Steer your cart through any supermarket and they are everywhere – packaged foods of every imaginable kind. Universally, these can be considered “processed” and it’s a term you’ve likely heard bantered around for years. But recently, new terminology has emerged to define certain foods and beverages that are processed and then some – in other words, ultra-processed foods.

Experts estimate that falls under this ultra-processed category – and that’s concerning to health experts. According to the American Medical Association, consuming ultra-processed foods (UPFs) regularly increases a person’s risk of health complications, including cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.

Most endurance athletes tend to think of food as fuel, and as such try to steer clear of unhealthy picks. But when it comes to gels, chews, and electrolyte drinks, that’s a tough order. After all – most sports nutrition, by definition, is an ultra-processed food. So what does that mean for athletes? Should we go back to the days of eating bananas on bike rides?

What Are Ultra-Processed Foods?

While there is no universally-agreed definition, an ingredient list that reads like a chemistry quiz is a tip-off for something being ultra-processed. These foods go through multiple processing steps, from stripping away nutrients to mixing in sweeteners, fats, salt, artificial flavors, and emulsifiers to alter taste, texture and shelf life. This flavor and texture manipulation is the reason why ultra-processed foods are tasty – and why we keep coming back for more.

Items that often fall into the UPF category include frozen meals, baked goods, soft drinks, hot dogs, boxed cereals, ice cream, white bread, fast food pizza, and potato chips. This designation also applies to most performance-oriented foods like gels, chews, and bars. Even the most casual sports fan has seen athletes gulping down neon sports drinks on the sidelines and during post-game media interviews, and gels and chews are at every aid station during a race. They’re small, shelf-stable, portable, and formulated to fuel your workouts, which is why it’s easy to overlook their ultra-processed characteristics.

What the Science Says about Ultra-Processed Foods

Some degree of processing is nothing to fret about – after all, a bag of frozen blueberries can be considered a processed food but certainly not something that should be avoided. But eating too much food that has been powerfully manipulated by manufacturers .

A in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine associated the highest consumption amounts of UPFs with a 17% increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease-related mortality and a 16% increase in the risk for all-cause mortality. A in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition links UPFs to accelerated biological aging, noting that factors beyond the poor nutritional content such as the addition of non-nutrient components like emulsifiers and preservatives might largely contribute to the accelerated aging effect.

More data shows that UPFs can impact everything from brain to bone to microbiome health. Dyslipidemia, hypertension, weight gain, and insulin resistance are why going heavy on UPFs can be bad news for longevity. Truly concerning is that now Ěýthe daily calories in the typical American diet come from UPFs.

Is My Sports Nutrition an Ultra-Processed Food?

Let’s take a look at the makeup of a few types of popular sports nutrition products.

Vanilla gel

Ingredient list: Maltodextrin, water, fructose, L-leucine, potassium citrate, sodium citrate, citric acid, calcium carbonate, L-valine, sea salt, natural flavor, green tea (leaf) extract (contains caffeine), gellan gum, L-isoleucine, sunflower oil, sodium benzoate (preservative), potassium sorbate (preservative)

Is it ultra-processed? Yes.

Strawberry energy chew

Ingredient list: Organic tapioca syrup, organic cane sugar, water, pectin, potassium citrate, citric acid, natural flavors, Vit B3/B6/B12, fruit blends of apple, blueberry, pomegranate

Ultra-processed? You bet.Ěý

Lemon-lime sports drink mix

Triple source energy blend (maltodextrose, dextrose, fructose), citric acid, silicon dioxide, natural flavors

Are you drinking a UPF? You know the answer.

It’s almost impossible to argue that the above food, like the vast majority of packaged sports nutrition products on the market, are not ultra-processed based on the somewhat loose definition of this food group. So is this something to be concerned about if you frequently fuel your exercise sessions with these products? Or is it possible that ultra-processed gels and drinks are the right nutritional choice for triathletes and do no harm?

Let’s dig into what we know about the benefits and risks.

Yes, You Can Still Use Some Ultra-Processed Sports Nutrition

There is a reason why rely on the various guises of packaged ultra-processed sports nutrition products to get them to the finish line: because they work. We have that purposefully using a UPF around training and competing can be helpful for performance. Sports foods are specially manufactured for athletes to provide the nutrients they may need during training or racing. (Imagine running for many hours with a sack of bananas.)

