Football season has begun! While tailgate parties are a great way to celebrate the season, you don't want your 'tail' to grow too big!Below are some tips to keep your end tight throughout the season.

• Substitute baked chips for fried. Baked potato chips, tortilla or multi-grain chips are a great replacement for typically fried snacks.
• Serve up hummus or dip with vegetables instead of crackers or chips. Cherry tomatoes, celery sticks, baby carrots, cucumbers and pepper strips are readily available this time of year.
• Try reduced fat cheese and black beans in traditional Skyline dip. You can mix Skyline seasoning with black beans and use low fat sour cream and 2% shredded cheddar in place of the full fat stuff.
• Get up and move throughout the game. Recent research finds that sitting even for 1 hour watching TV increases the risk of death from heart disease by 18%. OUCH!
• Limit booze. In addition to extra calories, beer and other alcohol lowers your inhibition and may lead to overeating.
• Keep bottled water on hand to stay hydrated. Salty snacks and excess beer are a recipe for dehydration, which can lead you fatigued in the long run.
• Switch to unsweetened tea or water in place of soda. A 12 oz. can of regular Coke as 10 tsp. of sugar and 140 empty calories.
• Substitute low fat, plain yogurt for sour cream in dips. Why ruin healthy spinach with fatty sour cream and mayonnaise? Your buds won't even notice the change in ingredients.
• Keep some apples or grapes on hand in place of traditional sweets. These go well with yogurt dip.
• Replace chips and pretzels with lightly salted nuts or low fat popcorn.