15 BBQ Diet Tips: Your Gateway To Healthy BBQ

BBQ Diet Tips

Grilling is always fun, no matter what season it is! It is an occasion which brings family and friends together. Not everyone remains aware of the BBQ diet tips during the party.

It is a commonly known problem across the world for BBQ lovers: BBQ is a very oily and rich food. It has become a great matter of concern for everyone.

Being an expert, I also agree with the fact that if you do not maintain some rules and prevent yourself from certain types of cooking methods, you too shall face the consequences. 

In this article below, I will be talking about 15 BBQ diet tips that will guide you towards the healthy BBQ path. So, stay tuned and keep on reading:

15 BBQ Diet Tips For Healthy Grilling: Lose Your Weight Fast

Here, I present the 15 BBQ diet tips to you:

1. Picking Up The Right Ingredients For Your BBQ:

Before you start your journey of cooking BBQ, besides other BBQ diet tips, you first need to keep in mind choosing the perfect ingredient. While buying the ingredients, always ensure to select the fresh vegetables or meat. The nutritional value of food is essential, and you should keep that in mind while picking up the ingredients.

Meats are sensitive, and that is why you need to be extra sensitive while picking up your meat. Always pick the fresh ones from the store. Check the expired date section on the packaging. Choosing the best ingredients can always be helpful, no matter what.

2. Never Skip Your Breakfast During A BBQ Event Day:

As you know, breakfast is frequently referred to as “the most essential meals of the day,” and for many legitimate reasons. The mentionable reasons are:

  • Breakfast provides us with nutrients including folate, iron, B vitamins, fiber, and other necessities that help us to boost up our immunity.
  • Breakfast helps to keep your heart in a good shape by preventing increased blood sugar or diabetes and decreasing high blood pressure.
  • Breakfast ensures glucose supply to the brain more than any other meal. It helps to keep focus.

In the above discussion, we have seen how important breakfast is for our health. Besides that, ensuring your first meal of the day can be an excellent BBQ diet tip.

You’ll be more inclined to consume more food at the function if you skip your breakfast. You might have lesser desires and be less tempted to choose unhealthy stuff if you are full and not hungry when you arrive at the party.

3. Reduce Fat Intake By Going Lean With The Meat:

Whenever I hear the word BBQ, the most common picture that pops into my mind is a large piece of barbecued beef or chicken. I guess this phenomenon is common in everyone’s case. 

Meat contains a lot of fat that goes into our bodies while consuming meat. Usually, the meats are big chunks that have more animal fat in them.

According to my expert opinion, leaner pieces of meat are always an excellent approach to dramatically cut back on the fat of the meat. 

Grilling lean pounded turkey and boneless and skinless chicken is delicious, and adding prawns and calamari can be a fun way to enhance the taste of your grill.

So, this can be considered among the other BBQ diet tips.

4. Make Sure To Pick The Right Amount Of Protein And AVoid Red Meat :

The human body is made of cells, and proteins are the food to our cells. You need to add protein to your everyday diet to help you repair the body cells and make new cells.

It is important to swap your regular food rich in calories with healthy alternatives. Switching your red meats with protein-based foods can be one of the finest BBQ diet tips.

Healthy alternatives include fish, a breast piece of a chicken that has been skinned, and lean pounded turkey. The healthy fats found in salmon are actually beneficial to one’s health. And, if you BBQ with technique, your friends and family won’t even notice the absence of red meat, which has excessive fat.

5. Try To Avoid The Baked Beans:

Baked beans are full of protein, soluble fiber, various kinds of nutrients, and other components that are probably good for you. They have the potential to boost intestinal health as well as the lipid profile of your body. Beans that are available in a can are convenient, but they are often rich in sugar, salt, chemicals, and BPA pollutants.

For this reason, the next tip among the other BBQ diet tips that I will be giving you is to avoid them as much as possible.

I agree that baked beans can be really tempting. It is difficult to restraint yourself from this lucrative dish. But if you are a health enthusiast, you must keep yourself away from such kind of a dish.

6. Try Making A Non-meat Burger or A PIzza:

Another fantastic BBQ diet tip is to avoid meats of all kinds and maintain a plant-based diet, even if it is for a day. I, too, am a meat lover like everyone else’. But, whenever I indulge myself with too much meat, I have to suffer afterward with stomach issues. 

If you are on a diet and want to avoid all the fats you possibly can, turn yourself into a vegetarian for a day. Trust me, it will need a lot of perseverance, but will give you the best results. 

In my opinion, guests will approve of a couple of hearty meat alternatives in the party. Barbecuing portobello mushrooms packed with mozzarella and a bit of parmesan cheese and fresh herbs are recommended by experts.

7. Grab The Smallest Plate Available In The Party:

This tip is one of the most effective ones among all the other BBQ diet tips.

This tip may baffle you and make you wonder that how a small plate will help you in your diet. Keep on reading to know more.

Well, the human brain is a strange topic for scientists to this date. There are so many things it can do. One of them is creating illusions and making us believe and experience so many things.

