Blog

Healthy Summer Cookout Tips

Neighbors are swooning over the smell of grills firing up across America. Health-conscious people might fear the calories and high-fat of flame-grilled hot dogs and burgers, but they don’t have to avoid the cookout all together. A modern-day barbecue can be both delicious in flavors and nutritious in selection. The team at Eat, Heal, Travel has created a quick run-down of options for ensuring your family and friends will enjoy a healthy summer cookout.

Healthy Foods for Grilling
Any nourishing meal starts with your shopping list. Lean protein, seafood, vegetables, and even fruits are all great items to throw on the grill. Here’s a short list of our favorite grill-worthy foods.

-Lean Protein: skinless chicken, turkey, eye of round roast, sirloin, pork tenderloin, or tofu.
-Seafood: salmon, swordfish, seabass, tuna, grouper, mahi-mahi, or snapper.
-Vegetables: asparagus, eggplant, radicchio, zucchini, corn, or any other veggie you love.
-Fruits: watermelon, pineapple, mango, peaches, apples, or whatever you can stick on a skewer.

Tips for the Grilling Process
First and foremost, start with a clean grill for the healthiest results. Google and Youtube offer an array of grill-cleaning tips to help you avoid any bacterial issues and prevent the nasty build-up of food or grease. When cooking meats and fish, health experts recommend you avoid grilling anything above 300ºF. Heating temperatures too high could cause the release of cancer-causing carcinogens.

Cooking temperatures and times vary for meats, seafood, and veggies. Browse the Internet or check a cookbook for an array of recipes and charts to help you grill to perfection. With fruits, you’ll want to place them on a cooler section of the grill, on a skewer, or in a grill basket. Watch closely, because fruits grill quickly. With the exception of apples, most fleshy fruits will grill within a few minutes each side.

Cutting Fats and Boosting Flavors
We recommend allowing any fat to drip off the meat during your grilling process. You can also trim any noticeable fat off the meat with a knife after grilling is complete. One of the best things about grilling is that it floods your food with flavor without having to add fats, salts, and oils. A light marinade, honey glaze, or a dusting of exotic herbs might be all you need to create a grilled masterpiece.

Upon presentation, you’ll want to be selective in your garnishes and dressings. You could ruin a healthy plate by dousing it with fatty sauces, salt, or condiments. We suggest coupling grilled items with a light and flavorful choice. Complement your grilled seafood with a citrus salsa. Add some freshly shaved parmesan to your veggies. If you simply love barbecue sauce, consider enjoying it on a piece of grilled tofu to make the dish a bit lighter and more heart-healthy, while savoring that saucy flavor. Also, for added vitamins and nutrition, opt for spinach or kale rather than lettuce when enjoying a grilled sandwich. With a little creativity and the courage to break away from traditional cookout foods, you just might discover the best tasting summer meal of your life.

We hope these simple tips will inspire you to eat well, live long, and travel far! Be sure to let us know via Twitter or Facebook how you like to prepare healthy cookout foods.