How to Eat Healthy While Grilling Outdoors

Who doesn’t like to grill? If you use your head, outdoor grilling can be satisfying and healthy. You can easily choose foods that are low in fat and high in nutrients that will also satisfy your family and guests.

Marinades not only add extra flavor to your grilled foods they also can reduce the formation of cancer causing substances on those foods. Use olive oil and or citrus juices in your marinade and you can reduce the formation of these chemicals by 99%. Not only do marinades make your foods tasty and healthy they also tenderize meats and just make your grilled meal better.

You can take some simple steps to help reduce the risk of cancer while grilling. Basically the reason grilling can lead to cancer is that when food is heated with intense heat and flame chemicals agents known as Heterocyclic amines (HCA) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) can form. HCAs and PAHs are formed mostly from the smoke when fat burns or when fat is heated to extreme temperatures. The sources of fat can come from the bottom of your grill (previous burned fats) or from meat fats and from the grease and fat from your present cooking.

There are some simple steps you can take to reduce the risks of cancer associated with grilling:

Step #1 - Always keep your grill clean from one grilling to the next. Not only do clean grills cook better, they are safer too.

Step #2 - Prepare your meats by trimming excess fats away. Keep fats to a minimum in all the foods you grill.

Step #3 - When marinating, use olive oil or citrus juices.

Step #4 - Flare-up can increase HCA formation, so do all you can to avoid flare-ups. To avoid flare-ups trim all unnecessary fat from the foods you are grilling (leave a little fat for flavor and to prevent drying while grilling). Oils, marinades and sauces can also add fat, so reduce the fat content whenever possible. Marinades should be allowed to soak into the meat and should be dripping with oil when you place on the grill. Be ready to move foods out of the way of any occasional flare-ups that do occur. Use an upper warming rack to hold food temporarily so the food doesn't burn during a flare-up.

Use a water filled spray bottle as a last ditch effort to control a flare up because you should never put water on a grease fire. If you use water, the moments you start the grill back up and the grease from the flare-up heats back up, you are going to have another flare-up. If you do use a water spray bottle the grease will explode and burned grease will get on your food (does not taste good). Remember a clean grill produces fewer flare-ups. So clean your grill after each use and especially after any flare-ups.