Eating Bacon the Healthy Way

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Crunchy chicken salad. I love to add bacon to lightened-up chicken salad. It boosts the yum factor without a ton of fat. Cook and chop two slices of center-cut bacon. Mix with 3 oz cooked and chopped skinless chicken breast, 1 Tbsp fat-free mayo, ½ tsp Dijon mustard, and ¾ cup chopped veggies--I like tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion. Makes 1 serving: 200 cal, 6 g fat (2 g sat), 28 g protein, 1 g fiber, 9 g carb.


Happy jalapeño poppers. Make this already delicious app even better with a bit of turkey bacon. Halve 6 jalapeño peppers lengthwise, removing the seeds and stems. Mix 2 wedges of Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss cheese into ¼ cup room-temperature fat-free cream cheese and spoon it into pepper halves. Wrap each with half a slice of turkey bacon and bake at 375°F until crispy, about 20 minutes. 3 poppers: 107 cal, 4.5 g fat (1.5 g sat), 8 g protein, 1 g fiber, 8 g carb.


Salty-sweet sundae. Bacon-topped ice cream is kooky and tasty. Sprinkle half a strip's worth of cooked and crumbled center-cut bacon or turkey bacon over ½ cup Dreyer's/Edy's Slow Churned Light Caramel Delight. Feeling crazy? Add 1 tsp mini chocolate chips. Makes 1 serving: 150 cal, 4.5 g fat (3 g sat), 3.5 g protein,
 
Big-flavor burgers. Lean beef is the smart choice for burgers, but adding crumbled bacon makes it taste more decadent without adding a lot of extra calories. Mix 1 Tbsp precooked crumbled bacon into 4 oz raw extra-lean ground beef (4% fat or less). This combo is great for making meatloaf, too. Makes 1 burger: 170 cal, 6.5 g fat (2 g sat), 26 g protein, 0 g fiber, 0 g carb.


Which bacon is best?

Center-cut: This is pork bacon, but it's a lean cut, with less fat and more meat in each piece. It's only about 30 calories and 2.5 g fat per strip. I love Hormel's Black Label bacon.
Turkey: Regular turkey bacon has similar stats to the center-cut; Jennie-O and Applegate Naturals make some of my favorites.
Precooked crumbled: This is just the meaty part of the bacon, cooked and crumbled. A tablespoon has about 25 calories and 1.5 g fat. It comes in a pouch; look for Oscar Mayer.