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You're Home! » Are You Following These 10 Safe Summer Grilling Tips?

July 8, 2016

Are You Following These 10 Safe Summer Grilling Tips?

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*These tips are from Sophia Ruan Gushee. This post includes my affiliate links.

My family and I just love grilling on our Traeger grill, during the summer months. Every time my husband turns on the grill, I enjoy smelling the scent of it warming up. In fact, we are grilling some steaks for dinner tonight, can’t wait!

However, did you know that grilling can also create toxic compounds that are linked to adverse health effects that range from headaches and respiratory irritation to many forms of cancer? I never heard of this or knew about any of this stuff. Ugh.

10 Safe Summer Grilling Tips

Sophia Ruan Gushee, the author of A-to-Z of D-Toxing: The Ultimate Guide to Reducing Our Toxic Exposures, gives some tips below, on how to avoid cancer-causing chemicals and other toxic compounds while continuing to enjoy grilled meals all summer long!

1. Avoid “well done” burgers and steaks.
Cooking meats until they are well done poses two issues: By maximizing the cooking time, meat is exposed to high temperatures for longer (creating more HCA-laden char), and there is a greater opportunity for fat and juices to drip off (creating PAH-contaminated smoke). In 2005, a study from the National Cancer Institute found that “very well done meat was positively associated with prostate cancer risk.”

Grilled Hamburger

2. Get informed about marinades.
Marinades with acidic elements, such as beer, wine, vinegar, or lemon juice, prevent PAHs from sticking to cooked meats. Marinades that contain sugar, such as barbecue sauce, should only be used in the last few minutes of grilling, as they encourage charring. In fact, years ago, a study found that using barbecue sauce caused an increase in toxic chemicals that are formed during the grilling process.

3. Trim the fat.
Trimming meats will reduce the amount of fat that will drip into the grill, which forms PAH-contaminated smoke. This will reduce the toxicity of your meats!

4. Use a drip rack, or wrap foods in a foil packet.
Wrapping foods in a packet serves a similar purpose to trimming the fat: Less fat, juices, and smoke will contaminate meat with PAHs.

5. Turn the meats often
Scientific studies have found that continuously flipping the protein over high heat can reduce the formation of HCAs, in comparison to simply leaving meat on the heat source.

BBQ Grilled Ribs

6. Remove the charred portions
Charred bits contain HCAs in their purest form, so eliminating them from your meal is a high-impact way to make grilling safer.

7. Incorporate more veggies
HCAs form when amino acids and creatine — a chemical found in muscle tissue — react at high cooking temperatures. According to experts, since vegetables don’t contain creatine, grilling vegetables and fruits is healthier than grilling meats. Plus, many vegetables have cancer-fighting and immune-boosting properties.

8. Keep your grill clean
Charred, carcinogenic residues that contain high concentrations of HCAs can stick to the grill after each use and contaminate future meals. Research “nontoxic ways to clean a grill” online for healthy ways to remove these charred bits. It can be as easy as using aluminum foil and vinegar.

9. Choose thinner cuts of meats
Thinner cuts of meat will require less cooking time, which will reduce the meat’s exposure to high temperatures, and therefore, carcinogenic chemicals.

10. Reduce your use of lighter fluid
If you’re using a charcoal grill, remember that petroleum-based lighter fluid has been found to release VOCs, which can be inhaled and contaminate your food. Healthier fire starters include chimneys and electric charcoal starters.

These are great tips from Sophia Ruan Gushee. I need to do a few things on that list above. For one, my grill is not very tidy. It could use some scrubbing I am embarrassed to say. We use it so much that sometimes we just forget!

What Tips Would You Add To This Helpful List?

About Kim Delatorre

Kim Delatorre is a mommy to three beautiful, smart kids and wife to an amazing husband of 24 years! She enjoys reading, writing, spending time with her family, and blogging.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Maryann D. says

    July 31, 2016 at 3:14 pm

    These are super important tips. We all have to be more conscious of how we are cooking. I am always worried about carcinogens.

  2. Margot C says

    July 31, 2016 at 4:13 pm

    Hum, not really. We like the charred portions! (we don’t do it very often though)

  3. tiffany dayton says

    July 31, 2016 at 2:14 pm

    My husband and I are both clean conscious. We love to grill and grill a lot.

  4. Michele Pineda says

    July 31, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    great tips! We just got back from Guatemala and did a lot of grilling there. The marinades were done in lemon juice and also had some beer, and they used thinner cuts of meat as well. While I like my food well done, down there medium well is just fine as the food has good flavoring due to the marinade ingredients.

  5. Dagmar says

    July 30, 2016 at 5:34 pm

    My hubby and I really need to work on adding more veggies!

  6. Susan Smith says

    July 24, 2016 at 7:36 pm

    Great tips, I had always heard that it’s safer for us to eat meat that is throughly cooked and doesn’t have any pink in it.

  7. Nancy says

    July 23, 2016 at 10:38 am

    I had heard of many of these tips. I guess I’d add the suggestion to grill from time to time, not all the time to minimize your exposure.

  8. Cynthia R says

    July 21, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    I had no idea about all the warnings about charred meat and drippings creating more bad smoke, thanks for the tips!

  9. Dana Rodriguez says

    July 20, 2016 at 10:10 am

    These are some great tips. We grill year round. That burger looks yummy!

  10. Eleya says

    July 15, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    We always trim the fat!

  11. Edye says

    July 14, 2016 at 7:48 pm

    Great tips! Thanks for sharing 🙂

  12. Mia says

    July 14, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    This is a great comprehensive list to keep grilling healthy.

  13. vickie couturier says

    July 14, 2016 at 7:00 am

    i need you to grill for me,,those look so good,,my husband does the grilling and he isnt so good

  14. Julie Lundstrom says

    July 13, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    Good to remind of grill safety for the summer.

  15. Debbie Yoder says

    July 13, 2016 at 10:48 am

    Thanks for the grilling tips! Very informative!

  16. Cynthia C says

    July 13, 2016 at 4:53 am

    Thanks for sharing these important facts about healthy grilling. I want to keep my family safe.

  17. Darlene Carbajal says

    July 12, 2016 at 4:12 pm

    Great tips. I didn’t know half of them.

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About Kim

My name is Kim and I have three busy kids. I am married to my middle school sweetheart and we live in Idaho. You can easily contact me on my Contact Me Page!

Email: [email protected]

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