Sports nutrition is processed to create fast-digesting carbohydrates in the form of gels, chews, and beverages to keep your muscles adequately fueled. As we increase the intensity of what we’re doing, we need more and more carbs (and calories!) as a fuel source. Ultra-processed sports foods use a mix of simple sugars to help with the digestibility and use of those carbs, while added citrusy or chocolatey flavors make them desirable to consume. That’s something most people don’t think about until they encounter an unflavored or unpleasant-tasting gel: If you don’t eat or drink something, then you can’t fuel the machine.

Athletes have special nutritional requirements to maximize their performance, and ultra-processed products can have a place in helping fulfill this. From a health perspective, we don’t yet have any convincing data that when UPFs are consumed in the context of long-duration or vigorous exercise they will have a deleterious impact on well-being. It’s easy to argue that getting a load of heavily-processed sugar from ultra-processed gels and drinks during a century ride is better than not getting fuel at all.

The vast majority of research linking UPFs with poor health has looked at the diet as a whole, and also involved a population of non-athletes. of basketball players found that a high intake of ultra-processed foods led to no noticeable detriment to performance or cardiovascular health. So there was no spillover effect in this aspect. However, a high intake of UPFs affected their microbiome negatively, the consequences of which are unknown. No other studies have specifically looked at ultra-processed foods in endurance athletes.

Consuming ultra-processed foods sporadically in a sports-nutrition context is likely not detrimental to overall health. It might only become problematic if you start leaning on bars and sugary sports drinks too heavily when you’re not working out. If using UPFs to boost your workouts helps you increase your overall cardiovascular and muscular fitness, perhaps this benefit can counteract any disadvantageous characteristics of these items.

But There Might Be a Limit

With all the bad news about them, it’s understandable why about UPFs. We should not dismiss the notion that there will be some degree of detrimental impact on health with heavy ultra-processed sports nutrition product use over the weeks, months, and years due to the nature of their production and formulation. These days, many pro triathletes are pumping in more than 100 grams of carbs for each hour of activity, and most, if not all, of those calories are hailing from ultra-processed products. But perhaps what you eat for performance is not necessarily the best for your health.

In showing that athletes can tolerate more than 100 grams of carbs hourly and that this amount increases carbohydrate oxidation, there is some concern that not all this sugar gets used up during exercise. It could then sit around in your system afterward, resulting in a downturn of metabolic and microbiome health. We just don’t know for sure, and we don’t have the answers to this dilemma. As more athletes increase the quantity of use of high-sugar UPFs, we desperately need research to address this.

using continuous glucose monitors found even athletes with high rates of energy expenditure can spend long periods with blood sugar levels that would be classified as pre-diabetic. Perhaps some of that can be attributed to high-sugar consumption from UPFs during workouts. Even in endurance sport, you’re not fully protected from the adverse effects of added sugar intake pumped into UPFs, no matter how many miles you are cranking out.

There is also the concern about the health risks of eating non-nutritive ingredients added to ultra-processed foods, such as emulsifiers and artificial flavor. While hard-charging athletes have more room for “discretionary calories,” has shown there are health risks from eating UPFs, regardless of whether a person has an otherwise healthy diet. That means that eating too many UPFs – which can include fueling products – may be risky even if you normally also eat lots of whole, fresh foods.

suggests that endurance athletes that use whey or beef protein powder long-term may have a detrimental impact on the gut microbiome, which might not necessarily be because of processed protein, but instead the emulsifiers that are in so many of these products.

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As athletes look to eat healthy while saving money, Costco has become the place for scoring mammoth deals on groceries. After all, who doesn’t love affordable groceries?

And yes, Costco has plenty of affordable healthy groceries. It might seem like they’re hard to find amid the colossal tubs of M&Ms and lifetime-supply jugs of ranch dressing, but nutritious options at lower price points are plentiful. You only need to be strategic about what you buy.

I worked my way through the Costco product lineup to round up the healthiest Costco foods for athletes. Add these to your shopping list the next time you are ready to push around that oversized shopping cart.

The best healthy Costco foods for athletes

Kirkland Signature Organic Peanut ButterĚýĚý

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This article was originally published on .

With mounting evidence that eating excessive amounts of meat can have health and environmental ramifications, more athletes are trying to reduce their consumption of animal-based foods and increase their intake of plant-based ones. But it’s hard to bid adieu to the beloved taste of meats like a perfectly cooked steak or juicy beef burger, which is why plant-based imitation “meats” continue to gain popularity as a feasible way for someone to reduce animal product consumption while still checking the boxes of taste and convenience.

