Your Guide to Healthy Southern Food

Mary Hartley, M.P.H., R.D., is CalorieCount.About.com's resident nutrition expert. Read on for her guest post about healthy comfort foods, and be sure to check back here soon for more of her healthy insights.

Southern food, fresh and simple, is enjoyed throughout the United States. It's rich, filling and aromatic—but often not so healthy. Anything buttered, smothered, battered or fried adds extra calories that lead to overweight. But Southern food can be made healthier without surrendering that down-home taste.

Whether it's soul food, Creole, Cajun or barbecue, the bottom line is: Cut the Fat. Your food choices and cooking techniques can make all the difference between a healthy dish and an unhealthy one.

Cook with less fat.
Cut back on butter, lard, fat back and oil. Oven-fry, instead of deep-fat frying, anything that is traditionally coated in crumbs. Chicken, fish, okra and green tomatoes will taste great if you follow these steps:

1. Marinate in buttermilk (it's fat-free)
2. Coat with a dry crumb coating
3. Spray oil on the food and on the pan (Tip: Cover pan with aluminum foil for easy clean-up)
4. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes; finish under the broiler for a minute or two until nicely browned

Cook with low-fat foods.
Use the leanest cuts of meat and the lowest-fat dairy products that will work in your recipe. Switch from:

• Salt pork to pancetta or, for slow cooking, smoked turkey legs
• Bacon to lean ham, Canadian bacon, turkey bacon or Lightlife Fakin' Bacon (tempeh strips)
• Sausage to Gimme Lean Sausage (spiced textured soy protein concentrate)
• Ribs to London broil (top round steak)
• Cheese to reduced-fat cheese
• Whole milk to buttermilk or skim milk
• Light cream to evaporated skim milk
• Lard to vegetable oil (calories are the same but saturated fat is reduced)

Eat more food from plants.
You should take in at least 3 cups of produce every day. Fill up on distinctively Southern plant-based foods like those listed below.

• Vegetables: greens, kale, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, okra, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes
• Fruits: peaches, watermelons, cherries, berries, apricots
• Whole grains: corn, corn meal, grits, rice
• Beans: black-eyed peas, Lima beans, butter beans, black beans, peas, peanuts

Eat less meat.
Consume meat in only the smallest of portions. Eat at least twice as much produce as you do meat, and do not make meat the focal point of your plate. Choose fish and shellfish—including catfish, red snapper, orange roughy, shrimp, crayfish, oysters and clams—whenever you can.

Get creative with your flavors.
Learn how to re-create that authentic Southern taste without adding excess salt and sugar. Don't hold back, because every herb and spice is good for your diet. Cook with paprika, bay leaf, basil, oregano, nutmeg, rosemary and other classic seasonings. Use liquid smoke (a mixture of water, natural smoke flavor, vinegar, molasses, caramel color and salt) to add traditional flavor with zero calories. And don't forget to use no-calorie sweeteners like Splenda in sweet tea and desserts.

Bonus: 5 Essential Southern Recipes
Every good cook has an archive of signature recipes.  Develop your files starting here, and then visit the Recipe Browser at About.CalorieCount.com for even more options.

1. Oven Fried Chicken
2. Low-Fat Macaroni and Cheese
3. Smokey Collard Greens
4. Southern Style Sausage Biscuits with Gravy
5. Southern Coleslaw

See more light Southern recipes at the Guide to Southern Food at About.com.