The Best Barbecue Foods to Eat When Trying to Lose Weight

As vegetarians know, beans are a superfood, filled with fiber and protein. The only trouble is, baked beans at cookouts are usually served in a sugary sauce that was probably made with brown sugar and/or molasses, as well as ketchup or barbecue sauce, which are both high in sugar. Stepfanie Romine, co-author with Matt Frazier of The No Meat Athlete Cookbook, has a trick for cutting down on the sugar while still enjoying the beans: Use a plastic fork (a slotted spoon is ideal, but may not be handy) to serve yourself beans, draining off as much of the sauce as you can. Romine, who follows a plant-based diet, has even used baked beans as a topping on a plain baked potato when she's at a barbecue, making her own version of a loaded potato with the beans and any veggies she can raid from the fixings meant for burgers and dogs, from shredded lettuce and tomatoes to pickles and chopped onions.