While traditional meat substitutes such as tofu and tempeh have been around for centuries, technological advancements, such as protein isolation, have made it possible to develop meat alternatives that more closely resemble the taste, texture and color (hello, beet juice and blood redĚýsoy leghemoglobin) of actual meat. Gone are the days of veggie burgers that taste like salty cardboard. Instead, it’s a new era of meatless patties that are just as juicy and plump as the real deal. Food scientists are evenĚýa process known as microgelation to give plant proteins much-needed hydration and a juicy feel in the mouth.

With a growing production trend of meat substitution products, these days you can find hot Italian plant-only sausages and no-chicken nuggets right alongside the beef and chicken at the meat counter. Stroll through the snack aisle and you may now spot meaty jerky from mushrooms, not cow.ĚýĚýWhether it’s turkey deli meat from wheat protein or meatballs hailing from peas, there’s a protein-packed option sans meat for you. Yes, we are living in a golden age of plant-based meats, and you can’t help but marvel at this stuff. And marvel we do: According to , 55 percent of Americans say they are willing to try eating plant-based meat alternatives.

From personal experience, many of these products are pretty damn tasty. If any meat alternatives are capable of converting carnivores, it’s these modern-day replicas. If you plan to start cooking plant-based meats at home, know that you’ll prepare them pretty much the same way you would regular meat. After all, plant-based meat is designed to mimic traditional meat in most ways, including cooking, so you can throw the patties on the grill, sauté up crumbles to stuff into tacos, and top the pizza with plant-based pepperoni.

But what many people are most concerned about is not how they are prepared and taste, instead whether these simulated meat-like products are any healthier than what they are trying to replace and can help an athlete still perform their best.

Here’s what athletes need to know about the plant-based fake-outs.

Are Meat Alternatives Good or Bad for You?Ěý

Simply put, plant-based meats are foods made from plants to resemble animal-based meat. Overall, these meat alternatives typically have a long list of ingredients including protein isolates, food extracts, and emulsifiers, and can be classified as ultra-processed foods (UPFs), according to —an increasingly widely used food-classification system that classifies all foods into 1 of 4 groups according to the processing they undergo.

Increasingly, recommendations are being made to restrict the consumption of UPFs because their intake, in high quantities, is associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes. This begs the question: Should you be chicken to eat ultra-processed plant chicken?

Nutritional Makeup of Plant-Based Meats

In contrast to veggie burgers of yore, the new breed of meat alternatives are created to have a Nutrition Facts label that more closely resembles that of meat, including protein, fat, iron, and calorie numbers. But despite the nutritional similarities, we still do not have much in the way of reliable data to know if these plant-based imitations are more beneficial to health than eating meat from animals, but studies are starting to trickle in.

In an American Journal of Clinical NutritionĚý, adults ate either roughly the same quantity (an average of 14 servings a week) of animal meat or plant-based meat (products from the brand Beyond Meat) for eight weeks, and then switched diets for another eight weeks. When they ate plant-based meats, they had much lower levels of TMAO, a metabolite from meat that is believed to be associated with an increased risk for heart disease and certain cancers. Participants also had lower levels of LDL cholesterol and lost a bit more weight when eating the faux meats. The research indicated that overall dietary levels of protein and sodium were the same on both diets, that fiber consumption was higher when eating plant-based meat, and that saturated fat consumption was lower when eating burgers and sausages from plants. (Of note, some plant-based meats have just as much saturated fat as higher-fat cuts of meat because of the liberal use of coconut oil.)

So, in this case, one could argue that the downsides of eating this category of ultra-processed food are outweighed by eating less meat. However,Ěýdetermined that biomarkers of inflammation were not improved by eating plant-based meats.

Plant-Based Meat and the Microbiome

As has been well documented, in athletic performance, so it would be wise to pay attention to plant-based meats and their effect on gut bacteria. found that substituting meat for plant-based meats can have a minor, yet positive impact on the microbiome. The result was a shift towards a higher population of beneficial microbes and away from more detrimental ones. The observed gut microbiome changes might have been due to changes in fiber consumption, rather than other inherent properties of the plant-based meat alternatives.

Iron in Meat Alternatives

Some concernĚýthat iron absorption from many engineered plant-based meat alternatives can be inferior compared to that in meat which may contribute to poor iron status, something that can be concerning to plant-based endurance athletes. However there is no proof that eating some plant-based meats as part of a varied diet contributes to iron deficiency.

