Lighten UP Your Holiday!

When I think about 4th of July weekends, I think of food even before I visualize the flag or fireworks!

I grew up in southern West Virginia, and summer holiday weekends always included pies, s'mores, huge bowls of potato salad, green beans cooked forever with bacon or ham, corn on the cob and that West Virginia specialty: hot dogs smothered with with chili sauce and coleslaw.

I think I gained five pounds by writing that!

Are you planning to picnic this 4th of July?

Believe it or not, it is  possible to lighten up all those dishes and not completely ruin your weight loss plan.

Potato salad and cole slaw are both, of course, mayonnaise-based, and mayo is a prime source for saturated fat.  Fortunately there are good low-fat mayonaises on the market now...even one that has olive oil in it!
So look at your recipes and see where you can substitute low-fat or fat -free ingredients for the saturated fat.

Careful label reading is a must. Don't simply trust the front of the package; often a food may be marketed as "low-fat" - yet when you examine and compare various products ( like hot dogs) you may find out that they aren't such calorie or fat bargains after all.

Choose a turkey hot dog usually which has 100 calories and about 3 grams of saturated fat - instead of a beef hot dog and you will save about 50 calories and 3 grams of saturated fat. Top with traditional mustard and onions instead ( I know, a sacrilege to those of us who grew up near Charleston or Huntington!) and the calories and fat go down even more!

Steam your green beans and season with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, almonds or grated Parmesan cheese and forget the bacon grease, sugar and ham seasoning - they will be just as tasty.

Baked beans have about 1 gram of sat.fat - so substitute them for buttered corn, and you'll also get a protein boost!

Base dessert around watermelon or angel food cake which is usually very low calorie and virtually fat- free - and you save hundreds of calories!

Here are some more recipes to enjoy this weekend! Hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July!

http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/summer/a/lowfat4thjuly.htm