Cook first then bake! 5 tips for barbecue to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in a healthy way

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, barbecue is enjoyed by everyone, but everyone has their own unique secrets on how to grill the ingredients healthily and deliciously! Nutritionists remind us that barbecue carries the risk of high calories, obesity and cancer. Before enjoying the delicious food, you should plan a healthy barbecue strategy, such as boiling the ingredients before grilling, adding water to dilute the barbecue sauce, etc., to avoid dietary landmines.

Barbecue hides the dietary landmines of obesity and cancer. Nutritionists share 5 secrets of healthy barbecue, so that people can barbecue with peace of mind and less burden.

Nutritionist Jiang Shifeng from Daqian General Hospital said that if you want to hold a healthy and stress-free barbecue event on Mid-Autumn Festival night, you can refer to the following 5 tips:

1. Eat more vegetables and less meat: Use chicken breast, tenderloin, shrimp, clams, crab legs, fish fillet, spiced tofu and other low-fat beans, fish, and meat, paired with fruits and vegetables, and skewered with vegetables such as carrots, shiitake mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, bamboo shoots, green peppers, green beans, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. Not only are the colors attractive, refreshing and non-greasy, but they also increase the intake of dietary fiber, while also increasing the sense of fullness, which can effectively reduce the intake of meat, and the fiber can increase gastrointestinal motility and reduce the residence time of carcinogens in the body.

2. Reduce processed products and choose fresh ingredients: Foods such as ham, sausage, bacon contain nitrates, which can easily form nitrosamine compounds in the intestines and are one of the carcinogens. It is recommended to reduce their use; in addition, processed meatballs contain a lot of saturated fat, which will cause an increase in serum cholesterol and triglycerides, increasing the burden on the body.

3. Do not eat burnt food: burnt substances are strong carcinogens. When food fats dissolve due to heat and drip onto charcoal fire, they produce carcinogens "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons". When grilling, food must be avoided from direct contact with the fire, so it is best to put a piece of tin foil on the grill and change it several times. Ingredients such as enoki mushrooms, loofah, asparagus, and king oyster mushrooms can be sprinkled with pepper and salt, wrapped in tin foil, and then grilled to create vegetables with unique flavor. Alternatively, you can boil or microwave the ingredients first to shorten the grilling time and reduce the chance of food being burnt.

4. Homemade healthy barbecue sauce: Usually, barbecue meat is marinated with soy sauce first, and then a lot of barbecue sauce is added during barbecue, which makes it easy to consume too much salt without realizing it. Therefore, it is recommended to make your own barbecue sauce. Just add garlic, onion, minced ginger, sugar and boiling water to the soy sauce and mix well. If you use commercially available barbecue sauce, you can use lemon juice, orange juice, fruit vinegar, ginger juice, minced garlic and boiling water to dilute it to reduce sodium intake.

Traditional mooncakes, pineapple cakes and other pastries are high in calories, so it is recommended that you share them with multiple people to avoid consuming too many calories.

5. Sugar-free is better than sugar: When barbecuing, you should not drink soda, juice, milk tea, sugary or alcoholic drinks, as these will increase calorie intake. You can choose sugar-free drinks, barley tea, and lemonade to quench your thirst. Try to replace drinking with tea, which can not only remove the greasiness, but also prevent poor blood sugar control or obesity.

Mooncakes are high in calories! Share food with many people to prevent obesity

In addition to barbecue, the intake of mooncakes and pomelo, which are suitable for the occasion, should also be carefully considered. Nutritionist Jiang Shifeng said that mooncakes are high-calorie foods. A 60-gram small egg yolk cake has about 270 calories, which is equivalent to 1/3 bowl of white rice topped with 3.5 teaspoons of oil. A healthier way to eat mooncakes is to enjoy them between meals and share one mooncake with multiple people to prevent yourself from overeating.

In addition, it is recommended to eat less mooncakes with fillings containing egg yolks, fatty meat, puff pastry, pineapple cakes or nuts. Better choices are snow skin mooncakes, crystal mooncakes, steamed mooncakes, or low-sugar and high-fiber mooncakes with added sweeteners or oats. The latter contain lower calories than traditional mooncakes.

Eat grapefruit during Mid-Autumn Festival! Chronic disease patients should be careful

As for pomelo, 1/3 of a pomelo (two to three slices of pomelo) is equivalent to one portion of fruit, so it is most appropriate for 3 to 4 people to share one pomelo. For patients with diabetes, it is recommended not to consume more than 2 servings of fruit per day, and avoid eating them with mooncakes to prevent blood sugar from soaring after meals. For patients with chronic kidney disease or dialysis, it should be noted that grapefruit is high in potassium, and eating too much can easily cause arrhythmia. Do not eat more than 2 small pieces of grapefruit a day to avoid excessive potassium intake.