Healthy Cook Outs

11 Tips for Cooking Out Without Pigging Out

by Joe Wilkes
From the Million Dollar Body Club - Join Today and Workout to Win!

It's summertime, which means fire up the grill and enjoy the great outdoors. It all sounds pretty healthy, until somebody shows up with a bowl of mayonnaise and potatoes, which, without a trace of irony, they'll announce is a salad. It's like calling a stick of butter a nutrition bar. A few side dishes like this, combined with some fatty hot dogs, hamburgers, potato chips, and ice cream, and bathing-suit season can become caftan season before you know it. But if you only invite the neighbors over for celery sticks and tofu kabobs, you can count on getting the stink-eye from everyone next time you're out mowing the lawn. The secret to throwing a great barbecue is to find ways of eating healthfully without making it seem like last call at fat camp. Fortunately, with so many great foods available during the summer months, it's easy to plan a menu that will taste great and let you keep your figure.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when planning your outdoor culinary excursions, so you can picnic without the pounds, still enjoy good food, and keep you and your family and friends healthy:

1. Veg out. The cookout doesn't need to be a celebration of the weather being good enough that the unhealthy foods we used to eat in front of the TV can now be eaten in the backyard. It's summer! The time of year when all the best fruits and vegetables are at their peak. And grilling vegetables is a great way to get tons of flavor without tons of calories. Delicious on their own or as a complement to another dish, grilled veggies are a must-have for a healthy cookout. Use them in salads, on burgers, or by themselves. Check out what's fresh at your local farmers market.

   Good veggies for grilling include peppers, asparagus, artichokes, eggplant, zucchini, squash, scallions, and onions. Just brush them with a little olive oil, some fresh herbs, and a pinch of salt and pepper and you're serving something healthy that you and your guests can load up on, guilt free.

2. Herbal remedies. Only the worst chefs need to rely on fat and salt for seasoning. Now's the time to stock up on fresh basil, oregano, tarragon, dill, rosemary, thyme, cilantro, etc. Or even better, grow your own. Oftentimes a pot of living basil from the nursery costs less than a handful of leaves from your produce section. Use fresh herbs liberally in all of your recipes, and you can replace fat with flavor.
   
3. Hold the mayo. Nothing lays waste to the best-laid plans for a healthy barbecue like mayonnaise. A main ingredient in such picnic staples as potato salad, macaroni salad, and coleslaw, mayo loads up enough fat and calories that your only hope of weight loss is that the dishes stay out in the sun long enough to cause salmonella poisoning. Try substituting healthier ingredients like yogurt or low-fat ricotta cheese for mayonnaise, and adding fresh herbs and other ingredients. Instead of mayonnaise and mustard, use yogurt and fresh dill in your potato salad. Make a whole-grain pasta salad with cherry or grape tomatoes, fresh basil, and a balsamic vinaigrette.
   
4. Don't be so starchy! There's no law that says every picnic "salad" needs to begin with potatoes or pasta. There are plenty of salad recipes out there that are so delicious, no one will miss their starchy, fatty counterparts. How about making that old-time favorite, three-bean salad! Or if you want something a little heartier, lentils, mixed with a light vinaigrette, a little onion or garlic, some fresh herbs, and a sprinkling of feta cheese, will fill you up, and give you enough energy to play more than horseshoes and lawn darts later.

   Make some simple fresh vegetable salads. Slice up some tomatoes or cucumbers, and toss them with a bit of vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, fresh herbs and onions or garlic, and you have a refreshing side dish that will fill you up without filling you out.

5. Know your cuts of meat. It's not just a game on Letterman. While of course, substituting skinless chicken or fish for your rib eye would be the BEST nutritional decision, we know you're not made of stone. Sometimes it doesn't feel like a barbecue without the scent of grilled steak or pork in the air. But not all cuts are created equal. For beef, the best rule is to look for cuts with the word loin or round. Other great lean cuts are flank steak, skirt steak, tri-tip, and London broil. With pork, the leanest cuts are the tenderloin and loin chops.

   With both pork and beef, try to avoid anything involving the ribs, which have the fattiest cuts of meat, including rib eyes. And those baby back ribs will make you look like you're having the baby. Because of their low fat content, most of the lean cuts will need to be marinated for a couple of hours before grilling. Read on for marinade ideas.

