A Better Braai Day

As South Africans, many of us are united by our love of a braai and a beer. Heritage Day, lovingly referred to as “Braai Day” by most of the country, will be celebrated with both, in generous helpings. While Heritage Day comes but once a year, our people need no excuse to haul out the braai and grab some meat and some drinks and spend any afternoon indulging.

While our national past time is a great way to spend time with friends and family, especially during loadshedding, there are aspects of our braai habits that need some attention: Red meat and beer. Sadly, too much of either of these can lead to both raised blood pressure and high cholesterol.

What are those?

Blood pressure is the pressure at which your blood makes its way from your heart, around your body through your arteries and then back to your heart via your veins. If it’s too high, it can strain the heart, lungs, brain and blood vessels, putting you at risk for:

Cholesterol is one of the fatty substances we need to live. There is good cholesterol which comes from high-density lipoproteins or “HDL” and bad cholesterol from low density lipoproteins or “LDL”. Our bodies produce it from the food we eat, and normally we produce just enough of it to ensure we are healthy. Over consumption of certain foods, like red meat and high calorie alcohols like beer, mean that we produce too much of it and it ends up lining our arteries, narrowing the space where our blood should flow and interfering with us getting what we need from the blood as it’s pumped through our system. High cholesterol can cause:

Some of you might have noticed the overlap in the lists and that is exactly where the problem lies with Braai Day. The over-consumption of the combination of red meat and beer creates the perfect storm for heart, brain, and vascular problems. If it were once every now and then, it wouldn’t be a problem. But the average South African consumes extreme quantities of LDL, salt and saturated fats, so we have to be extra careful.

What are these foods that are so dangerous to our hearts and brains? Besides red meat and beer, other foods like:

• Full fat dairy, including cheeses, butter and ice cream.
• Processed meat, like polony, sausages and bully beef (everything you might find in a kota) are very high in saturated fats and salt, which cause bad cholesterol and high blood pressure respectively.
• Fried foods like slaptjips, vetkoek and donuts also cause high levels of LDL cholesterol.

If that looks like it’s cut out more than half your diet, you can substitute with these foods instead:

• Lean meat, like fish and chicken breasts.
• Eggs. These are high in protein, iron and B vitamins, like red meat, but with much less saturated fat.
• Low fat dairy. Same protein, almost identical flavour, but much better for cholesterol levels.
• Whole grains. These are highly recommended. Certain grains like oats can actually help to lower your LDL cholesterol, making them an excellent breakfast option.
• Baked fruit. If cannot manage without dessert, baked apples and pears make a tasty sweet treat that won’t raise your LDL.

You can also change the way you cook your food. Frying does seem like less effort than baking or steaming, but doing a one-tray bake is the same washing up as a frying pan. If that really does not appeal, use a stir fry method of very hot, fast cooking with a tiny amount of oil. This preserves the nutrients in your food and doesn’t allow the oil to soak in, meaning you eat much less of it. Using Canola oil instead of sunflower oil can also make a positive difference in your LDL cholesterol levels.

You can even add whole peppers and sweet potatoes to the braai. Wrap them in foil with pieces of fish or chicken breasts to make a juicy, wholesome meal and pair it with lite beer or low alcohol wine.

If you combine all these tips, you will be able to control your blood pressure and your cholesterol, without missing out on too much. While we love to celebrate, we must keep our health in mind. Enjoy Heritage Day to the full, but the next braai needs veggies.

• Email
• WhatsApp - Just type 'Hi' to start chatting
• Telephone