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It’s bad enough when your favorite team loses; worse when you gain weight over it. Pierre Chandon, a professor at the French business school INSEAD, recently tracked the eating behaviors of people in cities with NFL teams and found that fans who rooted for losing teams ate about 10 percent more calories and 16 percent more saturated fat post-game than winning fans who consumed 5 percent fewer calories and 9 percent less saturated fat. And when losing fans were asked to recall terrible games their consumption of saturated fat spiked by 45 percent!
By choosing your game day snacks with care you can keep your waistline in check, even during a losing streak:
Nachos that fill you up, not out
Use high-fiber chips (some brands have up to 6 grams of belly-filling fiber per serving) and top with shredded low-fat cheese and chopped vegetables. Switch from fried to baked chips and save about 5g of fat per serving.
Wings, light
Instead of dousing your wings in sugary BBQ sauce blend some hot sauce, non-nutritive sweetener, and herbs and you’ll have taste and heat to spare – all with far fewer calories. For a creamier sauce that’s loaded with healthy protein start with plain Greek yogurt.
Spicier, leaner chili
Cook with robust spices like cumin, allspice, and chili spices (for those who like it extra hot), and cut the fat by using more beans and less ground beef or turkey. Swapping out one cup of beef for one cup of beans can save you over 20g fat!
Holy guacamole
Yep, dig into a bowl of guac and you won’t be so tempted to overeat because the monounsaturated fat in avocados triggers a hormone called oleoylethanolamide, which helps satisfy hunger. Keep to sensible portions though – a ½ cup serving of guacamole still has about 200 calories.
Skinny dip
For a supremely creamy yet low-fat dip ditch the usual mayo or sour cream base and puree some white and black beans, onion, garlic, green chilies, cumin and Parmesan cheese. You’ll save up to 25g fat per ½ cup serving of delicious dip!
For more tips, delicious high fiber meal plans, recipes, and proven ways to lose weight and look great, check out my new book The Miracle Carb Diet: Make Calories and Fat Disappear – with Fiber!
Tanya Zuckerbrot MS, RD, is a registered dietitian in New York City and author of the Miracle Carb Diet: Make Calories and Fat Disappear – with fiber as well as the bestselling F-Factor Diet. Follow Tanya on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and visit her website Ffactor.com.
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