Barbecuing from the heart

Sir,

This week marks the 25th anniversary of barbecue week and many of us will be heading outdoors to fire up the barbecue.

Foods traditionally cooked on barbecues, such as burgers and sausages, can be high in calories, fat and salt.

You can cut down on saturated fat by swapping red meat, sausages and burgers by threading cubes of chicken, firm fish or tofu onto skewers with slices of pepper, courgettes, mushrooms, red onion and cherry tomatoes before grilling.

Why not switch from white bread rolls to wholegrain rolls or wholegrain pitta, brown rice or jacket potatoes.

Include plenty salad and vegetables to make your barbecue colourful and nutritious.

Avoid using too much salad dressing as it can be high in calories.

Try rubbing a spicy marinade on pieces of courgette, pepper, onion, corn-on-the-cob and mushrooms and grill them on the barbecue. Support Heart Research UK’s vital work into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease by visiting www.heartresearch.org.uk Dr Helen Flaherty, head of health promotion at Heart Research UK.