Aren't cheerleaders all around 12 to 16? And people think I'm creepy.
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Healthy snacks & drinks for gaming?
- Thread starter Kzach
- Start date
Aren't cheerleaders all around 12 to 16? And people think I'm creepy.
Wik
First Post
Some thoughts on this.
First, I have type 1 diabetes, which is rather different than type 2 diabetes in that type 1 is genetic, you get it when you're young, and the fact that type 1s are usually small people (I'm less than 150 pounds, and was 155 at my heaviest). Anyways, to live with type 1 diabetes, you have to generally eat fairly healthily, because if you don't, you get sick. And eventually people cut off your feet because you get gangrene, which has always been a good incentive for me to, you know, eat healthily.
Bear in mind that my concerns for healthy eating may not be the same as yours - I am mostly worried about carbs, and I have absolutely no worries about fat. The more fat I eat, the better, so whether a food is high or low in fat is basically a non-issue for me (though I do focus on healthy fat foods, like nuts).
My big gaming snack is graham crackers - with the reduced fat option. These were recommended to me by my dietetions years ago, and they've become my go-to snack food. With a decent carb count (important for diabetics), low fat, relatively low sodium, and a good taste, they're a great gaming food in moderation.
Dried fruit is a great snack food, and I'm a fan of it, particularly when I'm camping or hiking. Those dried fruit leather things are good, but avoid the bags that have them in "bite sized" portions; I've generally found that you can wind up eating a lot more sugar than you thought by snacking on them.
In that vein, my favourite "guilty pleasure" snack food are craisins - basically, sweetened dried cranberries. I can eat a whole bag in no time, and they don't particularly affect my blood sugars that bad. Dried blueberries are also delicious.
Baby carrots, broccoli, and humus are delicious. In fact, it's what I'm snacking on right now. Make sure you choose a good humus - my favourite is by Sabri, and it's this spicy red pepper humus that's a little bit pricier, but absolutely amazing.
Edamame, if you like it, is a great snack food too, and the soybeans will help regulate your blood sugar levels. Depending on how it's prepared, you can eat it as a finger food or with a fork or something. Make sure you get a variety that is low in sesame oil.
Sauces are hit or miss. Basically, you can have unlimited amounts of yellow mustard. Cinnamon is good for you. Anything spicy is probably good for you, too - the active ingredient in spicy foods (Capsaicin?) apparently helps your body with digestion, and from personal (admittedly anecdotal) experience I can tell you that spicier versions of the same meals (pastas, noodles) affect my blood sugards better than the plainer versions.
While artificial sweeteners are not necessarily the greatest for you, and can definitely lead to prostate issues that are uncomfortable but not ultimately dangerous, they are a far sight better than natural sugars. I read one study that said if you drank a can of coke a day, switching to diet coke could lead to a man of 180 pounds losing ten pounds within a few weeks. If you're a pop/"soda" fiend (you weird americans and your "soda"
), switching to diet coke from regular coke will have a huge effect on your weight. If you're worried about the negative effects (and they're really exaggerated by the media, aspartame is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be), limit yourself to one can a day or something. I limit myself by rarely buying the 2L bottles and sticking to cans or half litre bottles - and I buy them one at a time, using my pocketbook as a natural limiter.
Avoid maltitol like the plague, however. That stuff is poison.
Baked chips can be alright for you - a lot of health food stores do have chips that really aren't bad at all. Go to a health food/organic grocery store (they're everywhere, these days... my small city has four or five) and ask someone who seems to know his stuff what sort of chips are worth eating... and preportion before you leave your house!
Frozen snacks are also good, if you're not the type of person who will just bite freezies rather than suck on them. They're good because they're naturally designed with portion control in mind. A freezie, even one with sugars in it, can often be a great snack because there's very little in it that will go to your gut, and it keeps your hands busy while you "snack". I had a girlfriend once that would just suck on flavoured ice, and it worked out well for her.
