Smokin' sauces: the secret to flavorful food in the sauce--bbq sauce that is, before you pour it on, make sure it's healthful.(OFF THE SHELF: FOOD)(barbacue sauce)

Summer, the season for grilling. As the weather gets warmer, folks close up their ovens and fire up their grills. No matter what your family prefers to "toss on the barbie," a great barbecue sauce is a must for most every grilled dish. But beware, some saucy regulars add much more than flavor to your meal, and a couple of tablespoons can undo a whole day of healthful eating. Next time you're shopping for your favorite fixin', be sure to keep these tips in mind.

KEEP IT NATURAL. Like most other foods on the market, barbecue sauce can be loaded with chemical preservatives and coloring agents. Before "hitting the sauce," take a look at the ingredients list. You should be able to recognize everything inside the bottle--the more ingredients you'd find in your grandmother's kitchen, the better. Real tomatoes, natural spices, honey and vinegar are preferable to their processed and synthetic counterparts. It's even better if these ingredients are certified organic, because that ensures they were grown without pesticides.

SODIUM LOWDOWN. "Look for low-sodium barbecue sauce," says Elisa Zied, MS, RD, coauthor of So What Can I Eat?! How to Make Sense of the New Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Make Them Your Own. She points out that 2 Tbs. of low-sodium barbecue sauce has about 40mg of sodium compared to a whopping 570mg--or more--for regular barbecue sauce. One serving of regular barbecue sauce represents about 25 percent of the 2300mg of sodium, the maximum amount recommended per day by experts. "Those who have high blood pressure or are salt sensitive need even less sodium--up to 1500mg per day, so for those people, 570mg is way too much to get from just one product." But for some, ...