The 100 Calorie Mushroom
Mission Nutrition Blog - 4th October 2010
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Last weekend I had a lovely time with friends in the Coremandel, beach walks, sunshine and of course –the classic kiwi BBQ!! Well, I have been in NZ for 6 years now, so feel pretty experienced when it comes to understanding the key BBQ rules:
a) if a man is in charge of BBQ stage, DON’T cut his lunch and try and turn, move or touch ANYTHING without permission – this is not a sharing zone
b) meat is the KEY feature and for some, adding vegetable to the BBQ area is deemed criminal.
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Even with the experience of hundreds of good kiwi BBQ’s under my belt, nothing could prepare me for what I saw this weekend. Over the 2 days I was at the beach, 2 lovely (but different men) got behind the flames and took charge of the cooking, and with the same food on the menu (eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes) you would NOT believe the nutritional difference between the 2 final meals – one EASILY twice the Kcals and fat of the other, in the same sized serving.
The first chef (well known to me, trained in healthy nutritional ways), used very little additional oil, pricked the sausages, and lightly cooked the mushrooms and tomatoes. The fat on the bbq was pushed to one side, the bacon went on to paper towel before serving (fat dripped off), eggs were poached and all was served with sliced grainy bread – all in all, a treaty breakfast that didn’t cause a heart attack on consumption, probably around 600kcals and 15-20g fat.
The second gorgeous chef, a keen and heavy oil user created the a aforementioned ‘100kcal mushroom’ – with all the bacon fat and oil on the BBQ –the tomatoes and mushrooms were DROWNED, with a humble 15kcal flat mushroom, being turned into a 100kcal fat laden beast! With fried eggs on top, the total breakfast was well over the 1000kcalsmark and surely must have been more than 45g fat (that’s 3 tbsp!)
So, here are some lessons to be learnt from this as well as some great ideas:
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Cook with minimal added fat – don’t forget 2 tbsp oil = 250kcals = same time to burn off as a choccy bar!
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When cooking a breakfast – don’t forget about the veggies you can have – mushrooms and tomatoes are fab
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For a lunch or dinner – don’t just rely on meat on the BBQ (too much red meat can increase your risk of cancer, and guys with prostate cancer awareness month around the corner) that includes you! Have chicken, fish and seafood too
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Add veggies – you can bbq most veggies including ones like corn, egg plant, capsicums, asparagus, courgette
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Try not to blacken your meat! Charred, black burnt bits on meat really aren’t good for you and can increase be carcinogenic (Cancer causing)
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Serve lots of salads with your BBQ’s
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