Now you may think, how can a small plate confuse our brain? Well, here is how:

  • When you take a small plate, you don’t allow yourself to take much food.
  • There is no room for too much food, even if you want to. 

You might be shocked to discover that even with a small portion of a serving, you’re more content than you thought. 

8. Make Sure To Stay Careful About The Side Dishes:

It doesn’t matter if you eat a vegetarian dish on the main course if you gulped down a heavy fat contained item as the side dish. This small part can ruin your entire diet plan.

The food items that might contain high cholesterol in side dishes that you need to watch out from:

  • Potato 
  • Egg 
  • Cheese 
  • Full fat yogurt
  • Oil
  • Mayonnaise 
  • Butter 
  • Coleslaw
  • Potato mashed
  • Macaroni
  • Mac n cheese
  • Pasta 

These are some of the food items that you need to watch out for, while choosing the side dishes. Instead, you can select items such as:

  • Any kinds of Fruit
  • Leafy green salad
  • Yogurts with low-fat
  • Mix fruit salad
  • Colorful bean salad

9. Bring Your Own Food According To Your Diet Plan:

If you are someone who follows a strict diet routine and maintains it strictly, you must put your food selection first before everything. This is one of those BBQ diet tips that might sound a bit odd to you. But being an expert on the given topic, I find this tip to be very helpful.

Following this step should include:

  • Making a diet plan.
  • Maintaining the plan strictly.
  • If the diet chart has a special supplement that might not be available at the party, then bring it with you.
  • If you think the host might not have healthy options, then bring your food according to the diet chart that you made for yourself.  

Following this tip might seem awkward at first. But remember, your health always comes first. So do what it takes to keep yourself healthy and fit.

10. Get A Grip On Your Temptation:

You might be wondering how is this possible? Can humans actually control themselves before the culinary masterpiece known as BBQ? Well, if you ask me, I would say: of course-you can. With sheer patience and perseverance, humans can achieve almost anything they want.

Temptation is a characteristic that is driven by the id. It is a personality flaw that exists almost within every human being. Some have it under control, and some don’t.

It is widely known that BBQ is a culinary art that attracts everyone towards it. It becomes a war within yourself to restrict yourself from enjoying such blissful delicacy. But remember the saying ‘Health Is Wealth,’ and get a grip on your temptation and hold yourself back from eating all those fat-filled food items.

11. Use Less Oil While Cooking:

One of the most critical and essential parts of cooking BBQ is using oil. There are various stages of barbecuing while you need to use oil. Using too much oil in any food can cause lifetime damage to your health. Such as:

  • Oil can clog the heart
  • It can cause a heart attack
  • It can cause high cholesterol.
  • It can increase sugar
  • It can cause kidney damage
  • Oil can cause high blood pressure too.

There are numerous bad sides to using too much oil. That is why use a minimum level of oily fat in your cooking. Try finding healthy alternatives to oil. 

12. Avoid Any Sort Of Sugary Soft Drinks:

Most people tend to avoid this BBQ diet tip, especially during a party. My strong recommendation will be to protect yourself from them strongly.

Artificial sweeteners, which are commonly found in sugary cold drinks, may increase appetite and stimulate the desire for food items that are higher in calories. Chilly beverages or soft drinks can even disrupt weight-control processes, disrupt the balance of gut bacteria, and change glucose levels regulation.

Getting a craving for soft drinks is quite natural. It might be an indication that your body itself is craving calcium and is low on it. 

For such a reason, what you can do is make some healthy vegetable smoothies. For this, you can use:

  • Radish
  • Spinach 
  • Celery 
  • Almonds 

Using these ingredients, you can make a healthy drink and meet up your desires.

13. Skip Chips As Munchies And Add Veggies:

If you are a guest at a party, the host might serve you some munchies while they are cooking. Chips are quite a commonly seen munchie.

But let me remind you before you jump into those bowls of chips, chips are full of calories and oils. They look thin, but they are high in calories. 28 g of chips may contain about 150 g of calories.

So according to my expert opinion, you may try:

  • Peppers 
  • Carrots 
  • Broccoli 
  • Cauliflower florets 
  • Cucumber

These are some crunchy vegetables that will give you the crunchiness as a pack of chips. You may even add salsa with these to enhance the taste.

14. Try To Avoid Desserts:

If you ask me which one I consider the most rigid tip among all the other BBQ diet tips, then I would blindly pick this particular tip.

I am a sweet tooth myself. I really love to eat desserts after the BBQ. Although I was on a diet during those days, I convinced myself that my health should come first before anything else.

Desserts are basically sweet items that we have after we are done with our meal. They are high in sugar, and they have way too many calories in them. It is very hard to say no to desserts, but it is harmful in many ways. Such as:

  • Type-2 diabetes
  • Cholesterol
  • High Blood Pressure
  • Obesity 

So my advice and a tip would be to choose natural alternatives. Such as:

  • Apples 
  • Peaches 
  • Strawberries 
  • Various kinds of sweet berries
  • Mango 

In short, it can be said that you can alternate your dessert with mother nature’s candy, also known as fruits.

