Football season is all about inches, but that doesn’t mean the inches have to be adding to your waistline. Avoid weight gain by planning ahead with healthier snacks for you and your guests. Swap out some of your usual game day finger-foods with these low-fat alternatives to keep the inches on the field and off your waist!
Dried fruits are a great game day snack because they not only are so portable, but they also pack in a lot of flavor and nutrients with little work. If you’re dehydrating fruit yourself they may require a bit more time, but purchasing dried fruit only requires you to read the ingredient list and portion out the fruits ahead of time. These steps are what make a snack of dried fruit remain healthy. Why? A cup of fresh grapes, after the water is removed, equals about ¼ cup of raisins, and without taking this into account you could quickly make a nutrient dense snack, into a high calorie one. Some brands also add sugar to dried fruit, be sure to read the ingredients to avoid unnecessary sweeteners.
You may be thinking, ‘who wants ¼ cup of dried fruit during a game that can last for hours?’ We understand, that’s why we love to mix dried fruits with crunchy pretzels or mixed nuts. While pretzels may not strike you as a healthy snack, they’re a great alternative to placing out a bowl of greasy potato chips and other high fat snacks.
Need to man-up your snack game? Don’t rely on pretzels and dried fruit alone, we would probably never call that a party. Create an explosion for your taste buds and get some protein while you’re at it with pieces of beef jerky. Create a sampler plate with different flavors and jerkies, or cut up into bite size pieces to mix in with pretzels and fruit.
If you’re mixing all of these easy to transport snacks together, you can’t leave out your favorite nut! Whether you like to snack on mixed nuts, snack solo on roasted peanuts, or enjoy raw almonds, adding nuts to your tailgate mix is just one more way to add more flavor and incorporate healthy fats into your day instead of just empty calories.
Treat your game day guests to a healthy snack mix they won’t be able to put down! You may even have the kids preferring roasted edamame or nuts to their usual high sugar snacks.
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