• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Eat Out Eat Well

  • Home
  • About
  • Eats and More® Store
  • Books
  • Contact

barbecue

Three Tips To Avoid Overeating At A Barbecue

May 22, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

barbecue Menu

It’s the start of the summer barbecue season and the accompanying temptation of a table loaded with delicious food. 

Here’s three easy tips to help avoid overeating:

1.  If you’re full, stop eating and clear your plate right away.  If a plate with food on it sticks around in front of you, you’ll keep picking at what’s on it until there’s nothing left. An exception – a study has found that looking at the “carnage” – the leftover bones from barbecued ribs or even the number of empty beer bottles – can serve as an “environmental cue” to stop eating.

2.  Do you really need to stand in front of the picnic table, kitchen table, or barbecue?  The further away from the food you are the less likely you are to eat it. Don’t sit or stand where you can see the food that’s calling your name. Keep your back to it if you can’t keep distant. There’s just so much control you can exercise before “see it = eat it.”  If staying near the food gets to be too much, go for a walk, a swim, or engage someone in an animated conversation. It’s pretty hard to shove food in your mouth when you’re busy talking.

3.  Before you grab some tasty ribs, dogs, burgers or pie — ask yourself if you really want it.  Are you hungry?  Is it worth the calories?  Odds are, the tempting display of food in front of you is visually seductive – and may smell great, too — but you’re reaching out to eat what’s in front of you for reasons not dictated by your stomach but by your eyes. Have you decided that you want to splurge on something specific? Try picking it ahead of time and commit to your choice so you don’t find yourself wavering in the face of temptation.

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating with Family and Friends, Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events, Food for Fun and Thought, Manage Your Weight, Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food Tagged With: barbecue, barbecue food, overeating, tips for not overeating at a barbecue

How To Keep Grilled Food Safe To Eat

June 13, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

grilled-food-safe-to-eat

Ah!  Warm weather! Picnics and barbecues!  Awesome grilled food!

Whoops!  Picnics, barbecues, and grilling can create the perfect environment for the bacteria that already reside in food to rapidly multiply and become the cause of a foodborne illness.

It’s really important to follow safe food handling rules when you’re cooking perishable foods like meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs and Unfortunately, it’s way too easy to get a little lax about following food handling rules when the grill takes center stage.

 Here are some grilling guidelines:

  • Always wash your hands with soap and water before and after you handle the food.  Did you pick up the raw burger or the piece of fish or chicken with your fingers to put it on the grill?
  • When you marinate your food, let the food sit in the marinade in the refrigerator — not on the counter — or worse, out in the sun next to the grill.  Don’t use the marinade that the raw meat or poultry sat in on the cooked food. Instead, reserve part of the unused marinade to baste with or to use as a sauce.
  • Get those coals hot. Preheat the coals on your grill for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the coals are lightly coated with ash. If you’re using a gas grill, turn on the grill so it has enough time to thoroughly heat up.
  • Use a food thermometer (make sure you have one at home and one to pack for grilling at picnics) to be certain that the food reaches a safe internal temperature. The FDA recommends:
  •  Steaks and Roasts:  145 degrees F (medium rare), 160      degrees F (medium)
  • Fish:  145 degrees F
  • Pork:  145 degrees F
  • Ground beef:  160 degrees F
  • Egg dishes: 160 degrees F
  • Chicken breasts:  165 degrees F
  • Whole poultry:  165 degrees F
  • Shrimp, lobster, and crabs:  cook until pearly and opaque
  • Clams, oysters, and mussels:  cook until the shells are open
  • When the food is cooked, don’t put it on the same platter that you used to carry the raw food out to the grill, or the same tongs or spatula, either – unless they’ve been washed first in hot, soapy water.
  • Reusing without washing can spread bacteria from the raw juices to your cooked or ready-to-eat food. Better yet, bring a clean platter and utensils with you to the grill and remove the ones that the raw food has been on – it’s too easy to mistakenly reuse the raw food ones.
  • When grilled food is “ready” keep it hot until it’s served by moving it to the side of the grill rack, just away from the coals — or the burner if you’re using gas. This will keep it hot but prevent it from overcooking.
  • If you reheat food, make sure it reaches 165°F.
  • Cook only the amount of food that you think people will eat. It’s easy to cook more, but it’s a challenge to keep leftovers at a safe temperature. Throw out any leftovers that haven’t stayed within the safe temperature range.

Filed Under: Eating with Family and Friends, Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events, Shopping, Cooking, Baking, Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food, Travel, On Vacation, In the Car Tagged With: barbecue, food safety, food temperature, food-borne illness, grilled food, grilling, outdoor cooking, picnics, safe grilled food

5 Tips To Make Your Grilled Meat Healthier

June 26, 2012 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Grilled meat tastes good (of course you have to like meat).  Unfortunately, two types of cancer causing compounds can increase or form in some foods that are grilled or cooked at high heat.

Two Dangerous Compounds

Heterocycline amines (HCAs) increase when meat — especially beef — is cooked with high heat – not just by grilling but by pan-frying, too. HCAs can damage DNA and start the development of cancer.  Most evidence connects them to colon and stomach cancer, but they may be linked to other types of cancer, too.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) increase with grilling because they form in smoke and can get deposited on the outside of meat.