One advantage of these plant meats is that they do not create heterocyclic amines (HCAs) when grilled, compounds created when meats are cooked over high heat, and have been linked to cancer development when consumed in high amounts. The amino acids involved in this reaction are only present in animal tissue.

Plant-Based Meat and Protein for Athletes

In that should be of interest to any athlete who is considering going bigger on plants, scientists from the Stanford University School of Medicine found that runners and weight lifters experienced no difference in performance metrics (a 12-minute timed run for runners and a weight machine lift for resistance trained athletes) when they followed either a whole-food plant-based diet, a plant-based meat alternatives diet, or an omnivore diet that included red meat and poultry for protein. This suggests that athletes can win on various types of diets as long as their protein and overall nutritional needs are met.

A 2023ĚýJournal of NutritionĚýdiscovered that fungi-derived mycoprotein (tastes better than it sounds) is just as effective at supporting muscle building during resistance training as animal protein. In America, you’ll mostly easily find mycoprotein sold under the brand nameĚý. But expect more plant products developed from fungi on the market in the coming years.

Meat alternatives are typically made using concentrated sources of soy protein or pea protein, and can have just as much protein as what you’d get from a cow, chicken, or hog—roughly 20 grams in a 4-ounce serving. Just watch out for some of the meat alternatives that are protein lightweights. Items made from jackfruit or cauliflower can contain so little protein it’s laughable to think that they will help you build muscle let alone make a meal satiating.

What About the Environment?

There are strong reasons to reduce industrial animal agriculture for the good of the environment.Ěý In terms of environmental sustainability, plant-based meat alternativesĚýto be more sustainable compared to animal products across a range of outcomes including greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and land use. But without an agreed-upon method for assessing the environmental impact of what we eat, much of the comparison depends on individual researchers’ assumptions.

Calculating the environmental impact of any food product is enormously complex with so many nuances. For instance, does your burger come from grass-fed cows as part of a regenerative agriculture system or from feed-lot animals? Are you only measuring the impacts of growing the foods or are you also taking into consideration the processing and packaging involved in bringing it to market?

All that processing involved in turning plants into something that looks and tastes like meat is going to drive up the environmental cost. What this means is that when it comes to the environment, data is still murky about just how much better plant-based meats are for Mother Nature. But know that a homemade black bean burger is going to hit the environment less hard than ready-made meatless meats.

It’s also worth mentioning that the way plant-based meats are created is generally safer for workers than traditional meat processing plants, which have a long history of problematic working conditions.

The Bottom Line on Meat Alternatives

No doubt, these better-tasting meat alternatives can help reduce overall meat consumption. Especially so if their price point comes down which makes purchasing them easier on food budgets. Further research is needed to determine if replacing some or all of the meat in our diets with plant-based alternatives could provide some health and performance advantages. When comparing animal-based foods to their alternatives, it helps to remember that meat isn’t inherently bad for you. The problem arises when we eat too much, especially processed red meats, and when they crowd out whole-food plants from our diets.

There is not necessarily anything particularly healthy about a plant-only hot dog or Bolognese featuring pea protein crumbles. The context, however, in which we consume an individual food matters greatly, yet is often forgotten in debate whether a food is healthy or not. If you typically eat a plant-based burger with fries and sugary soda then its consumption is part of an unhealthy eating pattern that can be detrimental to health and podium finishes. But if you sauté up some meatless grounds on occasion that are served with plenty of veggies and whole grains then eating highly processed meat alternatives is something less concerning. All of the meat alternatives can provide variety and an acceptable option for eating less actual meat, but at most they should be a rather minor part of a healthful plant-based diet.

And always remember that if you’re looking for a meat alternative with fewer whatchamacallits in the ingredient lists, there are still options to consider that are high in protein – they may not be as buzz-worthy as their burger-shaped counterparts, but tofu, tempeh, and seitan are always solid options for those looking for plant-based ingredients for dinner.

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For years, prevailing dietary guidelines advised us to trim the fat from our diets. Low-fat options were glamorized; store shelves were lined with fat-free foods. Oh, the joys of the egg-white omelet.

