Everyday Tips on Eating Smarter

Getting your family to eat healthier can be a challenge—particularly
with picky eaters that aren't fans of diet food. George Foreman® is here to help with 10 ways to make the everyday foods you love healthier.

1. Cut butter and oil
   Butter and oil add fat, so cut them from recipes to make food healthier. Any good nonstick surface like the George Tough™ nonstick coating on your grill will prevent food from sticking
   as you cook, even without butter or oil. This way, you can cut
   the 1-2 tablespoons of butter or oil typically listed in the first few ingredients of a recipe.
2. Use whole grains
   Always choose whole grains over white. White flour is high in gluten and low in dietary fiber and nutrients, which can slow your metabolism and impede a healthy diet. Whole wheat and whole grain breads provide more nutrition.
3. Grill up the freshest vegetables & ingredients
   Most ingredients—particularly vegetables, fruits and herbs—lose nutrients the longer they sit. To get the highest nutritional value from your food, you need to use the freshest ingredients. This includes vegetables that you grill for entrees and side dishes, as well as herbs for marinades and seasoning.
   
   Find local farmers markets and even nearby farms in your area that will let you pick the ingredients directly. You'll enjoy the freshest taste as you maximize the nutritional value of your meals.
4. Use low fat cheese & other healthy ingredients
   Ingredient substitutions are the easiest way to make a favorite dish healthier. The key is to find ingredients that either promote a healthy diet by providing some nutritional benefit or at least use ingredients that don't add a lot of empty calories and fat to your dish.
   
   Use low fat cheeses in place of fattier cheese on your burger; in desserts, try using raw cacao instead of regular commercial chocolate, since cacao contains no added sugar and is high in antioxidants.
5. Practice portion control
   A kitchen scale is your best friend in supporting a healthy lifestyle, because it lets you practice that age-old principle of moderation. By measuring your ingredients carefully to ensure you're not overindulging, you can keep more of the foods you love in your diet.When you're measuring ingredients for portion control in a recipe, pay the closest attention to the proteins and dairy included in the dish, since these typically will have the highest fat content.
6. Add healthy extras & toppings
   Besides just substituting healthier ingredients in your recipes, you can also make recipes healthier by adding ingredients, too. Whether you sprinkle in fresh oregano on a sauce to add antioxidants or use walnuts as a healthy crust on your chicken for more Omega 3, adding ingredients with real health benefits helps promote a healthy living in all your dishes.
7. Eat less, more often
   Snack time isn't a bad thing in a diet—in truth, it keeps you from overeating at regular meals and can actually help speed up your metabolism as well. Rather than starving all afternoon only to stuff yourself at dinner, allow yourself to have small healthy snacks when you get hungry.
   
   Your George Foreman grill can help with snacking, too. Just slice and grill fresh pineapple to have a sweet treat ready in less than five minutes. For a savory snack, dip a few shrimp in a pre-made teriyaki marinade and have teriyaki shrimp ready in a snap.
8. Pick fresh over processed
   Processed foods can contain an array of unhealthy additives like high fructose corn syrup, empty calories and too much fat. Instead of eating store-bought packaged Panini, use fresh ingredients to make them at home on your George Foreman grill. You'll get more nutrients from fresh ingredients, plus avoid any hidden additives that can hinder a healthy diet.
9. Plan indulgences around your day
   Sometimes the only thing you need to make an indulgence part of a healthy lifestyle is better timing. Eating fattier food right before bed is much worse than eating it earlier in the day, because you won't have time to burn off the calories with activity.
   
   Plan big meals and any less-than-healthy indulgences for earlier in your day, so you can at least burn off the calories over the course of your busy schedule.
10. Remove the fat
    Of course, our favorite method of making the everyday foods you love healthier is to simply remove the fat. Your George Foreman grill removes 43% of the fat from food as you cook for healthier meals by design. Now you can eat your burger with less fat, so you don't have to change your meal plan completely to be healthy.
    
    Avoid cooking methods like pan cooking, unless you have a way to separate the fat from the food as you cook. Also focus on choosing proteins that are low in fat to start, so you can have the healthiest dishes possible.