Sweeney and Quimby say that since fans are so interested in sports and competition, it should be possible to persuade them to adopt healthier habits.
For starters, here are six ways fans can keep game days healthier:
- Cook your own game food. Make pizza with whole-wheat dough, and top it with tomato and basil instead of pepperoni, or chicken sausage instead of pork. Grill or bake your wings instead of ordering deep-fried. Put more beans and less meat in your chili. If you’re actually at the game, try to avoid or limit your consumption of the unhealthy fare served up at most stadium concession stands. (Check out this healthy pizza recipe.)
- Keep your food out of the TV room. Ouch, right? But according to Quimby, if you’re distracted by the game, you tend to eat more. If you make a conscious effort to get up for food, you may end up eating less.
- Bet exercise instead of money. “Lap around the block says the Steelers convert this 3rd and 4!” is healthier than betting $5. You can put some other types of exercise on the line too—what’s more satisfying than having your buddy struggle though some push-ups, crunches, or deep knee bends?
- Weigh in on game day. Set weekly weight loss goals and when the guys all get together before the game, check your progress. The guy who’s furthest from his goal buys the beer.
- Speaking of beer, drink less. Keep a water bottle nearby. For every sip of beer you drink, take a swig of water. It will slow your consumption, help reduce your calorie intake, and keep you hydrated during those push-ups.
- Keep a ball handy. If you have a backyard, play touch during halftime. If not, hit the park before game time to earn some of your own gridiron glory. Then when you shout, “I could make that throw better than that bum!” you’ll have some proof.
“We’re not trying to get people to stop being sports fans here,” says Quimby. “We just think that this is a population that we might be able to target knowing something of their existing behaviors. We think we might be able to use that to get across the message about eating appropriately and getting appropriate exercise.”
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Comments (2)
I certainly wasn’t aware that your average sport’s fan was meant to be healthy. It’s not as if the owners of the stadiums go out of their way to begin with to make sure that the concession stands are filled with wholesome healthy foodstuffs to begin with. And less we forget that alcohol is all too readily available.
So now who’s kidding whom here when it comes to this all ?
tophatal …………..
They weren’t talking about stadiums, they were talking about sports fanatics at home in their living rooms, did you just read the same article that I did, tophatal? I agree with you on foods readily available everywhere, I think that there should be healthy choices for everyone everywhere, food servers, you may want to look into this for your establishment!!!