Texas Lap Band Surgeons Talk With You

While I love having a nice 3 day holiday weekend to spend with my family, every holiday in America seems to revolve around at least one big food splurge event and of course July 4th is no different.  In addition to watching fireworks (and hopefully remembering our troops who can’t be home with us this year) most of us will try to grill this weekend.  So here are some thoughts on how to keep the holiday healthy.

Chips and Dip: almost always a combo I advise to avoid because no matter how much better some version is (low fat, low salt, etc) it’s still going to mean empty calories. But I’m not totally stupid, nor am I a saint.  I’m vulnerable to the call of the chips at a picnic or barbeque just as much as the next person.  But I would recommend the following to reduce the damage: SUN CHIPS BRAND, any BAKED CHIPS, GUILTLESS GOURMET BRAND or any chips made wth OLEAN.  PRETZELS and REDUCED FAT CHEEZ-ITs are also good finger food choices.  As for dips, avoid like the plague anything with a lot of “creaminess” in it like ranch dressing, canned or even fresh cheese dip, most guacamoles.  They are all pure lard and will stick to your hips like the media to Michael Jackson.  Good choices really come down to one thing: SALSA.  While it may have a fair amount of sodium, it is fairly low calorie, low fat and is made of veggies.

Main Course:  anything off a grill can be good for you.  Grilled meats especially LEAN STEAK, CHICKEN, FISH are all great choices.  Hamburger meat is much higher in fat than a lean steak, although 10% FAT GROUND BEEF is the best choice if you can choose the meat yourself (as opposed to visiting a friend’s house).  Hot dogs…. you don’t even want to know.  The only real choice for hot dogs are CHICKEN OR TURKEY FRANKS or maybe LOW FAT BEEF hot dogs, but all in all, there are a lot of preservatives and fairly minimal good stuff in hot dogs.

Dessert: let’s have the good news first.  I’m not gonna say no to dessert, but I still want you to make good choices, not throw up your hands and say, “well it’s a holiday, after all……”Apple pie may be traditional, but only a tiny sliver would keep you in your calorie range.  How ’bout….. ICE-CREAM! Did I just say ice-cream?  Why, yes I did!  There are some great tasting, healthy ice-cream choices out there that I would be thrilled to see you choose instead of a ginormous piece of apple pie (although a sliver of pie and healthy ice-cream would be ok).  My favorite new discovery is EDY’S SLOW CHURNED ice-creams.  They are fairly low in calories (about 120 calories per serving vs. 360 for the average Haagen-Dazs) but taste like the real deal.  My personal fave is French silk which is a vanilla with threads of chocolate syrup and some chocolate chunks.  Sorbets and frozen yogurts can be good, too, but you’ve got to read the labels.  Just ’cause it looks healthier doesn’t mean it is.  A lot of sorbets scream about the fruit on the label but fail to mention all the added sugar, so they end up with as many if not more than the same calories as ice-cream.  Also, just because something is “organic” or has “Acai berry” or some other anti-oxidant, doesn’t make it healthy if it still has tons of sugar and fat.

HAPPY FOURTH AND REMEMBER OUR TROOPS!