Cheeses were mentioned a few times. I worked in a deli for years, so I'm a bit of a cheese expert, and it turns out that yeah, they're a great option for dieters, in moderation. Rather paradoxically, the low fat cheeses are worse for you, because they have far less flavour, which leads to most people eat much more of it (and thus getting a higher fat intake). Low fat cheddar cheese has almost no flavour, while Applewood cheddar is so filled with flavour that even if you weren't doing portion control, you'd only eat a small amount (I dare someone to try and eat more than 200g of Applewood smoked cheddar in one sitting without feeling sick).
Good cheeses are things like havarti, edam, gouda, and bries. Keep in mind that they are all high in fat, but low in other things (which is why I love cheeses - I need the fat!). I'd also recommend trying out (if you can find them) finnish Lappi cheese (which is lower in fat, and has no lactose), the various "desert" wensleydales, and graaskas (which, if memory serves, is lower in fat and has a bunch of good probiotic stuff in it, but it's only available a few weeks out of the year in North America).
And for you cheese lovers, remember that goat cheese is always better than that from cows. Why? Remember that milk is basically used to raise mammalian young. And an adult goat's weight is comparable to an adult human, while a goat kid and a human kid are also fairly similar in weight, making the fat content of goat's milk more appropriate to a human's digestive system than the fat content of a cow's milk, as they can weigh six or seven times the average human's weight.
And there are some great goat cheeses, but I couldn't give you any real product recommendations, because most goat cheeses are artisinal and regionally-based. This is a good thing, though, because non mass-marketed cheeses usually have far less of the bad stuff in them and much more of the good stuff. Usually.
But the big thing is to tell your group what's going on. Someone mentioned asking them to do portion control, and to avoid communal foods, which is a great idea, because you're not likely to eat of someone else's plate. So long as you don't turn into a health food nazi ("Oh my god. You're eating dorito's? Do you KNOW how much salt is in that? No thank you, I'll eat my fair trade organic soy muesli stix, thankyouverymuch"), you should be good.
Hope that helps!
First, I have type 1 diabetes, which is rather different than type 2 diabetes in that type 1 is genetic, you get it when you're young, and the fact that type 1s are usually small people (I'm less than 150 pounds, and was 155 at my heaviest). Anyways, to live with type 1 diabetes, you have to generally eat fairly healthily, because if you don't, you get sick. And eventually people cut off your feet because you get gangrene, which has always been a good incentive for me to, you know, eat healthily.
Bear in mind that my concerns for healthy eating may not be the same as yours - I am mostly worried about carbs, and I have absolutely no worries about fat. The more fat I eat, the better, so whether a food is high or low in fat is basically a non-issue for me (though I do focus on healthy fat foods, like nuts).
My big gaming snack is graham crackers - with the reduced fat option. These were recommended to me by my dietetions years ago, and they've become my go-to snack food. With a decent carb count (important for diabetics), low fat, relatively low sodium, and a good taste, they're a great gaming food in moderation.
Dried fruit is a great snack food, and I'm a fan of it, particularly when I'm camping or hiking. Those dried fruit leather things are good, but avoid the bags that have them in "bite sized" portions; I've generally found that you can wind up eating a lot more sugar than you thought by snacking on them.
In that vein, my favourite "guilty pleasure" snack food are craisins - basically, sweetened dried cranberries. I can eat a whole bag in no time, and they don't particularly affect my blood sugars that bad. Dried blueberries are also delicious.
Baby carrots, broccoli, and humus are delicious. In fact, it's what I'm snacking on right now. Make sure you choose a good humus - my favourite is by Sabri, and it's this spicy red pepper humus that's a little bit pricier, but absolutely amazing.
Edamame, if you like it, is a great snack food too, and the soybeans will help regulate your blood sugar levels. Depending on how it's prepared, you can eat it as a finger food or with a fork or something. Make sure you get a variety that is low in sesame oil.
Sauces are hit or miss. Basically, you can have unlimited amounts of yellow mustard. Cinnamon is good for you. Anything spicy is probably good for you, too - the active ingredient in spicy foods (Capsaicin?) apparently helps your body with digestion, and from personal (admittedly anecdotal) experience I can tell you that spicier versions of the same meals (pastas, noodles) affect my blood sugards better than the plainer versions.
