Healthy snacks & drinks for gaming?

[Kzach]

Hmm, so far I think the winners for convenience, general appeal and taste go to:

1) Air-popped popcorn.

2) Grapes.

3) Cherry tomatoes.

As for drinks, I'm considering making an iced tea with lemon and honey.

I've been looking online and there are some great ideas for flavouring the popcorn too. I especially like the idea of having a batch with cinnamon and honey, and another batch with roasted garlic and parmesan. As long as I keep the flavourings to a minimum they shouldn't be too bad, health wise.

 

[caudor]

So I recently developed a personal diet and exercise program which I really don't want to be tempted away from. Although my program includes snacks, my snack is a piece of fruit or some yoghurt. Not exactly table-food. I really, really, really want to avoid chips and soda at the table and the only way I'm going to do that is by having a desirable alternative.

The problem is in the word 'desirable'. I mean, I know I could just rock up with some fruit salad or celery and low-cal dip or something, but... meh. With Doritos, Smith's, Cheezels, Twisties, Pepsi, Coke, Agrum and other miscellaneous mouth-waterers staring me in the face, it'll be tough competition.

So I'd really like to find a tasty alternative. Maybe even something other people would like so that I could convince them to get it instead of the other things. Any ideas?

First, clue your players in. You said you like fruit and yoghut. One simple approach is to ask your fellow gamers if they happen to like these things too. If so, you are good to go. Just keep a trash bin close-by so folks can toss.

If they don't like fruit, ask them what healthy snacks they like. I'm sure you'll get answers. Also, if there is someone in the group that just needs the usual kind of snacks, ask him/her to brown bag what he likes, and then don't focus on that person while eating.

Temptation is a natural things that occurs during any diet. Don't rely on your willpower alone; it will fail you eventually. You are doing the right thing right now by making a plan.

Also, remember that perfection is sometimes the enemy of good. Go for good. Depending on how often you game, you might want to cut yourself some slack. What is important is not what you do all the time, but what you do most of the time.

If any of this makes sense, I hope you find it helpful. Good luck.

 

[Thasmodious]

The problem is knowing what is and isn't really healthy. Reading labels doesn't do you any good, companies can get away with anything. Reese's cereal is "part of a healthy breakfast" after all. And, most of what is "common knowledge" on healthy eating is wrong advice from the debunked low-fat theories of the 60s and 70s.

The best advice remains - eat real food and avoid processed foods as much as possible. Millions of species do pretty well sticking with what nature gives us and many of our real diet based health problems started with the agricultural revolution. Bread is not a natural food.

Fruits and many veggies come in handy snack sized portions, are tasty, not generally messy, and you can mindlessly munch as much as you want.

Avoid low-fat cheeses, they are generally terrible for you. Full fat cheeses are better, just don't eat too much. But a few cubes of cheese set out with some awesome fruit or veggies and hummus makes good snacking. Crackers are as bad, and often worse, than chips.

Nuts contain much needed healthy fats. Snacking too mindlessly on these can bust a calorie count pretty easily, but if you keep a limited supply and eat them with fruit, you're snacking well.

Popcorn is good. Personally, I dislike air-popped, just too bland. But, you can oil-pop with some good butter and/or healthy oils like olive or peanut (avoid oils from non-oily plants like soybean, canola, "vegetable" blends). Butter is not evil, it's a whole food, healthy saturated fat, but it does pack a load of calories. Still, a tablespoon is 100 calories, popped into a whole pot of popcorn shared among 4-6 people... that's pretty negligible but oh so tasty.

Sushi is not bad or expensive to make for the game group. I do this all the time. Sushi rice in bulk is cheap. Ingredients for a cali roll are cheap, too. I add a bit of something fresh I can get the day of the game, some tuna, yellowtail, scallops, whatever, to make some nigiri and/or throw into a roll or two. Once you get the rice made, making the rolls is easy and doesn't take much time.

Another snack I make often is chicken wings. I roast them, not deep fried, and a good basic buffalo sauce has no carbs, not too much sodium, and is great snacking. Doesn't meet the not-messy rule though, by a long shot.

 

[Krensky]

Hummus is a healthier alternative to salsa, and its less prone to getting watery in the bowl like salsa. Watery dips are to be avoided at all costs.

Ignoring stuff from the shelf, salsa is just as healthy as hummus. More healthy depending on what you're looking to avoid. Pico de gallo has fewer calories and less fat then hummus, for instance. Paired with some baked tortilla chips it's a great healthy snack for a party or game.

 

[Kzach]

Ignoring stuff from the shelf, salsa is just as healthy as hummus. More healthy depending on what you're looking to avoid. Pico de gallo has fewer calories and less fat then hummus, for instance. Paired with some baked tortilla chips it's a great healthy snack for a party or game.

Yeah, a lot of the shelf dips are basically half cream cheese with flavouring and a bit of whatever they're supposed to be, added in. I make real hummus from chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic. I also make a killer eggplant and tzatziki as well.

The problem with having dips and veggies is that they dry out at the table very quickly and are really inconvenient to carry and keep fresh.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

All you need for a healthy salsa is diced tomatoes, cilantro, lime and/or lemon juice, salt (optional) and your choice of peppers. I use a combo of black, red (cayenne), serranos and jalapeños.

Edit: forgot the onions- yellow or white are most common, but I prefer the added burn from nice, fresh reds.

I don't add salt myself, but having a shaker near the table usually takes care of those not getting enough from their chips.

 

[broghammerj]

I am always partial to dehydrated fruit. Not sure why. Baked apple chips are so much tastier than eating a real apple. Same with bananas. They may have a little bit of sugar but you can watch for that depending on where you buy it from.

I didn't see it, but have you considered eating a meal before coming. You'll already be full and therefore the temptation will be less.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I am always partial to dehydrated fruit. Not sure why. Baked apple chips are so much tastier than eating a real apple. Same with bananas. They may have a little bit of sugar but you can watch for that depending on where you buy it from.

Part if that is simply physics & chemistry: with less water, the tasty stuff in the fruit is concentrated into a smaller space.

The same thing is done with aging steaks, smoking and other meat curative processes.

 

[Krensky]

At the risk of being scorned...

I also find that some dried fruit and some nuts paired with some nice intensely flavored aged hard cheese in thin curls/peels. Stuff like five year gouda, four year cheddar, etc. The key is to find cheeses with really intense flavor so that curls made with a peeler provide more then enough flavor and sense 'I have snacked'.

Typically, finding these cheeses requires a higher end market or a cheese shop though.

 

[Celebrim]

Sushi is not bad or expensive to make for the game group. I do this all the time. Sushi rice in bulk is cheap. Ingredients for a cali roll are cheap, too. I add a bit of something fresh I can get the day of the game, some tuna, yellowtail, scallops, whatever, to make some nigiri and/or throw into a roll or two. Once you get the rice made, making the rolls is easy and doesn't take much time.

So, are you looking for a group to join?