Five Things You Can Do

Here are five things you can do to decrease the formation of HCAs and PAHs:

  1. Cook or fry at lower temperatures to produce fewer HCAs.   You can turn the  gas down or wait for the charcoal’s low-burning embers.
  2. Raise your grilling surface up higher and turn your meat very frequently to reduce charring — which is highly carcinogenic. Grilling fish takes less cooking time and forms fewer HCAs than beef, pork and poultry.
  3. Marinate your meat.  According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, marinating can reduce HCA formation by as much as 92 to 99%. Scientists think that the antioxidants in marinades help block HCA formation.
  4. Add some spices and rubs. Rosemary and turmeric, for example, seem to block up to 40% of HCA formation because of their antioxidant activity. A study by Kansas State University found that rubbing rosemary onto meat before grilling greatly decreased HCA levels.  Basil, mint, sage, and oregano may be effective, too.
  5. Select leaner cuts of meat and trim excess fat to help reduce PAHs. Leaner cuts drip less fat – and dripping fat causes flare-ups and smoke which can deposit PAHs on your food.

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Food for Fun and Thought, Shopping, Cooking, Baking Tagged With: barbecue, eat out eat well, food facts, food for fun and thought, grilled meat, HCAs, heterocycline amines, outdoor grill, PAHs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Grilling? Five Ways to Decrease Dangerous Stuff From Forming On Your Food

August 2, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Two types of cancer causing compounds increase or form in some foods that are grilled or cooked at high heat.

Two Dangerous Compounds

Heterocycline amines (HCAs) increase when meat — especially beef — is cooked with high heat – not just by grilling but by pan-frying, too. HCAs can damage DNA and start the development of cancer.  Most evidence connects them to colon and stomach cancer, but they may be linked to other types of cancer, too.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) increase with grilling because they form in smoke and can get deposited on the outside of meat.

Five Things You Can Do

Here are five things you can do to decrease the formation of HCAs and PAHs:

  1. Cook or fry at lower temperatures to produce fewer HCAs.   You can turn the  gas down or wait for the charcoal’s low-burning embers.
  2. Raise your grilling surface up higher and turn your meat very frequently to reduce charring — which is highly carcinogenic. Grilling fish takes less cooking time and forms fewer HCAs than beef, pork and poultry.
  3. Marinate your meat.  According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, marinating can reduce HCA formation by as much as 92 to 99%. Scientists think that the antioxidants in marinades help block HCA formation.
  4. Add some spices and rubs. Rosemary and turmeric, for example, seem to block up to 40% of HCA formation because of their antioxidant activity. A study by Kansas State University found that rubbing rosemary onto meat before grilling greatly decreased HCA levels.  Basil, mint, sage, and oregano may be effective, too.
  5. Select leaner cuts of meat and trim excess fat to help reduce PAHs. Leaner cuts drip less fat – and dripping fat causes flare-ups and smoke which can deposit PAHs on your food.

Filed Under: Food for Fun and Thought, Shopping, Cooking, Baking Tagged With: barbecue, food and health, food for fun and thought, grilled meat

A Tasty Way To Lighten Up Your Burger

April 28, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

In my neck of the woods, barbecue season is right around the corner.

I happen to love hamburgers, but, needless to say, I don’t love the calories and saturated fat in most of them.

Some Hamburger Stats

Most (not all) hamburgers are made with either ground round or ground chuck and are usually six or more ounces.

A broiled burger made with ground round (85% lean meat) has 70 calories in each ounce with 4 grams of fat (2 grams saturated fat).

A broiled burger made with ground chuck (80% lean meat) has 76 calories in each ounce with 5 grams of fat (2 grams saturated).

How about substituting chopped vegetables for some of the meat?  Onions, garlic, peppers, and mushrooms are some possibilities. An ounce of onions is 11 calories with no fat; an ounce of white mushrooms has 6 calories and no fat.

Switching out an ounce or two of meat for veggies can save you 60 to 150 or so calories and 4 to 10 grams of fat and add a whole bunch of flavor.

Try it – you might like it!

 

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating on the Job, Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food, Shopping, Cooking, Baking Tagged With: barbecue, beef, fat, food facts, food prep, hamburger, vegetables, weight management strategies

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jacks
  • Is Your Coffee Or Tea Giving You A Pot Belly?
  • PEEPS: Do You Love Them or Hate Them?
  • JellyBeans!!!
  • Why Is Irish Soda Bread Called Soda Bread or Farl or Spotted Dog?

Topics

  • Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts
  • Eating on the Job
  • Eating with Family and Friends
  • Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events
  • Food for Fun and Thought
  • Holidays
  • Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks
  • Manage Your Weight
  • Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food
  • Shopping, Cooking, Baking
  • Snacking, Noshing, Tasting
  • Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food
  • Travel, On Vacation, In the Car
  • Uncategorized

My posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of the links you won’t pay a penny more but I’ll receive a small commission, which will help me buy more products to test and then write about. I do not get compensated for reviews. Click here for more info.

The material on this site is not to be construed as professional health care advice and is intended to be used for informational purposes only.
Copyright © 2024 · Eat Out Eat Well®️. All Rights Reserved.