Tim Tebow, quarterback of the Denver Broncos, is one of the most talked-about NFL players this season. While sports commentators have questioned Tebow’s abilities as a quarterback, others have wondered exactly what it takes to stay in peak shape as a professional football player. For many professional athletes, including Tebow, maintaining an athletic physique is not something that comes naturally but is a result of years of dedication to strength training, cardiovascular exercise and maintaining a healthy balanced diet.

Though Tebow’s autobiography Through My Eyes states that he was raised on “Coke and Popsicles” at his uncle’s farm, it is unlikely that he maintains a high-sugar diet today.

“Every athlete will have different needs, but typically you’d like your athlete to eat cleanly all year long,” said New York-based performance coach Chris Matsui, who has worked with high-level athletes including the Carolina Panthers.  ”A football player’s diet shouldn’t change drastically in the week before a game, but what they specifically eat is dependent on their individual needs and food allergies or intolerances.”

For most of his clients, Matsui recommends fueling with plenty of lean meat (fish and chicken), healthy fats (avocado and nuts), fruit (blueberries and strawberries), vegetables (kale, broccoli and spinach) and complex carbohydrates (quinoa or brown rice).

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Tonight, college football season will finally come to a close as the Louisiana State Tigers take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship game. It’s the second time these two powerhouses have met on the field this season, and the second time one will walk away as a winner, and another won’t. Tensions will no doubt be high, but delicious guilt-free snacks will help keep everyone cool.

The game kicks off at 8:30, and if you’re hosting a watch party, you’ll no doubt be serving your fellow fans a dinner worthy of a championship nod. Now, we’re all for enjoying finger foods and snacks while watching your favorite team charge the field. We’re also big fans of remembering those resolutions are just nine days old. So, serve the snacks your crowd expects, but do it in a healthy way that doesn’t sabotage the home team, or the visitors!

Try our recipes for Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo for the Tigers, Winning Fried Chicken for the Tide, or the 7-Layer Dip peace keeper for everyone.
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With football season in full swing, odds are you are either watching the games to cheer on your favorite teams…or because you enjoy sipping a cold beer and eating nachos with chorizo.

While some of the writers and staff here at Diets In Review are avid fans of their hometown football teams, others (like myself) are in it purely for the halftime noshes.

Brandi Koskie, Managing Editor
Favorite College Team: Oklahoma Sooners
Favorite Game Day Eats: “I can’t watch a game without tacos and homemade guacamole. To keep it healthy, I use ground turkey with sauteed onions, green chilies, black beans and corn tortillas.”

Also try: Easy Grilled Fish Tacos, Baja Chicken Salad, Sunset Guacamole

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This week marks the beginning of the college football season and after a summer of cookouts and picnics, most healthy eaters are tired of grilled vegetables and black bean burgers.

If you want to socialize without blowing your diet during football games this year,  stick to fresh, simple recipes to boost your team spirit, whether you’re in the stadium parking lot or watching on your neighbor’s flat screen TV.

As you plan your menu for the next big game, consider some of these healthy tailgating recipes – all just as delicious and crowd-pleasing as their fattening counterparts.

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Bryant McKinnie was a professional football player for the Minnesota Vikings. An offensive lineman, McKinnie signed a contract extension in 2006 that was worth almost $50 million dollars. It looked like McKinnie would be a long-term Viking, but he was recently cut from the team’s roster after he showed up to training camp, weighing almost 400 pounds. This is 65 pounds more than he weighed last year, and evidently, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Judd Zugland, a reporter at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, said that McKinnie’s weight gain was the “final straw” that allowed the team to dismiss him from their ranks. In the past, McKinnie has had several off-field issues such as being involved in a brawl in 2008 and was a key player in the infamous “Love Boat incident”, a sex party on a rented boat involving many members of the team, which was very embarrassing for the franchise.

In a sport where the players have to be big enough to clear the field for their teammates to score touchdowns and have to stop the other team from rushing the ball, shouldn’t bigger always be better? Surprisingly, no. These NFL linemen have to walk a thin line between being big but still athletic, and so overweight that it slows them down. It seems that the Vikings determined that McKinnie had finally gotten too big, and was no longer an asset to the football team.

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