Hot Tips to Cut Calories at Your Next BBQ

Posted Wed, Jul 09, 2008, 2:56 pm PDT

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HG Alert! The average person attending a summer BBQ will consume at least one beer, a hot dog, a burger, chips, coleslaw, potato salad, and dessert. That can easily exceed 1,500 calories. No worries. You can still enjoy the festivities (and the food!) without going overboard. HG's here with the need-to-know BBQ info...

Guilt-Free Grill Guide - Typical BBQ meat options include hot dogs, burgers, and chicken. Grilled chicken is definitely your best bet. Try it bunless on a plate loaded with veggies like tomatoes, onions, and lettuce. Or, if you've gotta feed a starch craving, pile your chicken and veggies onto half of a bun, and enjoy an open-faced sandwich. If you are going to have a burger or dog, try to stick with ground beef that has a small percentage of fat or a hot dog that is at least 97% fat-free.

Side Dish Dos and Don'ts - Run screaming from (or just politely decline) mayo-soaked sides like slaws, potato salad, and macaroni salad. Each tiny serving of those is crammed with fat and calories. Instead opt for sweet corn on the cob (swap the butter for a squirt of lemon and some salt & pepper), baked potato with salsa (sweet potatoes ROCK, and they taste amazingly good without any add-ons), and grilled veggies.

BBQ Beverages - Just because your neighbor can't stop yapping about her fantastic homemade margaritas, that doesn't mean you need to cave to that crazy cocktail. Margaritas contain hundreds of calories (thanks to sugary mixes and assorted alcohol). Instead, whip up your own low-cal cocktail by combining seltzer with a shot of rum or vodka, and then flavoring it with a few lemon & lime wedges and any other fruit you can get your paws on. As for beer, stick with the light kind. Beck's Premier Light has just 64 calories per bottle, and Miller's latest light one (Miller Chill) is a rockin' 110-calorie Mexican-inspired brew. Bring along either of those, and you'll earn instantly party cred with the other calorie-counters!

Sweets in the Heat - Desserts don't have to be calorie-catastrophes -- or BORING. Grilled fruit kabobs are INSANELY good. Grilled mango, banana, pineapple and more are an awesome alternative to plain fruit salad. The fruit will taste sweeter and have groovy grill marks too! Also, choose icy treats (like sorbet and ice pops) instead of creamy & carby ones (ice creams and cake) -- you'll save oodles of fat and calories that way.

Product Picks for Your BBQ!

d'Oni Specialty Sauces - These low-cal, fat-free marinades are PACKED with flavor. Use 'em on chicken, seafood, veggies and more! HG's fave? Bold as Love Honey-Habanero-Mustard. Click here to find stores near you that stock 'em, or here to order online. As for a supermarket staple, go for Lawry's awesome marinade line-up, and also keep an eye out for the tasty new marinades from Newman's Own.

Amy's Texas Veggie Burgers - Meat-eaters and vegetarians will flip for these barbeque-flavored patties packed with soy protein, veggies, oats, and walnuts! All that adds up to just 120 calories and 2.5 fat grams each. We also dig Gardenburger's line-up of veggie burgers (especially the Black Bean Chipotle one!), and we love Boca's burgers, too.

Hebrew National 97% Fat Free Beef Franks - These 50-calorie pups taste EXACTLY like the real thing but have just a fraction of the calories and just 1.5 grams of fat each. No BBQ should be without 'em! (Pssst... make sure you get the 97% Fat Free ones and not the Reduced Fat dogs -- those have WAY more calories and fat!)

Weight Watchers Sherbet and Ice Cream Bars - These portion-controlled pops combine creamy vanilla ice cream AND fruity sherbet. We're OBSESSED with 'em. Each bar has just 60 calories and a half-gram of fat. (FYI, they come in Strawberry, Key Lime, and Passion Fruit.)

For tips, tricks, guilt-free food finds and MORE, sign up for Hungry Girl's FREE daily emails at hungry-girl.com.