Now, fat is no longer vilified as it was in the 1980s. While the still recommends restraint when it comes to saturated fat, it does promote other fat as an important and essential part of our diet. Some dietary fat is important for protecting our organs, helping build important hormones, supporting cellular function, and providing the energy we need for our daily functions. We also need this macronutrient for the proper absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Plus, high-fat foods satiate the appetite and add flavor to meals and snacks. A recent study in the showed that simply replacing about 10 percent of the calories in our diets that come from saturated fat with calories from unsaturated fat can improve markers associated with better heart functioning.

Here are five high-fat foods that you can add to your meals today.

1. Brazil Nut

While roughly 90 percent of the calories in this giant nut hail from fat, a large part of those calories come in the form of heart-helping monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat.

But what really stands out about Brazil nuts is their selenium content. Just a single nut provides more than a day’s worth of this mineral, according to . In our bodies, selenium is incorporated into what is known as selenoproteins, which have a range of functions including protecting cells from oxidative damage, managing thyroid metabolism, and DNA synthesis. Higher levels of the mineral may also from strokes.

It’s also worth noting that the Brazil nut industry can help reduce the amount of deforestation of the Amazonian rainforest: unlike nuts such as almonds and walnuts, most of the world’s Brazil nuts are harvested almost exclusively from wild trees that grow throughout the Amazon Basin.

Just be a little cautious when chowing down on Brazil nuts. They’re so dense in selenium that you don’t want to go overboard for the risk of selenium toxicity, which can have severe gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms, among others. A good daily serving would be two to three whole nuts.

How to Enjoy This High-Fat Food

Enjoy Brazil nuts as an out-of-hand snack or mix the chopped nuts into yogurt, salads, or oatmeal. Dip Brazil nuts into melted dark chocolate for a healthy treat, blend into smoothies, or use them in place of pine nuts when making pesto.

2. Full-Fat Yogurt

Research published in has shown that those with higher intakes of dairy fat, measured by levels of certain fatty acids in the blood, had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those with low intakes. Although the investigators concluded that more research is needed to confirm the findings, the results seem to suggest that you may not need to rely on low-fat or fat-free dairy alone if you want to stay heart-healthy. This is echoed by findings in the , which discovered that, as long as dairy fat is consumed as part of a whole foods-based diet, it may not have detrimental impacts on blood lipids and blood pressure numbers.

There is a chance that different types of saturated fat from different sources (for instance, red meat versus yogurt) have a varying impact on heart health or that the nutrition matrix in dairy—which includes essential amino acids, calcium, potassium, and vitamin B12—helps offset any potential detrimental impact of its saturated fat. But more research is needed to determine if some high-fat dairy is more beneficial than others, say fermented yogurt rather than butter. Still, you can count on yogurt to be a reliable source of probiotics that will aid with digestive and immune health.

How to Enjoy This High-Fat Food

A bowl of plain, full-fat yogurt topped with berries is a healthy snack or breakfast option. Blend yogurt into smoothies or use it as a base for creamy dressings. Thick Greek or Skyr yogurt is a good stand-in for sour cream in recipes.

3. Mackerel

This fish is an omega-3 fat powerhouse. While numbers vary based on the type of mackerel (and where and when it was caught), a three-ounce serving has about two grams of omega-3 fatty acids.ĚýAs reported in the , having higher levels of omega-3s in the blood through regularly including oily fish in the diet increases life expectancy by almost five years. And consuming two to three grams a day of omega-3 fatty acids from food sources was linked to reductions in both diastolic and systolic blood pressure, according to a study in the . Mackerel is also high in protein, selenium, niacin, vitamin B12, and hard-to-get vitamin D.

You can get a general idea of the fat content of most fish species by looking at the color of the flesh. The leanest species such as tilapia and flounder have a white or lighter color, and fattier fish, such as mackerel, salmon, sardines, and herring, usually have a much darker hue.

How to Enjoy This High-Fat Food

Prepare richly-flavored fillets of mackerel by grilling, baking, or pan-frying them on the stove. Convenient smoked and canned mackerel can be used in sandwiches, salads, frittatas, and pasta dishes.

4. Avocado Oil

Though not as well known as olive oil, avocado oil, which is made by pressing the oil from the pulp of the fruit, is just as versatile and delicious. Like olive oil, it’s a standout source of oleic acid— in the oil hail from this type of omega-9 fatty acid. (Only 12 percent of the fat calories come from saturated fat.) The FDA that there’s enough evidence to support a qualified health claim that consuming oleic acid in edible oils, such as avocado oil, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. And because the total amount of omega-6 in avocado is relatively small, there’s less worry that using the oil will greatly increase the intake of this type of fat that can drive up inflammation when the consumption of omega-3 fats doesn’t keep pace.

