol. Drinking 6-8, 8oz glasses of water every day is great for your skin, helps regulate bowel function and will prevent dehydrations, so don’t forget to DRINK UP!
Tanya Zuckerbrot, MS, RD is a nutritionist and founder of www.Skinnyandthecity.com. She is also the creator of The F-Factor Diet™, an innovative nutritional program she has used for more than ten years to provide hundreds of her clients with all the tools they need to achieve easy weight loss and maintenance, improved health and well-being. For more information log onto www.FFactorDiet.com
Eliminating sauces can be an easy way to cut calories.
It can also be bland. Sometimes eating healthy can taste awful.
Or throw some sliced vegetables on the grill – asparagus is also in season and grilles very nicely.
LOL, do you really expect the average american to do this? No one but hardcore vegetarians are going to do that. I know I wouldnt want to show up at my familie’s BBQ with asparagus!! LOL, they would laugh me out of the house! Alot of people in the healthy arena just arent connected with reality. The average american doesnt live like this. I am from the south, and I guess where you come from makes a difference…
I’m from Texas and I love grilled asparagus. The best way to prepare it is to skin the outside like a potatoe, drizzle olive oil and salt on it and grill. The average American doesn’t eat healthy because they are lazy. I am married to a Registered Dietitian and she is able to turn any unhealthy recipe into a health one that tastes just as good if not better. You can also make your own BBQ sauces with natural ingredients instead of using the ones from the store which are packed with sugar. All you have to do is be creative and know how to cook…but, like you said, what typical American is willing to that?
I think you’re totally wrong. I am from the deep south AND also a registered dietitian. It’s excuses like yours that continue to enable Americans to over eat, gain weight and furthur burden our health care system.
Using expressions like “average Americans doesn’t live like this” and “eating healhty can taste awful” is defeatist. The whole POINT of the article is to make suggestions on how the average American CAN live and eat healthier. Professionals in the “healthy areana” are not out of touch, just more self disciplined. We are actually very IN touch with the ridiculous obesity epidemic and are trying to reach out. Making simple changes like watching salt intake, choosing leaner meats and smaller portion sizes ARE things that average Americans can do to have a big impact on their over all health.
And as for the grilled asparagus, you may “LOL” but yet again, you haven’t even tried it. You are the one out of touch saying that only “hard core vegetarians” will try grilled vegetables. Many vegetarians and carnivores alike enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables as a part of their daily intake- even at a BBQ.
I work in a heart hospital, counseling the overweight patients recovering from heart attacks and open heart surgery. Looks like you, and people like you, will provide me job security for years to come.