Summer picnics and cookouts await your enjoyment. Whether you’re
hosting a party for family or simply preparing a dinner for two,
there are quick ways to lighten up your menu and add more nutrients.
Here are my tips for cooking with less saturated fat and added sugar, and
more fruits, vegetables and fiber.
Cut out the saturated fat by:
• Offering vinaigrette-style salad dressings made with olive oil and
vinegar and creamy-style dressings that have only 2 grams of fat
per serving or are homemade with reduced-fat yogurt.
• Grilling hamburgers made with 97% lean ground hamburger and/or 99%
fat-free ground turkey breast meat.
• Choosing fish, shrimp, scallops, skinless chicken breast, lean steaks
and veggie burgers most often as your protein source.
• Trimming visible fat off of any meat you prepare, before and after
cooking.
• Using fresh chicken dogs in place of traditional hot dogs.
• Mixing cream-based side salads with mayonnaise that provides no
more than 2 grams of fat per serving.
• Serving reduced-fat pudding, ice cream, frozen yogurt, ice cream
sandwiches and fudge popsicles for dessert.
Reach your 7+ daily servings of fruits and vegetables by:
• Grilling a veggie or fruit kabob every time you barbecue.
• Providing side dishes full of color. Here are just a few ideas:
– Mixed spinach salad
– Fresh fruit salad
– Tabbouleh
– Beet salad
– Hummus
– Three bean salad
– Asparagus medley
– Crudités
– Red cabbage coleslaw
– Tomato and
cucumber salad
– Sliced fresh fruit dipped in fat-free Greek vanilla yogurt
– Caprese salad
• Having baked beans and plain canned beans as side dishes and cooking
black bean burgers.
• Making salad the base of your meal and having grilled meat or seafood
as an accompaniment on top.
• Offering at least one fruit and one vegetable with every meal that
is served.
• Steaming a mixture of fresh mushrooms and onion or summer squashes
and sweet peppers in an aluminum foil pouch on the grill. Use as a
topping for grilled chicken or for fish.
• Freezing homemade fruit popsicles with fresh berries, mashed bananas
and/or 100% juice.
• Whipping up fruit smoothies with a mixture of skim milk or low fat
yogurt with fresh and frozen fruits.
• Grilling portabella mushroom caps as burgers.
Reduce added sugars by:
• Serving only water, flavored sparkling water, 100% fruit juice and
diet sodas.
• Having fresh fruit as dessert.
• Making homemade sorbet and fruit popsicles in place of versions made
with sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
• Offering sugar-free gelatin, popsicles and ice cream.
Reach your 25-35 grams of fiber per day by:
• Making fruits and veggies part of every meal.
• Cooking pasta salads with whole wheat pasta and whole grain pasta
blends.
• Offering whole wheat bread, dinner rolls and hamburger and hot dog
buns.
• Preparing side salads with grains such as:
– Brown rice
– Wheat berries
– Barley
– Quinoa
– Bulgur wheat
Have a question? Feel free to ask me, your personal nutrition expert
at:
Ask Carrie
2145 Roosevelt Avenue • PO Box 7840
Springfield, MA 01102 • askcarrie@bigy.com
Artwork is for display purposes only and does not necessarily reflect specific items. Not responsible for typographical errors.
Visit Big Y’s Patisserie for a delectable selection of fresh-baked seasonal sweets!
