Corn on the cob is often one of the healthiest items at a traditional barbecue. Here, a barbecue dinner is pictured from the 3rd Annual Nash Bash at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market in Kerrytown in August 2009.

Lon Horwedel | Ann Arbor.com

Barbecues are a summer tradition that everyone loves to attend. While most people cherish the taste of certain favorite dishes, a strictly traditional barbecue menu can present some obstacles to your health goals.

A traditional barbecue menu typically includes:

Appetizers
Potato chips and French Onion dip
Nacho chips and salsa

Salads
Cole slaw made with traditional mayonnaise
Macaroni salad
Potato salad
Caesar salad

Meat
Cheeseburgers
Hot dogs or kielbasa
Ribs

Sides
Baked beans
Corn on the cobb

Desserts
Watermelon
Ice cream

You can host a semi-traditional barbecue without disappointing your guests or coming up short on taste. To start, switch potato chips and French Onion dip with whole wheat crackers and low-fat cheese slices. Substitute baked chips and light dip for nacho chips and salsa. Finally, include sliced veggies and hummus for the ultimate healthy alternative.

Cole slaw and potato salad are barbecue favorites that most guests look for on the picnic table, and with some simple recipe substitutions they can still be part of a healthy meal.

•Prepare coleslaw or potato salad in the same manner as you normally would but use light mayonnaise instead of regular mayonnaise to cut calories by up to half.

•Some potato salads also include hard boiled eggs. Removing egg yolks will reduce the overall fat content of the salad.

•To reduce calories even more, use a ½ mayo and ½ fat free plain yogurt combination as a dressing for either salad.

Replace macaroni salad, which is high in fat and high in glycemic carbohydrates, with fruit salad. Fruit salad offers a sweet alternative that also contains fiber and natural antioxidants and vitamins. When choosing fruit, include cantaloupe and honey dew melon, apple slices, blueberries, and strawberries and steer clear of the mandarin oranges and pineapple to keep sugar content relatively low. Caesar salad in comprised of mostly lettuce, croutons, parmesan cheese and is usually loaded with high fat dressing. Replacing it with a garden salad made with a mixture of spinach and romaine lettuce and light balsamic vinegar dressing adds fiber, natural vitamins and antioxidants and also significantly reduces fat content.

Instead of cheeseburgers made with American cheese and ground chuck, try using natural cheese and lean sirloin or ground bison to make your burgers (veggie burgers work too!). You can also replace white flour buns with whole wheat or multi-grain buns without missing too much of the flavor. If you must have hot dogs, make sure they are 100 percent beef with a relatively low fat content and I recommend staying away from kielbasa all together. The only way to replace barbecue sauce-slathered ribs without getting thrown under the bus by your guests is to grill some pork tenderloin instead, trim visible fat and marinate before grilling.

A great choice for grilled vegetables is zucchini or summer squash. To prepare either, you should first cut ends off zucchini, use a large knife to slice lengthwise. Before setting on grill, brush both sides with olive oil and dash with a little balsamic vinegar. Luckily, corn on the cob is a healthy barbecue tradition. Who knows - if you keep it on the table maybe your guests won’t notice the other healthy substitutions.

When it comes to dessert, watermelon is the healthiest item on a traditional barbecue menu, so don’t change a thing. Instead, focus on substituting traditional ice cream with ‘Skinny Cow’ ice cream sandwiches to reduce overall calories and especially fat calories. If traditional ice cream is a must-have, try serving ‘snack-sized’ ice cream bars instead of ice cream scoops. Snack-sized bars obviously taste the same, but the smaller portions will (hopefully) lead to eating fewer total calories.

Finally, as a rule, replace fatty condiments with light or low-salt versions to maintain your healthy theme. But I don’t recommend removing all traditional barbecue food from the table completely. You can have small portions of traditional baked beans, regular mayo and even ribs along side your new and improved barbecue ingredients. This will give your guests both the opportunity and a slight nudge to start eating in a healthier direction.

Jes Reynolds is an Ann Arbor Personal Trainer and the author of her own blog that teaches how to get fitness results. Subscribe to Jes Reynolds Fitness by Email or contact Jes at: Jes@JesReynolds.com.