5 ways to make grilling even healthier

Grilling is particularly beneficial for people with diabetes because it's a healthy cooking technique. Here are a few ways to make your outdoor cooking even more healthy without giving up flavour.

Sure, firing up the barbecue or grill provides you with a sociable, relaxing time in the backyard, which is an instant stress buster. It's also a healthy way to cook your favourite ingredients for two main reasons:

• Grilled foods typically don't require high-fat sauces or accompaniments.
• Much of the fat drips away and never makes it to your plate.

Nonetheless, there are ways you can make eating grilled foods even better for your body.

You don't have to gorge on fatty burgers and bratwursts just because you're cooking outside.

• Healthier choices include beef tenderloin or sirloin and fish. And load up the grill with vegetables.

Another alternative is to leave chicken skin on only while it's cooking to seal in moisture, then pull it off afterwards.

• It will save you a load of saturated fat – which hampers insulin sensitivity and increases the risk of heart disease – and calories.

Grilling may seem simple, and it is if you know how to do it properly. You'd be surprised at how valuable even a few simple grilling secrets can be.

• Do you know how often to flip a piece of meat and when to do it?
• What about how to tell when the food is done without cutting into it?

For a special event like a birthday or anniversary, consider hiring a chef to come to your backyard. He or she can whip up a meal for your party and work in a lesson at the same time.

• Ask him or her to focus on healthy foods that you don't know how to grill — say, salmon fillets, scallops or pork loin.

Many of your favourite fruits and vegetables will pick up an alluring new taste when grilled.

• Sliced squash, eggplant, peppers, portobello mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, pineapple, peaches and apricots all fare well on a grill.

First coat veggies with a little olive oil before grilling.

• For small or thin slices that might fall through the bars of your grill grate, use skewers or grilling baskets, which you can readily buy in home improvement centres and cooking stores.

Making dinner on the grill doesn't automatically mean charbroiled meat and corn on the cob.

• Packet cooking lets you prepare all sorts of foods on the grill. Just centre the ingredients on a large sheet of aluminum foil, add a little olive oil or broth, then fold up the sides, leaving room for steam to circulate inside. Set the packets on the grill.
• This strategy works particularly well for delicate or quick-cooking foods, such as fish and boneless chicken breast. Even lean meats stay tender.

Put out a variety of vegetables (e.g., peppers, onion, snap peas and corn) and seasonings and let each member of the family design his or her own packet.

With some minor changes in your lifestyle, you can help make grilling even healthier and contribute to a better-balanced diet without giving up some of the best flavours of food.