Taste Life Blog

It seems that the ingredients for the best summer ever are being outside with people you love doing something you enjoy.   So, why do summertime events always, always involve food?  Because our mothers taught us “food is love!”  Even going to the beach for a few hours or to a friend’s pool can involve a few hundred extra calories when you not even physically hungry which can lead to scale unhappiness. The way to predict your future is to create it! Notice, the words eat and ate are in the word create.

Here are tips to help you predict and create health and happiness with your scale this summer:

• Remember “sometimes foods” and “every day foods.”

The highest calorie summertime “sometime foods” are ribs, brats and hamburgers and pasta salad glued together with mayo. Ribs are the highest fat content meat that touches your lips and stays on your hips. Think lean loin for “everyday foods” and opt for pork or beef tenderloin. The typical fat content of a brat or leaner hamburger equates to the fat content equal to your favorite candy bar – about 15 grams.  Save half the fat by buying turkey brats or turkey burgers. Another easy way to create your future, healthier self is to mix in wild rice or chopped fresh cherries or blueberries to decrease your fat content your lean ground beef.

What’s a picnic without potato salad and coleslaw? Boring! A “baby portion” of only ½ cup provides about 150 calories and 10 to 15 grams of fat.  Save calories with light mayo or low fat yogurt.

The average brat, baby portion of coleslaw, potato salad, corn on the cob and  beer dinner goes for 1140 calories and 57  grams of fat.  Remember the average adult requires less than 2000 calories a day and 65 grams of fat.

Stay tuned for more summer living tips this week!