Labor Day Food

Labor Day Food is typically a picnic, or barbeque, but you can choose to make some healthy menu choices for the day!

Many of us will celebrate this holiday of no work, with a picnic, party, beach day, lake day, or barbeque with friends and family!  Labor Day will be centered on food, because that is how we love to celebrate our holidays!  

Healthy Diet Tips for Labor Day

Here are a few ideas to add healthy diet habits to your Labor Day Meals:

• Choose low fat meat choices that are not full of additives. Hot Dogs are full of all kinds of junk, but there are choices now that are more conducive to health! Costco, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods offer many nitrate and chemical free choices. Just be sure and check out the food label, and if something sounds chemically, it is! 
  


• Grill your meat on lower temperatures to limit charring which has been linked to cancer!


• Make meat a side dish and not the main entrée! We are portion challenged! Hamburgers need not be Costco sized! Choose smaller 100% whole grain buns or just go with the patty!


• Keep Carbs in check! You know the American picnic of Burger, Potato Salad, Mac Salad, Bun, Chips, Corn, Baked beans and Dessert is way too Starch filled. Make it your goal to add some new salads that are veggie and fruit filled. Limit your starch choice to one or two choices! If you want beans, maybe choose grilled fresh non starchy veggies rather than corn. If you want Corn, skip the potato and Mac salad. It is not that hard. Just get out of the same old, same old rut!


• Provide lower calorie choices for desserts! I hate it when I go to a picnic and there is the Costco chocolate cake (you know the giant one) that I know has over 900 calories for a small slice! Your friends will not miss that. Find a great lower calorie fruit filled recipe or maybe a fruity home-made sorbet!


• Keep appetizers and dips to a minimum! They are so caloric! Many people eat a day’s worth of calories before the meal begins! Provide a huge veggie platter with a lower calorie dip!


• Change your mindset! Healthy never means boring! Most of my favorite salads are healthy and loved by everyone! I can hardly eat the gloppy potato salad anymore! Get educated!


• Add Veggies in everywhere!!!

Above, is Kerry's Broccoli Salad.  You can find the recipe on her Healthy Diet Habits website! 

Sample Menu Plan for Labor Day

• Meat and Veggie Skewers: Add a selection of meats and fresh produce! Encourage your guests to skewer what they love and barbeque away! Get creative! Use chopped meats, fresh pineapple, different colored peppers, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, eggplant, different squashes, peaches, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, your choices!


• Quinoa, Brown Rice, or really great crusty Artisan bread! Pick two if you have a large group!


• Chopped Veggie Salad with vinaigrette (Leave out the noodle types because you already picked your starches)


• Chopped fruit salad or fruit platter (For some tips on how to make a great Produce Tray with Fruits & Veggies - see my Produce Trays page)


• Sorbet

• For Drinks, check out our Holiday Drinks page for some fun ideas!

This would be a very simple, delicious meal that would not leave people thinking "Oh, I hate going to their house because they are health nuts!" It would be healthy and keep your plate half full of produce, which is a great lifestyle solution for weight control! The Skewers would be fun for everyone, especially kids!

That is what Labor Day is all about! Having Fun, before summer ends, school begins, and we happily trudge back to work on Tuesday, after watching our favorite NFL team that is!!!

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