6. Lay off the (store-bought) sauce. One of the main ingredients in most store-bought barbecue and teriyaki sauces is high-fructose corn syrup. Even the most casual Beachbody reader knows how we feel about HFCS. Instead, how about busting out those herbs you bought or grew in tip #2, and making some gourmet marinades and sauces that won't send your blood sugar into a tailspin. Using ingredients like fresh herbs, citrus juices, olive, sesame, and canola oils, wine, low-sodium soy sauce, and various vinegars, you can enliven your meat dishes and save the sugar for dessert. And when you're planning your marinades . . .
   
7. Go global. Since the U.S. is one of the most obese nations in the world, maybe it's worth checking out what those in slimmer nations are grilling. How about a Cuban marinade for your chicken or pork with citrus juice and garlic? Or Indian tandoori-style skinless chicken thighs marinated in yogurt and spices like turmeric, curry, or cardamom? Try making your own Japanese teriyaki with sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce, and honey, and skip the corn syrup from the store brands. Try out Greek kabobs, Korean barbecue, Jamaican jerk-rubbed meatwhatever catches your eye or your taste buds. And throwing a barbecue with an international theme sounds a lot more appetizing than a barbecue where "we're watching our weight."
   
8. Good dogs. Of course, not everyone is going to be keen on vegetables and treats from foreign lands. Kids, for example. So you're probably going to need some kind of hot dog for these less adventurous eaters. Pretty much anything can end up in a hot dog, but in most cases hot dogs are tubes full of fatty meat and carcinogenic nitratesyum! This is where it really pays to read the label. A regular hot dog runs over 200 calories and 18 grams of fat per wiener. A turkey frank has half of that. The fat, calorie, and sodium content of various brands and types of dogs vary wildly, so choose carefully. For the less fussy, there are also several varieties of chicken and turkey sausages with gourmet ingredients that are delicious and low in fat and calories.
   
9. Better burgers. A friend of mine who is highly phobic of meat-borne illnesses like E. coli and mad cow disease had a great idea of asking the butcher to grind up a piece of sirloin or top round that she selected from the meat case for hamburgers. This limits your exposure to contaminants, as there's only one cow involved in the making of a steak, where there could be hundreds involved in a package of ground beef. This also allows you to control the fat content that's in your hamburger. If you have a decent food processor, you could even grind your meat at home and blend in spices, garlic, or onion to enhance the flavor.

   If all this talk of cows and contaminants has put you off beef, you might give a turkey burger a try. But again, read the label. Many packages of ground turkey grind up the skin and other fatty pieces, resulting in a fat and calorie content not much better than ground beef. Try and look for extra-lean or all-white-meat ground turkey. And if you're worried about the bird flu, it might be worth giving veggie burgers another try. If you haven't had one in a few years, you may remember them as I do—some sort of reconstituted cardboard patty that smelled like feet. But there have been great strides in veggie burger technology. In fact there are a couple of brands a vegan friend of mine refuses to eat, because they taste too much like meat. Try a couple of different brands. You may be surprised.

10. Topping it off. When you're putting together the topping trays for your grilled delights, you can also save a few calories. The traditional lettuce, tomatoes, and onions are great, but skip the cheese, mayonnaise, and corn syrupladen ketchup. Instead try putting some of those grilled veggies you made on your burger or chicken breast. Or add a slice of avocado if you miss the creaminess of melted cheese. Put out a variety of mustards, hot sauces, and salsas, which are low in calories, fat, and don't usually contain corn syrup. Don't forget to look for whole grain buns for your dogs or burgers, or try eating them open-faced or bunless, if you're trying to cut carbs.
    
11. Just desserts. Well, you've behaved admirably during the rest of the barbecue, so you deserve a little summer treat. Have a little bit of ice cream (although frozen yogurt would be even better, and plain yogurt, better yet!), but heap a bunch of fruit on it, instead of a dollop of fudge or a side of pie. After all, what we said about vegetables goes for fruit, too. This is the time of year where you can get your hands on the best fruit, at the lowest prices. Indulge in berries, peaches, oranges, melons, and all your favorite seasonal fruits. Make a huge fruit salad, or blend fruit with yogurt and ice for a smoothie. Or for those with ambition and an ice cream maker, try making your own fruit sorbet. You may decide to skip the ice cream after all!
    

Hopefully, these suggestions will help make your summer barbecue a huge success. And in the worst-case scenario that you end up being forced to partake in your neighbor's annual Salute to Mayonnaise, you can always minimize the damage before the next pool party!

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