Live Well - September 2008

Are You Ready for Some Football Snacks?

Our national pastime is no longer baseball. It’s football—or more specifically, watching football on television. What’s more American than turning on the tube, grabbing some couch, and munching our way through the big game?

Here’s what’s more American: eating fatty, salty, unhealthy snacks. From toddlers to seniors, many of us now get the majority of our calories from snacks and fast foods rather than at sit-down meals. Unfortunately, our typical choices—chips, cookies, pizza, soft drinks—are what dietitians call “energy-dense and nutrient-poor.” They add on the pounds but fail to provide the minerals and vitamins a healthy body needs.

If your only exercise in the fall is opening a soda and dipping a chip, you’re putting your health at risk. With obesity on the rise in all segments of our society, it’s time to do what all good football teams do: make useful substitutions.

1. Make dips with nonfat or low-fat yogurt, sour cream, or cream cheese. Serve with fresh fruit, celery, carrots, or broccoli.
2. Try baked potato skins topped with low-fat cheese and sliced green peppers.
3. When craving carbs, pass the pretzels, plain popcorn, or baked chips.
4. Stay cool with a glass of ice water and a lemon wedge.
5. Celebrate a victory (or ease the agony of defeat) with low-fat frozen yogurt and fruit.

Touchdown Tortilla Nachos
2 large low-fat flour tortillas
1 15-ounce can reduced-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup scallions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup low-fat, low-sodium Monterey jack cheese, grated
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat the tortillas with pan spray and bake until crisp, about 10 minutes.

Combine beans, tomatoes, corn, scallions, garlic, jalapeños, and cumin in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.

Spread bean mixture over the tortillas, top with cheese, and bake 5 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle cilantro over the nachos and cut into wedges. Serves 4.

Nutrition information per serving: 207 calories, 2 g fat, 41 g carbohydrates, 416 mg sodium, 12 g dietary fiber