15. Engage Yourself More To the Activities Of The Party:

The last advice or tip of this whole article about BBQ diet tips is to engage yourself in party activities and to socialize more. This may sound strange to you. If you are an introverted person, who shies away from conversations, then this might seem like a punishment to you.

No matter how weird you might think this tip is, put your trust in me and try practicing to socialize more at parties. This will:

  • Help you keep yourself busy
  • You won’t get time to eat more
  • You might find other health care enthusiasts like you
  • It will also help you grow new bonds

This is a great technique to avoid overeating and to stay lively at the BBQ party.

Related Questions:

There are some questions that people usually ask regarding this topic. I will now try to answer some of your queries in a concise manner. So, help yourself and keep on reading!

Does BBQ Make You Fat?

Yes, BBQ can make you fat indeed. If you do not get a grip on yourself, this can even cause obesity. Also, you have to look for the cooking method. That extra coat of melted butter can cause you a heart blockage. 

There are many BBQ dishes that can make you fat or cause obesity. They are as such:

  • Pizzas: 

Are you fighting over that last slice of the pizza? Sure you all do that. It is a guilty pleasure no one can resist. 

Unfortunately, it is not healthy at all. The meat, cheese, and oil or butter used to make pizzas contain too much fat. They are very bad for your diet and can make you fat.

  • Burgers:

No matter how much we all love burgers, they are full of fat and unhealthy. Burgers are full of high calories. Sounds depressing, doesn’t it?

Burgers made with ground beef are full of calories. About 6oz of a burger has almost 450 calories. That’s a huge number. So, if you are wondering that will that burger make you fat if you eat it, the answer is a big yes!

  • Potato Dishes:

Potatoes are an inseparable part of your BBQ party. Whenever anyone does any sort of BBQ, they tend to keep a dish made of potatoes. Sometimes potato salad or sometimes mashed potatoes.

These dishes contain a lot of calories. Especially the potato salad. It is served with a considerable amount of mayonnaise which has dairy fat in it. This type of food with BBQ can make you fat.

  • Coleslaw:

The BBQ and coleslaw combo is a classic to everyone. I bet you cannot think of any better side dish with BBQ than a coleslaw. You must be really sad seeing this in this list of fatty foods.

As disheartening as it is, coleslaw contains a high amount of mayonnaise. This dairy-based food item may have almost 100 calories per serving. This is a big no-no if you don’t wish to become fat.

Can You Eat BBQ On A Diet? 

If you are scared and think you cannot eat BBQ or barbecued food while on a diet, you are wrong. This is a common misconception among people—kind of like a myth. Let me clear this misconception for you by giving you this bbq diet tip. 

As I have already discussed how you can be at a BBQ party and still maintain your diet routine. So the answer to the above question is an obvious yes. You can always eat BBQ and stay on your BBQ diet. But you’ll have to remain careful about overeating!

What Is The Healthiest Thing To Eat At A BBQ Party?

It can be a great dilemma to choose the healthiest option at a BBQ party. Some might get tempted to choose that rich, juicy, and cheesy burger. Some might jump right into that delicious pizza! But they are everything but healthy, right?

So what can you do?

Well, the answer to this question is to choose veggies! Yes, in my opinion, this is the safest option. You can get many vegetables at a BBQ party. It is true that seeing all those lucrative meaty options; it gets hard to choose vegetables. But veggies can also taste just as good if cooked properly.

Is Low And Slow BBQ Healthy? 

Low and slow means that you will cook at a low temperature, making it slow to cook the food. But the question here is, is it of any good? Is it worth your while to wait for hours to taste your desired BBQ? Let me answer your queries.

Cooking low and slow helps the food keep its nutritional value and helps it maintain the protein bond. Thus, the proteins remain intact. Also, high temperature destroys vitamins, so cooking at a low temperature will help lock in the vitamins. Some also claim that it can even prevent cancer too!

Is It Necessary To Clean Your BBQ For Health Issues?

I find it needless to say how important it is to keep your BBQ clean and fresh. Although, many people still ask this question a lot, and some just choose to ignore this step. They fail to understand the necessity of this step. 

As much as it is vital to keep your diet in check, and no matter how many BBQ diet tips you follow, it will all be futile if you don’t maintain enough hygiene. To keep your health fit and fine, maintaining basic hygiene is a must.

If you forget to clean your BBQ, it will easily catch molds. Bacterias will get into it. Also, leftover foods, if not cleaned, will probably get mixed with your new foods. And as you can guess, leftover food will never remain fresh. So if you don’t clean your leftover foods properly from your BBQ grill and upset your stomach, you can surely blame those old leftovers!

Conclusion:

From the matter discussed above, it is safe to say that you can have fun and enjoy as much as you want, and take care of your health at the same time. There is no room for excuses not to take care of your health.

Wilson C. Scully

Hello everyone, This is Wilson C. Scully. I'm likewise you. However, the main difference is that I like to share my kitchen and cooking experience with you.

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