Condiments for Better Health
Some Condiments Promote Good Health, Others Promote Weight Gain
May 8, 2007
The BBQ grills are beginning to fire up with the onset of spring, and summer is just around the corner. Grilling lean cuts of meat, chicken, and grilled veggies can help with a healthy, lower fat diet. Yet, even with the flavor of the charcoal or wood, plain chicken or unseasoned steak can be a little bland.
So what can you do to add flavor to your meal without breaking your diet or ruining your healthy eating habits?
Condiments are those items we use to add flavor and spice to our foods. Some condiments can add flavor without adding calories or unhealthy substances to our food and other condiments should be avoided, because they can turn healthy food unhealthy, and may contribute to weight gain too.
One rule to help pick healthier condiments for cooking is to look at the consistency of the condiment. Generally speaking, healthier and leaner condiments are the thinner ones, such as soy sauce, vinegar, hot sauce, small amounts of worchestershire sauce (be careful, some contain extra sugar). These thinner sauce condiments are full of flavor, most can tenderize meat too, and they contain fewer calories per flavor level than their thicker condiment counterparts.
The thicker condiment sauces such as BBQ sauce, ketchup, honey mustard, jelly or jams, syrups, mayo type salad dressing spreads, and cocktail sauces all contain more sugar and therefore, more calories per flavor than the thinner condiments.
Two exceptions to the consistency of condiments showing which are good for you is mustard and wasabi sauces. Both of these condiments are thicker, but you would use very little of them for flavor, and they do not contain a lot of unhealthy ingredients.
Now, there are some thick sauce or liquid condiments that are okay to use, but you want to check the labels to ensure you are using the healthiest versions. For example, spaghetti sauce can be an excellent condiment to season some chicken and pork dishes, even to cover meatballs and the like, but some spaghetti sauces have added sugar and salt that are not necessary for the flavor of the sauce. Learning to read condiment labels can help determine which ones have good ingredients for a healthy, lower fat, lower sodium, lower sugar lifestyle, without compromising flavor.
Of course, salt and pepper are good dry condiment choices, but sodium should be limited, so why not try more natural sea salts? Sea salts are naturally lower in sodium than table salt, but are packed with much more flavor. In fact, you can buy all natural sea salt rubs for your grilling meats that are excellent condiment choices.
Garlic is also another dry condiment that may promote good health and give flavor to meats. Don’t forget using herbs for flavor too, because herbs are great condiments for flavoring food without adding a lot of calories, and some herbs have excellent health benefits as well.
Learning to read labels, checking the ingredients, and trying a variety of new flavors or herb and spice condiments can help you eat a healthier but also more flavorful diet. Don’t be afraid to explore with different tastes of condiments to find those that work best.
