With summer season going in its full flow, people have taken out their grills/smokers because they like to enjoy the lip-smacking taste of steaks, briskets, burgers, hot dogs, and dozens of other grilled delights. Most people think that grilled food is delicious, but unhealthy too. In reality, that’s not the case. Grilled food can be good for you as well, and today, we will discuss the health benefits of grilling and tips to make grilled food healthy.
5 Health Benefits of Grilling
There are a number of health benefits while cooking food on the grill instead of a stove or oven. Let us go through those benefits in order to have better clarity as to how beneficial cooking on a vertical smoker could be.
1. You consume less fat
While grilling food on a smoker, you must have seen fat dripping off the grates. But, you can’t find the same thing happening while cooking meat on a stove-top. There is no way for the fat to go, thus getting re-absorbed by the meat.
2. Grilled vegetables are way better for you
An interesting fact about grilled vegetables is that they retain more of their minerals and vitamins when they are grilled, especially the vegetables with low water content.
Moreover, vegetables that are grilled are fresh and are available in abundance. Using fresh vegetables is a lot more advantageous than using canned and preserved vegetables.
3. Meat Retains Nutrients
Another vital health benefit of grilling is that it helps meat to retain it’s nutrients. Meat that is cooked on the fire preserves more thiamine and riboflavin. These two nutrients are crucial to a healthy diet. Consuming meat that is rich in these two nutrients will provide a lot of health benefits to you.
4. You need less butter
Grill has the capability of locking in more moisture, thus letting you use less quantity of butter or other condiments to vivify your food. Less quantity of butter in food will ensure fewer calories getting into your body.
5. Grilling goes well with outside activities
Grilling gives you the ability to indulge in more outdoor activities because you don’t have to look for eateries of pack bags with food anymore. If you have a grill, then you can prepare anything in a matter of minutes.
5 Tips To Make Grilling Healthier
Grilling can be healthy or unhealthy depending upon how you choose to cook food. Follow below-mentioned five tips to get scrumptious delights, but without affecting your health.
1. Buy Lean Meats
Grilling can’t be completed without tossing a few slabs of meat on the grill. You should buy lean cuts of meat such as pork, chicken or fish. If you want to enjoy a delicious burger, then find the leanest beef available on the market. You can check the package for fat content, and if you find ‘93/7’ on the package, then add it to your cart, as that meat contains 7% fat. Lean meat is healthy meat.
2. Grill your veggies
Add some veggies on the grill to have a rich and crunchy flavor to your meals. You can grill peppers, zucchini, sweet corn to make a salad or a side dish. Veggies are high in nutrients and low on fats.
3. Use gas instead of charcoal as fuel for the grill
While the market is flooded with both charcoal and gas grills, but I would recommend using grills that use gas as fuel. Using charcoal during the grilling process can add cancer-causing chemicals to your food, which eventually goes into your body.
If you already have a charcoal smoker, then make sure not to overcook the meat and keep it away from the smoke as much as you can. On the other hand, gas grills are easy to use and create less mess to clean up after cooking.
4. Marinate your meats
Additionally, a useful tips to make your grilling healthier is to marinate your meats. A marinated steak is always delicious to eat. So, if you like marinating meat before placing it on the grill, then continue doing the same, as marinating improves your health. You need to take care while cooking food on a charcoal smoker or at high temperatures, as that could produce harmful chemicals, which go straight into your food. But, if you marinate meat before grilling, then the production of those harmful chemicals gets reduced up to 99%.
5. Try Healthy Alternatives
Opting for healthy alternatives doesn’t harm, does it? If you like making a pizza on your grill, then why don’t you try a whole-wheat dough instead of a refined flour dough. Same with burgers and sandwiches, as whole wheat bread and buns are available everywhere. Whole wheat is rich in protein and fiber, thus promoting to your health.
Monica Henin is the author of this amazing post on the health benefits of grilling. She has been writing about healthy recipes and food tips for quite some time. To check out her best work, kindly go through Addonkitchen.com.
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