Nutrition | JOE's Healthy treats: The Hamburger

Eating healthy is key, it's what will help you shed or gain those pounds that you're working hard for in the gym. But it can be pretty boring, right? Let's change that.

By Adrian Collins

January is here, so that means we're raiding our cupboards throwing out the half eaten packets of crisps and leftover mince pies that we've been fuelling ourselves on over the Christmas.

So instead of eating plain porridge and brown rice for the next few weeks, we here at JOE are going to help you make your favourites that little bit healthier.

Remember, nutrition will account for about 80% of the goal you want to achieve, the other 20% comes from the exercise and effort in the gym or out running, so it makes more sense to fuel your sessions than to use your sessions to burn off food.

But that's no reason to miss out on something delicious. Let's turn that hamburger into a gym fuelling super food.

Here are some tips to remember when knocking this together: Firstly pick your bun wisely. A brown or wholemeal roll will always be better than a white bread bap with lots of sugar, and you don't sacrifice any flavour. Lob some spinach on instead of lettuce for extra greens.

Secondly, easy on the extras. Cheese is fine once it's good quality and not processed stuff, but bacon and onion rings are extra calories that distract from the taste of the meat, which is pretty good anyway.

A sneaky tip to get melted cheese looking like they do in restaurants is, once you've placed the cheese on the burger, throw some water on the pan or barbecue then cover it with a lid. The steam cooks the cheese on top of the burger and melts it to make it look it's picture-perfect best.

Put some cooked onions into your meat mix too, it keeps the burger juicy and makes it taste much nicer. Try to also get lean, good quality meat, it makes a difference to your taste buds!

You can also try throwing some chillies in the mix, they boost your metabolic rate and help you burn fat.

When it comes to sauces, mayo is often an option that contains a huge amount of calories for the taste that it adds. Ketchup and mustard (which you can get in a variety of options like low-sodium etc.) will beef up the taste, or even throw in a barbecue sauce for a smoky flavour that compliments the meat well.

Remember, eating healthy isn't a mystery or a crazy super-science, it's common sense. Thanks to hard-working scientists, we now know that chips cooked in oil are delicious, but they're not a life-giving super food, and it's not a good idea to eat them all the time.

But we also know that a burger has to come with fries, that's something we refuse to budge on. So swap the deep fried for a few oven-roasted sweet potatoes, a delicious alternative.

Add in some broccoli (which also fights cancer while you're at it) and some green beans, and you've got a much healthier meal to chow down on. In fact, this recipe was so good we made one ourselves, and it was up there with the best burgers we've ever eaten.

There you have it, a few simple steps that can make your burger guilt free and turn it into muscle fuel.

Source: http://www.joe.ie/health-fitness/nutrition/joes-healthy-treats-the-hamburger-0032349-1

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