Get the right ingredients for a healthier burger

Dubai: Burgers can be both healthy and unhealthy — it all depends on the way it is cooked and the ingredients used, says nutritionist Lubna Surya from Aster Medical Centre in Dubai.

“If you put more vegetables in a burger and use brown bread instead of white bread, and a grilled patty then you have a burger that is healthy,” she said.

Choosing the contents of a burger carefully can save you some calories.

A beef burger with cheese, lettuce, ketchup, pickles, onions and mayonnaise has around 760 calories. But without the mayonnaise, it has almost 600 calories — more than 100 calories less, said Amera Marian Varghese, a dietician at Mediclinic Welcare hospital.

“Healthier options [to mayonnaise] include yellow or spicy mustard or a low calorie, fat reduced dressing,” Varghese added.

A serving of fries and a regular drink alongside a beef burger with cheese will amount to 1,017 calories, she said.

Varghese recommends using small hamburger buns to gain fewer calories.

Hamburger buns contain around 130 calories.

“If you want cheese on your burger then choose reduced fat cheese,” she continued.

Swiss cheese is a low calorie option, with 106 calories for a slice compared to 113 calories for a slice of cheddar cheese, she said.

Also, Varghese does not recommend diet drinks, which usually have 1.3 calories for 330 ml, to help lose weight.

“Although switching from regular soda to diet soda may save you calories in the short term, it’s not yet clear if it’s effective for preventing obesity and related health problems,” she said.

When it comes to choosing how to cook a beef patty, Surya recommends grilling it. A grilled patty contains around 150 calories, compared to a fried one which has between 200 and 250 calories at least, she said.

In addition, Varghese recommends buying a small cheese burger, fries and soda, which has around 550 calories, instead of the larger sized alternatives, which can bring the amount of calories to 1,240.