Healthy Grilling Tips

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It took somewhere around 3 months to get my Men’s Health subscription. I had made the mistake of subscribing through a third party and of course it never came. I went through the real channels and it’s I’m back reading it again for the first time in two years. I urge you to subscribe today. Women, I assume that Woman’s Health is a similarly great product.

Here is just one of the things that I learned (and Hank Hill will love this…)

Propane grilling is healthier than charcoal grilling (page 36). Grilling does add carcinogens, which are caused by dripping fat on the heat source. The smoke created from that gets in the food. With charcoal there’s simply more smoke. They give three great health tips that can mostly get rid of this problem.

Choose leaner meats or trim fat - This goes a long way in eliminating the source of the problem. And you know it’s healthier to do this anyway.
Marinate your meats - I didn’t see a reference to a study to back it up, but vinegar or lemon juice is reduces some carcinogens by 90 percent. Consider it a bonus as it makes the meat taste better too.
Flip your meat often - I always went with the flip once, but apparently this isn’t the healthiest plan.

I’m always careful not to char my grilled meats too much. Should you be worried about these carcinogens? While it’s never good to read about carcinogens in your food, I remind myself that people ate this way for thousands of years. For some more great grilling tips see Grill Maestro.

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Posted by Lazy Man on August 8, 2007 in Food Choice.

3 Responses to “Healthy Grilling Tips”

grillmaestro Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 10:35 am
You might find this useful for more info on carcinogens and grilling:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/heterocyclic-amines
Blaine Moore (Run to Win) Says:
August 13th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
It depends upon what I am cooking on how many times I will flip it. Steaks, I only flip once. I don’t leave them on the grill very long, either. Burgers might get flipped a few times. How the chicken was prepared will dictate how many times it is flipped, although pork is usually only once.

I go for what tastes good and not for how healthy or unhealthy the preparation method is.
deepali Says:
January 24th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
It’s not the fuel source, it’s the heat. The smoke from fat burning is bad, but the charring of the protein itself is the main source of carcinogens. Unless propane cooks food at a lower temperature than charcoal, switching isn’t going to make too much of a difference.

#1 seems like the most feasible option to me.