If you are looking to stay healthy this Memorial day, but still want to eat at the family barbecue keep these tips in mind. Here are 5 dishes to skip, and what to eat instead that we found in a great Yahoo! article.
Main dish to skip -- A cheeseburger. A quarter-pound beef burger with a slice of cheese will set you back 510 calories (26 grams of fat). Skipping the cheese will save you about 100 calories.
Choose this main dish instead -- A hot dog. It's lower in calories than you might think. Enjoy one on a roll with your favorite toppings and you'll come out around 300 calories, 17 g fat.
Here's the side dish to skip -- Potato salad. There's nothing inherently bad about potatoes -- they're actually a great source of vitamin C and fiber -- but they contain more calories than other veggies. Plus, most potato salads are smothered in way too much full-fat mayo and will cost you about 360 calories and 20 or so grams of fat per cup.
Choose coleslaw instead. It can satisfy a craving for something creamy for far fewer calories (83, with 3 grams of fat per cup).
An appetizer to skip, potato chips with french onion dip. A large handful of chips delivers about 150 calories and 10 grams of fat. Add to that 60 calories and 4.5 grams of fat from 2 tablespoons of dip. The problem with these snacks isn't so much how many calories one serving delivers, but rather how hard it is to stop there.
Choose this instead -- Veggies with hummus. You can have a full cup of sugar snap peas for 60 calories (0 grams of fat). Add 2 tablespoons of hummus and you have a nice fiber-rich snack for just a little more than 100 calories.
Number four -- Skip the margaritas. Between the alcohol and mixers, a small 3.5-ounce drink packs about 160 calories.
Drink this instead -- Light beer. A 12-ounce bottle generally has a little less than 100 calories. Or go for the best choice of all: zero-calorie flavored seltzer or water.
And finally here's a dessert to skip -- Strawberry shortcake. Just because it contains fruit doesn't mean it's the healthiest or lowest-calorie choice. Between the cake and the loads of whipped cream that typically tops this summer favorite, you get a lot more calories than you may be bargaining for: about 425 (and around 25 grams of fat).
Here's the better option -- a frozen fruit bar. It has about 100 calories, or you could even have a scoop of vanilla ice cream for about 140 calories.