Tailgating: Doing It Up Healthy & Right

Tailgating: Doing It Up Healthy & Right 

Thomasville Magazine Fall 2015

School is back in session, those summer tans have all but faded away, and everyone is dreaming of those crisp days where fall is in the air. College kids are settling in and children leaving school with homework daily. A light jacket is needed, a ball is being thrown, and the stands are going crazy. It’s football season again!

I grew up a huge football fan. I may be a Georgia girl now, but I am a Denver Broncos fan at heart. But, I never really understood the whole tailgating concept until I went to college. Tailgating isn’t just an event…it’s a ceremony in the South. People gather from all over the place, rivalries eating at joining tables, and opposing fans bantering at each other. And where there are a lot of people gathering, that usually means there is a lot of food and beverages involved!

We have all done our fair share of tailgating, consuming every dip, chip, wing and cookie in sight. Not to mention the endless Red Solo Cups being passed around. And we wonder why everyone gains weight before and during the holidays, only to have to work their booties off—literally—once the New Year’s resolutions roll around. Maybe we are focusing on the holidays too much, blaming them for our recent weight gain and lack of exercise. But bad habits don’t just start once the holidays hit. Most likely we had been tiptoeing around them for a couple months, but they just become full fledge when November comes around.

Maybe we need to reassess these tailgating ceremonies that we so willingly take part in! Most people think that eating well during the week and exercising occasionally allows them to throw it away for a day of football debauchery. Don’t get me wrong, I love tailgating, sometimes it’s even more fun than the game itself! But don’t let the tailgating add inches to your waist! Get a jump-start on keeping that awesome figure you worked so hard to get during swimsuit season and make it through the holidays without continuing bad habits.

So how do we enjoy our football season, tailgate like royalty, and not bust through the seams? Here are some important things to remember:

ü  Eat breakfast before you go

ü  Hydrate! Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water

ü  Drink water between every alcoholic drink or simply back off the alcohol

ü  Stay away from the sodas

ü  Bring your own snacks

ü  Serve a vegetable, meat and cheese plate

ü  Eat the burger and/or hot dog with no bun

ü  Don’t go back for seconds

ü  Grill your food instead of frying

ü  Bring your own Tupperware to make portioning easy

ü  Walk around, don’t stand next to the food table and talk

You will be thanking yourself in the long run for sticking with your healthy goals and enjoying the social aspect of tailgating instead of the eating contests. Here are some great recipes to get you started.

Buffalo Lime Chicken

From: plainchicken.com

• 1 lb boneless chicken breasts or tenders
• 1 cup Frank's hot sauce or wing sauce
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt

Whisk together hot sauce, lime juice, garlic, oil and salt. Pour over chicken and marinate a few hours to overnight. Remove chicken from marinade and sauté or grill until done.

Cinnamon Bacon Backyard Sweet Potatoes

From: paleomg.com

·      2 long, skinny sweet potatoes, thinly sliced (about ⅛-1/4 inch)

·       4 pieces of bacon, diced

·       ½-1 tsp cinnamon

·       Sprinkle of salt

·       2 large pieces of aluminum foil

Turn on your grill and lay out a large piece of aluminum. Sprinkle a couple pieces of bacon on the foil. This will help the sweet potatoes from sticking. Place sweet potatoes on top and spread out evenly (it’s fine if they overlap, it doesn’t have to be perfect…they will all cook). Sprinkle with cinnamon and salt, and add the rest of your bacon on top. Slightly curl up the sides of the foil, place a smaller piece of foil on top, and then lock in all the sides around the foil. Place on top rack of grill and let cook for about 25-30 minutes or until they are cooked completely through and soft.