While artificial sweeteners are not necessarily the greatest for you, and can definitely lead to prostate issues that are uncomfortable but not ultimately dangerous, they are a far sight better than natural sugars. I read one study that said if you drank a can of coke a day, switching to diet coke could lead to a man of 180 pounds losing ten pounds within a few weeks. If you're a pop/"soda" fiend (you weird americans and your "soda"
), switching to diet coke from regular coke will have a huge effect on your weight. If you're worried about the negative effects (and they're really exaggerated by the media, aspartame is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be), limit yourself to one can a day or something. I limit myself by rarely buying the 2L bottles and sticking to cans or half litre bottles - and I buy them one at a time, using my pocketbook as a natural limiter. Avoid maltitol like the plague, however. That stuff is poison.
Baked chips can be alright for you - a lot of health food stores do have chips that really aren't bad at all. Go to a health food/organic grocery store (they're everywhere, these days... my small city has four or five) and ask someone who seems to know his stuff what sort of chips are worth eating... and preportion before you leave your house!
Frozen snacks are also good, if you're not the type of person who will just bite freezies rather than suck on them. They're good because they're naturally designed with portion control in mind. A freezie, even one with sugars in it, can often be a great snack because there's very little in it that will go to your gut, and it keeps your hands busy while you "snack". I had a girlfriend once that would just suck on flavoured ice, and it worked out well for her.
Cheeses were mentioned a few times. I worked in a deli for years, so I'm a bit of a cheese expert, and it turns out that yeah, they're a great option for dieters, in moderation. Rather paradoxically, the low fat cheeses are worse for you, because they have far less flavour, which leads to most people eat much more of it (and thus getting a higher fat intake). Low fat cheddar cheese has almost no flavour, while Applewood cheddar is so filled with flavour that even if you weren't doing portion control, you'd only eat a small amount (I dare someone to try and eat more than 200g of Applewood smoked cheddar in one sitting without feeling sick).
Good cheeses are things like havarti, edam, gouda, and bries. Keep in mind that they are all high in fat, but low in other things (which is why I love cheeses - I need the fat!). I'd also recommend trying out (if you can find them) finnish Lappi cheese (which is lower in fat, and has no lactose), the various "desert" wensleydales, and graaskas (which, if memory serves, is lower in fat and has a bunch of good probiotic stuff in it, but it's only available a few weeks out of the year in North America).
And for you cheese lovers, remember that goat cheese is always better than that from cows. Why? Remember that milk is basically used to raise mammalian young. And an adult goat's weight is comparable to an adult human, while a goat kid and a human kid are also fairly similar in weight, making the fat content of goat's milk more appropriate to a human's digestive system than the fat content of a cow's milk, as they can weigh six or seven times the average human's weight.
And there are some great goat cheeses, but I couldn't give you any real product recommendations, because most goat cheeses are artisinal and regionally-based. This is a good thing, though, because non mass-marketed cheeses usually have far less of the bad stuff in them and much more of the good stuff. Usually.
But the big thing is to tell your group what's going on. Someone mentioned asking them to do portion control, and to avoid communal foods, which is a great idea, because you're not likely to eat of someone else's plate. So long as you don't turn into a health food nazi ("Oh my god. You're eating dorito's? Do you KNOW how much salt is in that? No thank you, I'll eat my fair trade organic soy muesli stix, thankyouverymuch"), you should be good.
Hope that helps!
Bedrockgames
I post in the voice of Christopher Walken
No. There are a lot of professional and college cheer leaders. My cousin was a cheerleader for the New England Patriots for many years while in her 20s. It is a pretty high performance sport. Requires a lot of dancing and acrobatic skill.
Ah, I guess I'm looking at the wrong ones on the internet then...
Bleys Icefalcon
First Post
Ok my healthy (er) munchies include:
Splenda (vice Sweet) tea
Ice Water (Instead of a tall glass of coke, I now like a tall glass full of ice with either filtered well water, OR water right out of Denny Creek)
Orange Juice
Grapes
Yogurt Covered Raisins
AND I intentionally do not eat a lunch on days I am gaming, as I am grousing on above munchies all day.
