Healthy Alternatives for Condiments

Dr. Travis Stork: No matter where you’re eating, it is important to know your condiments because you can pack on a lot of fat and calories with those extra toppings and right now, our waiters are serving up some treats that you may order while you’re eating out but we’re going to show you how to make a little splurge healthier because the condiments, Lisa.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: Oh, the condiments are the key. They’re absolutely the key. The lovely lady there with the bread basket there with the butter and butter is something that we look forward to but it’s full of saturated fat and that’s bad for your cholesterol, it raises it. A better choice would be to go with some olive oil and it’s actually just as good. I love the olive oil and that has monounsaturated fat in it. And that actually lowers your cholesterol, so that’s much better for you.

Dr. Travis Stork: So Sarah, something you’d be willing to go for? A little olive oil—good stuff?

Sarah: Oh absolutely, I love olive oil. It’s great.

Dr. Travis Stork: A simple change, you know what? Olive oil actually in moderation is good for you.

Dr. James Sears: Adding the balsamic vinegar to olive oil then you get the both and the same, good too.

Dr. Travis Stork: You can add some other things in there, some garlic. Let’s just keep going.

Dr. James Sears: I’m getting hungry. Now, what if you are at a Mexican restaurant? Everybody loves the splurge on chips and salsa. You probably eat two or three baskets by the time your food gets there. Oftentimes, the most time, you get red salsa and that’s actually pretty good for you.

Dr. Travis Stork: Red salsa is great for you.

Dr. James Sears: Yeah, it’s got antioxidants in there but a lot of people try away from maybe another choice, the green salsa also called tomatillos salsa, most people don’t know, that has about the half the calories of red salsa, so you get still that good punch with less calories.

Dr. Travis Stork: But the great thing is either way, salsa, red or green, that’s good for you.

Dr. James Sears: That’s a good one. It’s a good.

Dr. Travis Stork: Sour cream, stay away from.

Dr. James Sears: Yes. Now, this next one, suppose you’re at a restaurant eating your wings, all right, most of the time, it comes with that blue cheese dressing, that it some bad stuff for you. A much better choice for a topping would be Fat Free Ranch. So, you’re still getting the good dip but it’s going to be zero fat, less than half the calories. The restaurant may not offer it to you, so you got to ask, they’re going to probably have it in the back somewhere, so you got to know your dips.

Dr. Travis Stork: All right Drew, let’s talk about sauces.

Dr. Andrew Ordon: Next time you treat yourself to fishing chips which you have in front of you, instead of eating the tartar sauce, I have a better choice for you. Try the malt vinegar. Two ounces of tartar sauce, 400 calories. It’s all mayonnaise. It has like a meal in itself. Vinegar and lemon together, just 12 calories and it taste pretty darn good.

All right, if we’re talking about sandwich spreads, again, it’s the mayo—on the mayo. I have a better choice for you. To make that sandwich nice and moist and kind of gooey inside, the way you want it instead of the mayo, spread avocado one. Avocado is 1/3 the amount of calories and better for you; good for your heart, full of vitamins.

Dr. Travis Stork: And if you want the spread, you can make it into a guacamole and then use that as a natural spread.

Dr. James Sears: Michael Jackson has being doing that for a while. They make their sandwiches with spread avocado.

Dr. Andrew Ordon: Does that work for you too?

Female: Yeah, definitely

Dr. Andrew Ordon: Dig in.