Live’s Guide to a Healthy Summer:  Summertime Food Swaps

…with Dr. Wendy Bazilian

INSTEAD OF SUGARY BARBEQUE SAUCES:

START WITH THE FLAVOR

It’s all in the marinade…

• A simple ‘formula’ for marinades using what you have in your cupboards/pantry.
• Ingredients like spice combos, green tea, even dark beer…all (especially spices) have shown in research also to decrease oxidation (in other words, slash harmful compounds that develop when cooking meat).

INSTEAD OF MAYONNAISE OR CREAMY DRESSINGS (THAT CAN BE A FOOD SAFETY RISK, LET ALONG HIGH IN FAT/CALORIES):

• POTATO SALAD:
• Cool potatoes, cool science. A simple ‘oil’ based (instead of mayo) potato salad with herbs (fresh or dried). Using olive oil cuts the sat fats and makes it ‘safer’ for outside ‘home’ parties/picnics. Also, cooled potatoes after cooking increases resistant starch which has shown to boost fat burning (really) and help with satiety.

While starchy foods often get a bad rap, resistant starch, discovered only in the last 3 decades, is something different. It is more like a fiber than starch and research has shown it can decrease calorie and carbohydrate absorption from the potato while bumping up fat burning by more than 20%! Resistant starch also helps increase hormones that give us the signal to stop eating when we’re full—leading subjects in one study to consume 320 less calories in the day. Nothing like a food that helps you ‘accidentally’ eat less! This starch increases in foods that contain it after cooking and cooling the food.

• INSTEAD OF THE USUAL GREEN LEAFY SALAD OR SIMPLE FRUIT SALAD (THOUGH SUMMERTIME IS GREAT FOR THOSE)

• RIBBON SALAD: Shaved Vegetable Salad with easy vinaigrette.

To change it up (getting tired of a green salad?) or if you are out of lettuce..

• Think outside the box! Slice vegetables, such as zucchini, into thin but wide ribbons using a vegetable peeler and use them as a base for your salad instead of salad greens.
  • Make you own flavorful dressing with extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar and then some spices and herbs (garlic powder, oregano, basil, black pepper in this recipe) to control for salt, added sugar and fat.

• Kids can Get involved

• Grilled vegetables: Cauliflower steaks OR cabbage

• Grilled fruits
  • Grilled pineapple, grilled watermelon, grilled peaches/stone fruits
  • You can skewer/grill and serve or make mixed fruit salads with part grilled fruits
    • Grilled watermelon with mint and sprinkled feta and walnuts
    • Grilled pineapple skewers
    • Grilled peaches or pineapples cut and tossed in with other melon chunks and berries

DRINKS:

Instead of Rosé All Day…Freezin’ and Pleasin’ All Season

When does your drink count as a fruit serving?  When you use fresh fruit!

Boost nutrition, antioxidants, hydration…

• Frozen fruits make the best way to get nutrition and blended fun in a glass.
  • Tropical fruits like mangos and pineapple.
  • Summer fruits like strawberries, peaches.
  • Coconut water, like plant milks like chia milk or oat milk.

• Lower alcohol beverages – hydrate, have fun, have less headaches or hangovers.
  • People are increasingly going low-booze; zero or lower proof…at least sometimes!

• Sparkling waters – infusions

• I have a blended coffee beverage (make coffee ice cubes) that’s fun.

• And some really nice summer ‘teas’ – pear white tea, citrus green and others.

• And some ‘lighter’ but also festive lemonades – rosemary or lavender lemonade (homemade simple syrup with sugar or dates)…infused and just add to lemons and water (bubbles optional).

INSTEAD OF INDOOR PREP – MOVE ALL (OR MOST) OUTDOORS

USE THE GRILL FOR MORE!

Castiron grilling

• If you’re using the grill already, why also fire up the stove and oven especially on a hot day?
• You can absolutely use your grill as your stove and more.

You can stirfry and cook vegetables –charred sweet potatoes and summer vegetables are fun.

Desserts

Castiron Crumbles and Cobblers ON THE GRILL

• No one wants to heat up the oven in the summertime unnecessarily.
• You can even make a fabulous fruit cobbler on the grill! Would be fun to share how easy.  Fresh summer berries (strawberry season; blackberry season; blueberries!)…and you can use fresh or frozen fruit with this recipe.  Make it on the grill OR make it in your oven. Very versatile with a delicious cobbler topping with OATS.  Plain or served with ice cream—it’s a decadent dessert that also counts as a fruit serving and there are good ingredients in the buttery crumble, as well.
• And you can ‘cheat’ a bit too by using biscuit mix or even pancake mix!

Watermelon-sicles – all in the technique.

• A fun way of slicing your watermelon so you have watermelon ‘sticks’ (watermelon-sicles).
• Faster, easier and no more cheeks full of juice as you bite into the wedges.

CONDIMENT SWAPS

• Mustard – yellow is AOK! Turmeric; Dijon actually has more sodium.
• Yogurt and mustard or other blends to make a ‘special sauce’ without mayo
• Avocado or guacamole to bump up nutrition
• Salsa vs. ketchup
• Spices/herbs in vinaigrette vs. sugary BBQ sauce

BUNS SWAPS

• Whole grain vs. Enriched white; dinner roll vs. full bun

• OR carb-free – and really fun:
  • Lettuce wraps/leaves
  • Jicama tortillas—several brands out now – just jicama…8 calories, high fiber
  • Parmesan tortillas—shaped like a tortilla, just parm (which is lactose-free, too!)—roll, wrap, etc.

PROTEINS a little bit better…

• Some chopped mushroom and finely chopped walnuts (and/or beans) into your burger meat for hamburgers
• Marinade your kebobs in herbs and spices
• Look for no added sodium-nitrite/preservative hotdogs
• Try veggie burgers with ingredients you can recognize
• Portabella mushroom instead of burger option
• (Famous In-n-Out Burger in CA…If you order a ‘Jungle Burger’ – you get grilled onions, tomatoes, lettuce and their special sauce and NO burger at all. Same if you order a ‘vegetarian burger’ – you don’t get a burger patty, just everything else in the bun. You can order it with or without cheese! ?)