Summer's most fattening foods

Ahhh, the lazy days of summer: barbecues in the garden, cocktails on the patio, summer sports and beer. Summertime living may be easy but if you're not careful, summer's fattening foods can really pile on the pounds. While most people are more active during the summer, it may not be enough to burn off all the extra calories from fattening summer treats.

Barbecued burgers can bump up your calorie intake

'Throw another shrimp on the barbie' may be a popular Australian phrase but for us Brits it's more likely to be another quarterpounder, sausage or rack of ribs. There's something about a real fire that makes it almost impossible for us to stop cooking until every piece of raw meat has been used! Whilst BBQ'd meat is a low fat way of cooking our meat choices, rather large portions add more calories than usual to our daily intake. With the average quarterpounder burger providing 230 calories and 17g of fat without bun or toppings, and two chunky sausages providing 350 calories and over 20g of fat, it's easy to eat almost half your daily calorie needs in BBQ meat alone!

The answer? Choose smaller burgers, limit sausage intake and add kebabs to your BBQ repertoire. Cook only what's needed – and save the coals for lower calorie alternatives, such as marinaded chicken or pork kebabs made with onion, peppers or mushrooms and a dash of BBQ sauce. Remember not only meat can be barbecued. BBQ sweetcorn, beef tomatoes and even pineapple slices and banana (wrap fruit in its skin in foil) make for interesting tastes once cooked.

Beware of dips

From tzatziki to hummous, salsa to guacamole, it's in the summer months that our love of dips comes to the fore. With the exception of full fat cream cheese dips, the rest are made from healthy ingredients – but we often forget just how many calories an average serving can provide. With a 40g serving of guacamole providing 80 kcals and a 50g serving of hummous around 120 calories, it's easy to boost the calories on your plate by adding dips. Where do the calories come from? It tends to be from fats present naturally in the ingredients (such as avocado or chickpeas) plus added oils to give the dip the right consistency and 'mouthfeel'. Choose salsa (around 25 calories a serving), make your own tzatziki with low fat yoghurt, and use reduced-fat versions of guacamole and hummous to help keep calories in check.

Mayonnaise-based salads

When the garden thermometer hits 24C plus, the last food on our mind would be roast potatoes – yet shop-bought potato salads provide a similar calorie content (over 140 calories per 100g) per serving! Whilst it's easy to spot the calorie-rich oil used to cook roast potatoes, we forget that the full-fat mayonnaise or salad cream used to make potato salad is also high in fat. Plus, whilst a salad of carrot, onion and cabbage is almost calorie free, mixing these together with mayonnaise to make coleslaw can increase their calorie content ten-fold!

So buy lower calorie, lower fat versions, or make your own cheaper and tastier version by mixing cooked boiled potato chunks with low fat or low calorie mayo and salad cream. Add chopped chives, or chop the green shoots of spring onions into the mix for even more taste.

Summer drinks

Sweet, fruity cocktails round the pool (the kind served with an umbrella) may go down easily but the calories add up in a hurry. A piña colada provides around 200 calories from its alcohol and fruit sugar content and other alcoholic mixed drinks provide a similar calorie load. Prefer beer, lager or cider? They all provide around 200 calories per pint.

Keep calories in check by alternating alcoholic drinks with water or low calorie drinks. Choose sugar-free lemonade with your Pimms, or calorie-free tonic with your gin.

Satisfying thirst quenchers

Staying hydrated is essential in summer but those cold drinks can wreak havoc with your waistline. It's so easy to choose a calorie free cola, fizzy drink or mixer instead of the full sugar varieties and, can-for-can, you can save yourself 200 calories in the process. Fruit cordials are popular at this time of year but rich in sugar syrup they're an easy way to sneak calories into the diet. Choose low-calorie squashes for all the taste without adding to your waist!

The natural sugar content of pure fruit juices and smoothies boosts their calorie content, so limit yourself to a 200ml serving as one of your '5-a-day' goals. Want to make your fruit juice go further without adding calories? Make it into a long drink with calorie-free fizzy water. Milkshakes are a great way for kids to get essential calcium and protein but make your own with skimmed milk for all the benefits with fewer calories.

Cooling down with frozen treats

With premium ice-cream packing around 150-250 calories a scoop – around the same as a bar of chocolate – it's best to limit your selection to one or two scoops at the ice-cream parlour. However, it's not just the ice-cream that packs a calorific punch. Whilst a standard ice-cream cone has a measly 15 calories, a waffle cone has 52 calories, an oyster shell adds 77 calories and a nougat wafer over 90 calories. Buying from the freezer? Chocolate-coated ice-cream lollies provide over 300 calories a portion, whereas the version coated in fruit puree has less than half that calorie load. Buying ice-cream by the tub for a treat at home? Choose the standard version over the creamier varieties. Supermarket multi-pack choc-ices are great – they're already portioned and most provide fewer than 140 calories a serving. Why not try a sorbet as a low fat refreshing alternative to ice-cream? Most provide 100 calories or less per portion.

Be savvy with those salad toppings

Salads can be the perfect summer dinner: light, refreshing and a perfect way to get your '5-a-day'. However, if you top your salad with high-calorie items, it can go from lean to fattening in a hurry. High-calorie dressings, fried chicken strips, bacon, cheese and croutons are among the biggest offenders. Instead, top your greens with grilled chicken, strips of lean meat or eggs, then pile on the vegetables and top with a low calorie dressing.

Control mindless munching on snacks

Savoury nibbles are tempting in hot weather and grabbing a handful won't do much harm. However, keep returning to that bowl of nachos or crisps, and adding a dip or several, soon boosts your calorie intake without you even noticing. We eat 'units' of food, and buying crisps in a multipack usually offers us smaller packets (units) than a single-packet purchase. In the UK the average multipack crisp packet weighs around 25g, with a single-pack bag weighing around 38g, providing 50% more calories and fat per serving. Worst of all is a 'sharepack' (100-200g) being offered around. Research shows that the bigger the bowl, the more we'll eat. So just take a handful and don't return for seconds (or thirds, or fourths!).

Finger-licking fried chicken

A bucket of fried chicken is an easy way to feed a crowd but it can wreak havoc on your waistline (and arteries). So forgo fried and toss boneless, skinless chicken breasts on the grill. A 100g skinless chicken breast has only 148 calories and 2.2g of fat, compared to an average takeaway fried chicken portion of 445 calories and 23g fat. Add flavour with marinades, spice rubs or top it with fresh salsa.

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