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10 Comments

1. Posted by silancedogz on Fri, Jul 11, 2008, 7:55 am PDT

A grilled burger made from quality lean (90% lean or more) ground beef is surprisingly low in fat and calories, as long as you're not packing an entire pound of beef into one burger. I hate vegetable burgers, personally, but do serve them to my non-meat-eating guests. And if you have to have potato salad (I do), the Greek-style ones with olive oil balsamic vinegar, tons of herbs and just a sprinkle of feta cheese are delicious.
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2. Posted by isithalloween on Tue, Jul 15, 2008, 2:12 pm PDT

chuckE jinglEs loves chunky girls so I hope that they eat a lot of fat....but not too much! http://youtube.com/user/chuckejingles
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3. Posted by lsudelt4 on Thu, Jul 17, 2008, 1:46 pm PDT

its a BBQ for crying out loud! eat what you want for one day, it won't kill you! it's not like you eat at a BBQ every day of the week for months on end. and by the way...if you want a juicy burger, you have to use at least an 85/15 mixture of ground beef, anything higher in the 90's will dry it out. LIVE A LITTLE!
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4. Posted by shrinkydink789 on Tue, Jul 22, 2008, 7:08 am PDT

for dessert people should try the skinny cow frozzen desserts theyre really good and low cal /low fat. plus they dont have aspertame like alot of low cal / sugar free foods. by the way aspertame is a neurotoxin that makes your brain blead that is used as an artificial sweetener. it is also called asosulfame potassium.
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5. Posted by bluetoadfrog on Wed, Jul 30, 2008, 8:43 pm PDT

Enjoy your summer eat drink and be merry !!!
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6. Posted by sweptawaydiva1257@sbcglobal.net on Sun, Aug 03, 2008, 7:24 pm PDT

As my grandmother used to say;Everything in moderation
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7. Posted by Kathy C on Mon, Aug 04, 2008, 11:59 am PDT

don't think diet! that's a party killer, think of it as a life style commitment
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8. Posted by Erik P on Mon, Aug 04, 2008, 3:14 pm PDT

What's wrong with this diet conscious society. Obviously we're obese, but why do you think girls and boys are turning into anorexic and bulimic health risks. It's because people like "HUNGRY GIRL" think it's necessary to post diet this, diet that, all the time. It's never ending and it's pathetic. All over the TV all you see is garbage about diets. It's just reinforcing the idea that if your not a steroidal health beast your not right. Sure being healthy is great it leads to longevity and good living, but not when it's an obsessive ideal in your life. That leads to mental instability. Stop writing your diet bull your proving nothing and if anything it's that your that insecure person who needed to be skinny to be right in other peoples eyes. America is the most cosmetic country in the world and it's because of people like you hungry girl and all these other companies that live on false pretenses of weight and health. Including Diet companies coupled in the palms of fast food companies. You may think your detracting from eating unhealthy, but you're just giving the mind more incentive to grub what tastes good. If you eat smart than your health will be smart. On top of all that it's BBQ, let us all waste one good time a month by eating as healthy as we can. 1500 calories once in a while is not going to kill you. GET A CLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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9. Posted by my_pandora on Tue, Aug 05, 2008, 6:24 pm PDT

I would rather learn to eat a Healthy meal with a few cheats now and then. For me, I'd have the pototo salad, but the lean chicken, my husband on the other hand, would have the burger, and skip the pototoe salad. A healthy BALANCED diet would let you have treats sometimes, as long as they are TREATS, so I say, save colories where you can, and then splurge on the cloe slaw once in a while!
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10. Posted by my_pandora on Tue, Aug 05, 2008, 6:25 pm PDT

I would rather learn to eat a Healthy meal with a few cheats now and then. For me, I'd have the pototo salad, but the lean chicken, my husband on the other hand, would have the burger, and skip the pototoe salad. A healthy BALANCED diet would let you have treats sometimes, as long as they are TREATS, so I say, save colories where you can, and then splurge on the cloe slaw once in a while!
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