One found adding avocado oil to a salad significantly increased the absorption of fat-soluble carotenoid antioxidants, including the beta-carotene and lycopene found in colorful veggies like carrots and tomatoes. It can also be considered a , including lutein, a fat-soluble carotenoid compound .

How to Enjoy This High-Fat Food

There are two main types of avocado oil: so-called virgin, or extra-virgin, and refined. Virgin avocado oil, like olive oil, is made from the first pressing of the avocados and maintains more of the fruit’s flavor and antioxidant compounds. Use this oil as you would olive oil in dressings, dips, gazpacho, and sauces like pestos.

Refined avocado oil is made by filtering the virgin oil to remove small particles of pulp and other impurities. This process also dulls the color and flavor. This version of the oil has a higher smoke point, making it an excellent cooking and baking oil.

5. Sunflower Seed Butter

Made by grinding up the seeds of its namesake plant, sunflower butter has a consistency and flavor similar to good-old peanut butter. On top of providing up to seven grams of plant-based protein in a two-tablespoon serving (which is on par with peanut butter), sunflower butter is a good source of unsaturated fats–6.5 grams in each tablespoon.

Other nutritional highlights of the food include significant amounts of the antioxidant vitamin E, bone-helping phosphorus, and magnesium, an often under-consumed micronutrient that says is required for roughly 300 enzymes in our bodies to perform biochemical reactions, including blood sugar regulation, nerve function, and protein synthesis.

If you’re concerned about rising food prices, sunflower butter tends to be a more economical choice than other nut butters. It’s also an allergy-friendly option for those who can’t tolerate peanuts or tree nuts. If you’re watching your sugar intake, select options that don’t include any added sweeteners like honey or cane sugar in the ingredient list.

How to Enjoy This High-Fat Food

You can slather creamy sunflower butter on your morning toast, or try using it in smoothies, dressings, and homemade energy foods like bars and balls for some extra healthy fat. Also, consider stirring it into oatmeal and spreading it over apple slices. You can even use the seed butter as an ingredient to thicken and add richness to savory pureed soups, like butternut squash or cauliflower.

This story originally appeared on our sister site, Clean Eating.

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Why be cooped up in your kitchen when warmer days and nights are the perfect excuse to grill up a storm? But, for the sake of a more diversified palate—and, as a bonus, improved nutrition—it’s time to think outside the bun and look at your grill as an ultra-versatile cooking medium that’s ready to prepare all sorts of food, from salty cheese to fruit. Once you get bitten by the alt-food grill bug, you’ll start eyeing everything in the supermarket and farmers market in terms of Will it grill?ĚýHere are some foods that will help you get started.

Tofu

Grilling a slab of tofu is a surefire way to make the plant-based protein taste, well, more meaty. Plus, a handful of studies have linked consumption of soy foods like tofu with lower blood pressure, improved cholesterol numbers, and potentially less risk of developing certain cancers like breast and ovarian. Plant compounds in soy called isoflavones, as well as perhaps something specific about soy protein itself, are believed to be behind many of tofu’s health benefits.

Depending on the coagulant used during production, like magnesium chloride (called nigari) or calcium sulfate, tofu supplies good amounts of these minerals, too. For grilling, you want to use extra-firm tofu so it’ll hold up on the grill grates.

How to Grill Tofu

1. Slice a block of drained tofu along its width into two slabs.
2. Line a cutting board with a couple of sheets of paper towel. Top with tofu pieces and a couple more sheets of paper towel. Press gently to extract excess liquid.
3. Brush both sides with oil and season with salt and pepper. You can also season the slabs with other flavorings including curry powder or za’atar, or marinade tofu like you would meat for several hours before grilling.
4. Grill tofu over medium-high heat on greased grill grates until golden and grill marks appear, about four minutes per side. Give the tofu a 90-degree turn halfway through cooking each side to produce a nice cross-hatch pattern.

Halloumi

Also referred to as “grilling cheese,” salty and fun-to-eat halloumi is a traditional dairy in Cyprus and a popular protein in several Middle Eastern countries. Semi-hard halloumi has a high melting point and won’t ooze through the grill grates; instead, the outside becomes flecked with crispy pieces while the inside turns velvety, all the while holding its shape.

