--- title: 5 Southern Dishes Made Lighter description: New research suggests a Southern diet may not be good for the heart, so we've rounded up some lighter versions of favorite recipes canonical: https://time.com/3989367/healthy-southern-food/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-10T20:00:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:00:51.662Z article:section: Health og:title: 5 Comfort Food Recipes Made Healthy og:description: New research suggests a Southern diet may not be good for the heart, so we've rounded up some lighter versions of favorite recipes og:url: https://time.com/3989367/healthy-southern-food/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte27bf86b49e965b7/69885e658e06015217461c29/fried-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4674 og:image:height: 2629 og:image:alt: 74352653 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Comfort Food Recipes Made Healthy twitter:description: New research suggests a Southern diet may not be good for the heart, so we've rounded up some lighter versions of favorite recipes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte27bf86b49e965b7/69885e658e06015217461c29/fried-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Recipes That Prove Southern Food Can Be Healthy > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 10, 2015 8:00 PM UTC  Overhead of Fried Chicken in a Red and White Checkered Cloth Lined Basket Overhead of Fried Chicken in a Red and White Checkered Cloth Lined Basket Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 10, 2015 8:00 PM UTC A new [study](http://cms.ipressroom.com.s3.amazonaws.com/67/files/20157/Circ+Shikany+manuscript.pdf) suggests eating a Southern-style diet can increase a person’s risk for heart disease. The new findings, published Monday in the journal _Circulation_, show that people who regularly consume a diet that’s filled with traditionally Southern fare were at a greater risk of experiencing a heart-related event like a heart attack or heart-related death within around six years of follow-up. In fact, people who ate a lot of Southern cuisine had a 56% greater risk for heart disease compared to people who ate less. The researchers analyzed data from a longitudinal study of 17,418 people in their 40s between 2003 to 2007\. Given the nature of the study, the researchers cannot determine with certainty that a Southern diet alone was responsible for the increased risk of heart-related issues. However, earlier research has shown that processed meat, fried food and sweetened beverages are associated with greater risks of cardiovascular disease. For those who have no intention of giving up their favorite Southern cuisine staples, we’ve rounded up five “lighter” takes on recipes from our friends at _Cooking Light_. Bon appétit! * [Fried green tomatoes](http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/recipe-makeovers/how-to-make-fried-green-tomatoes?xid=time-southern) * [Creamy macaroni and cheese](http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/recipe-makeovers/how-to-make-healthy-macaroni-cheese?xid=time-southern) * [Oven fried chicken ](http://www.cookinglight.com/food/how-to-make-oven-fried-chicken-video?xid=time-southern) * [Sour cream pound cake](http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/recipe-makeovers/moms-sour-cream-pound-cake?xid=time-southern) * [Smoky shrimp and chicken gumbo](http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/smoky-shrimp-chicken-gumbo) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3989367/healthy-southern-food/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3989367/healthy-southern-food/"},"headline":"5 Recipes That Prove Southern Food Can Be Healthy","datePublished":"2015-08-10T20:00:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:00:51.662Z","description":"New research suggests a Southern diet may not be good for the heart, so we've rounded up some lighter versions of favorite recipes","url":"https://time.com/3989367/healthy-southern-food/","keywords":["Heart Disease"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte27bf86b49e965b7/69885e658e06015217461c29/fried-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte27bf86b49e965b7/69885e658e06015217461c29/fried-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"74352653","caption":"74352653","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/heart-disease/","name":"Heart Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3989367/healthy-southern-food/","name":"5 Recipes That Prove Southern Food Can Be Healthy"}}]}] ```