Having a barbecuing is a delicious part of our Australian lifestyle, but there are a few important considerations when it comes to your wellbeing. Cooking on a barbecue or grill is generally a healthy way to cook, but fatty foods, charred meats and the by-products of fat dripping on coals may not be so good for you. The following small changes in your cooking methods allow you to enjoy all the great tastes of a barbecue while also minimising any risk to your health.

• Trim visible fat from meat, and use lean cuts such as trim lamb, sirloin and pork tenderloins, and remove the skin from chicken. This reduced the saturated fat content of your food and helps to prevent flare-ups.
• Make sure meat is defrosted thoroughly, and take meat out of the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes before cooking. Otherwise the outside of meat chars while the interior remains under-cooked.
• Add flavour to lean meats by using low fat marinades, such as wine, garlic, lemon juice chili sauce, soy sauce and other seasonings and spices.
• Don’t just stick to steak and sausages. Vegetables such as capsicum, zucchini, eggplant and thin slices of sweet potato can all be grilled successfully.
• Seafood is another underused barbeque food. Cook fish in foil to retain moisture and natural flavours and protect it from smoke and fire.
• Don't let raw meat juices come in contact with cooked foods, and don’t put cooked foods on the same plate that held raw meat.
• After grilling, always remove blackened material from the food's surface.

What’s your favourite healthy barbecue food? Do you think it’s important to prevent meat from charring? Have you ever got sick after a dodgy barbecue?

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I may be a minority of one in this country - but I HATE barbecues! Have you ever really been to one where the meat was not cremated? :D:D:D The smoke makes my eyes water too. I'm glad I'm a vegetarian......:D:D:D Barbara, posted 30+ days ago. Report Abuse

We are lucky enough to have a barbecue at my Mum's facility and each Sunday night we do a little barbie for her and she loves it!! We use skinless chicken strips - we use grapeseed oil (only a little on the plate - as this oil does not change chemically under high heats unlike olive oil which is wonderful in its natural state over salads), we lightly cook chicken strips, tomato, zucchini and small pieces of potato - sometimes we add the 'rainbow mix' salad to the vegetables (available from the supermarket) to add colour and we make it softer for Mum to eat and we serve with a fresh green salad. Janelle , posted 30+ days ago. Report Abuse

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