Traditionally made with a combo of sheep and goat milk, halloumi provides bone-friendly calcium and six grams of muscle-building, hunger-taming protein in each one-ounce serving, nearly the same amount you get from grilled chicken breast. Just be aware that it does contain a fair amount of saturated fat and salt, so avoid the temptation to polish off an entire block. With its delicious chewy bite, grilled halloumi is an excellent addition to summer salads, tacos, and pasta salads. You can even treat it like you would a burger and stuff it on a bun with your favorite toppings.

Typically, halloumi is the least expensive when purchased from Middle Eastern or Greek grocers.

How to Grill Halloumi

1. Upend a block of halloumi and slice lengthwise into two big slabs.
2. Brush with oil and grill until browned with grill marks on both sides, 1 to 2 minutes per side.

Or, you can cut the halloumi into one-inch chunks and skewer, kebab-style.

Avocado

Grilling avocado makes its flesh extra creamy with a hint of smoky flavor. Plus, the fruit provides a payload of fiber, monounsaturated fat, vitamin K, and folate to your summer menu: in a randomized trial, a team of researchers from Penn State found that participants who ate an avocado daily had better quality diets during the six-month study period and experienced improvements in cholesterol.

How to Grill Avocado

1. Slice your ripe avocado in half, remove the seed, and brush the flesh with some oil and sprinkle on a bit of salt.
2. Place flesh-side down on a hot grill for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until you get some nice grill marks.
3. Once it’s off the grill, there are many ways to use your avocado. Scoop out the flesh and mash into guacamole, cube it and add to salads, or slice it and stuff into sandwiches, burgers, and tacos. Or, fill the grilled avocado cavity with salsa and crumbled feta or queso fresco.

Kale

If you want to step up your summer salad game, look no further than the grill. Like the usual veggie suspects, hearty kale can also benefit from a touch of char.

A recent study in the journal Neurology found people who ate the greatest quantities of leafy greens per day (an average of 1.3 servings daily) had brains that showed reduced signs of aging. Dark greens like kale are extremely rich in a variety of essential micronutrients and carotenoid antioxidants, like lutein, that can help sharpen your mind.

You want to use Tuscan (dinosaur) kale when you’re firing up the grill, as its sturdy flat leaves are less likely to burn than curly kale, whose edges are prone to singeing.

How to Grill Kale

1. Trim tough ends from a bunch of Tuscan kale, place in a bowl and toss with oil.
2. In batches, place kale on the grill and cook over medium heat, turning once, until slightly crispy and darkened in a few spots, about 2 minutes.
3. Chop kale into 2-inch pieces and place in a large bowl along with other veggies and dressing.

Mussels

You’ll likely be surprised just how easy mussels are to grill since they come without the risk of the heart-breaking sticking that happens with fish like salmon. And when their brininess meets the smoke of the grill, magic happens.

Not only are these shellfish inexpensive and packed with nutrition including protein, vitamin B12, and heart-healthy omega-3 fats, but they’re also considered one of the most sustainable seafood options you can buy.

How to Grill Mussels

1. Build a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill, or heat a gas grill to medium-high.
2. Dunk mussels in a large bowl of cold water, stir them around a bit, then drain. Discard any open ones that don’t close shut when tapped.
3. Place mussels in a grill basket, close lid, and grill until the shells pop open (4 to 6 minutes). Do this in batches if grilling a couple of pounds of mussels or more.
4. Remove mussels from grill and place in a large bowl. Discard any that did not open.
5. Squeeze on a generous amount of lemon juice and scatter on a bunch of fresh herbs like parsley.

Peaches

When heated, naturally occurring sugars in fruit take on a fetching golden color and develop a deep, caramel-like flavor. When you grill peaches, the toasty, sweet, caramelized exterior of this sun-kissed stone fruit contrasts with the soft flesh inside, creating a completely new flavor profile that’s simply irresistible.

Eating more of this quintessential summer fruit helps you load up on immune-boosting vitamin C and a cache of body-benefiting antioxidants.

How to Grill Peaches

1. Slice peaches in half, remove pits, and lightly coat flesh sides with oil.
2. Grill over medium heat, turning once, until tender and a few dark marks appear, about 5 minutes total.
3. Once you’ve pulled your peaches off the grill, you can turn them into a healthy snack or dessert. Just top with dollops of Greek yogurt and chopped pistachios. Or, chop grilled peaches and add them to salsas for meats and tacos.

This story was syndicated from our partners at Clean Eating.

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