When we decide to "stop" for dinner, I intentionally try for the non-fried options.
Splenda (vice Sweet) tea
Ice Water (Instead of a tall glass of coke, I now like a tall glass full of ice with either filtered well water, OR water right out of Denny Creek)
Orange Juice
Grapes
Yogurt Covered Raisins
AND I intentionally do not eat a lunch on days I am gaming, as I am grousing on above munchies all day.
When we decide to "stop" for dinner, I intentionally try for the non-fried options.
Aberzanzorax
Hero
Another option that sort of sidesteps the original question in a way....
I'm on weight watchers. It allots a certain number of points (e.g. calories, but a bit more complex) per day. It also allots a certain number of "flex" points per week...so you can eat a bit more heartily every day, or you could save your points for a specific occasion and go hog wild on that day (still within reason, of course).
For gaming weeks, I, personally am very well behaved for the weekdays, and then indulge a bit on the weekend. I don't eat like the other people in my group (those who aren't trying to lose weight, or who run marathons and have to eat a thousand or more calories than me). However, I do eat from what is available at the table, rather than seeking specific stuff. It's a bit easier than trying to figure out "dietary snacks".
HOWEVER, on top of that, I also usually bring a meal. We game once a month/once every two months....and we game all weekend. So the hosts cook a meal, I cook a meal (I like to cook) and others provide breakfasts and snacks.
On a gaming weekend, I usually provide a large volume, low cal meal. My favorites are chili (mostly tomatoes, beans, onions, and peppers) a veggie laden pasta dish (think puttanesca), or a stew (again, heavily laden with flavorful veggies and herbs).
I don't know if that's helpful to you/your situation...but if you ate a giant bowl of very low cal chili before gaming, were good all week, and then let yourself go...I don't know how much harm you could do to your diet at that point.
I'm on weight watchers. It allots a certain number of points (e.g. calories, but a bit more complex) per day. It also allots a certain number of "flex" points per week...so you can eat a bit more heartily every day, or you could save your points for a specific occasion and go hog wild on that day (still within reason, of course).
For gaming weeks, I, personally am very well behaved for the weekdays, and then indulge a bit on the weekend. I don't eat like the other people in my group (those who aren't trying to lose weight, or who run marathons and have to eat a thousand or more calories than me). However, I do eat from what is available at the table, rather than seeking specific stuff. It's a bit easier than trying to figure out "dietary snacks".
HOWEVER, on top of that, I also usually bring a meal. We game once a month/once every two months....and we game all weekend. So the hosts cook a meal, I cook a meal (I like to cook) and others provide breakfasts and snacks.
On a gaming weekend, I usually provide a large volume, low cal meal. My favorites are chili (mostly tomatoes, beans, onions, and peppers) a veggie laden pasta dish (think puttanesca), or a stew (again, heavily laden with flavorful veggies and herbs).
I don't know if that's helpful to you/your situation...but if you ate a giant bowl of very low cal chili before gaming, were good all week, and then let yourself go...I don't know how much harm you could do to your diet at that point.
Wow you are inclined to dislike all Americans? You do realize that Americans are not one people but made up of a bunch of races and cultures from around the world. So I guess you hate the world.
It is a good thing I don't dislike Aussies for not being able to the difference between a doll and BBQ grill.
Your point?
I have never, in all my life, grilled a doll on the barbie.It is a good thing I don't dislike Aussies for not being able to the difference between a doll and BBQ grill.
Burrahobbit
Explorer
I like a lot of the ideas in this thread. Soft pretzels are just about my favorite food, and they've got some good things going for them in the healthy snack department too: first, they're pretty healthy themselves, especially if you skip the salt (and use mustard if you like). Second, one of the big problems with most snack foods is that they come in a gigantic bag or tub, and, when you're sitting around mindlessly eating, you can devour 20 servings without noticing. A hot pretzel requires you to get up (for a mere 30 microwave seconds, barely long enough for the spellcaster to decide what to do), so you'll probably just eat the amount you plan on and have time to realize you're not really hungry anymore.
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