How to Be a Conscious Eater

though, try the classic kabob approach—for example, alter-

nating cubed chicken with sliced bell peppers, zucchini,

and onions, or a fruit twist such as peaches or pineapple.

4 Be mindful of the smoke itself. We all know it’s bad to inhale

cigarette smoke, but the same goes for smoke from a grill.

Try not to breathe in too much, especially if you’re the grill-

master or nice enough to keep the grillmaster company.

5 Avoid char. Take this piece of advice in particular with a

substantial dose of radical practicality: No one is asking

you to scrape the grill marks off your chicken breast one

by one. But sometimes that black, crispy char is easy to

remove before eating or to simply avoid—picture the bony

edges of ribs or steak. You’re best off trimming it or not bit-

ing into it since the crust is more likely to contain more of

these compounds. A related tip from the National Cancer

Institute is to flip often: If you regularly turn the meat

over while cooking it on the grill,

you can reduce the amount of

HCAs that are formed. And to

get rid of the char from last

weekend’s party, clean your

grill grates each time.

6 Leverage herbs and spices.

Research also suggests that

cooking your meat with ingredi-

ents high in antioxidants—such

as certain herbs, spices, teas, and

chile peppers—can mitigate the

amount of potentially carcino-

genic compounds that get formed.

144 how to be a Conscious Eater

Conscious Eater_02 PT_4th patches.indd 144 10/23/19 1:31 PM