There is a plethora of research and clear signs that demonstrate how American society associates social events and big gatherings, with a reason to eat, eat and once they’re to the point of unbuttoning the top button of their pants, eat some more. Be it a birthday, a celebratory gathering, Thanksgiving, or SUPER BOWL SUNDAY; Regardless of what we do to get away from the association of food with social gatherings, it won’t be possible. The fact is every time you even think about it, there is going to be some pizza commercial or wings bar commercial talking about their Super Bowl specials or penny pints of beer, that trigger the thought all over again. Although it may not 100% entice you to go to their establishment and fatten their pockets, it will unconsciously trigger your birth-given desire as an American to fatten your waistline at whatever social gathering it may be.
Naturally as a Fitness Professional, it is my conditioned train of thought to examine the outside influences and their effect in terms of being able to totally demolish a behavior/act. Then come to the conclusion whether it is best to create certain “facilitators” to avoid these things altogether, or is it best to put a “rubber fence” in place, which allows for some flexible (rubber) terms around these things? Let’s just be honest, just because you’re trying to eat right and stay on track doesn’t necessarily mean that the people at your Super Bowl party are going to do the same, right? It just isn’t practical to assume you should miss all social gatherings to avoid pitfalls, and really isn’t healthy to be honest.
Like I always tell my clients: you only have one life to live, you deserve to be able to live it and enjoy the things you have always enjoyed! So if it social gatherings, eating nifty little finger foods, and Super Bowl parties-the most practical approach that will yield the best outcome is learning to manage these events and be fit-minded, while having fun and enjoying some much needed relaxation!
We will focus on Super Bowl Sunday, being that it is today!
Super Bowl Sunday has practically become a National Holiday now days! Over 100 million people watch the game (or the commercials) globally, and more food is consumed today than any other day with the exception of Thanksgiving Day.
How do you plan to eat well while still enjoying the big game with friends and family?
Follow these simple tips to make your Super Bowl party eating less of a stressful time and more enjoyable.
1. Bring A Veggie Dish Along With You
Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals and loaded with water. They will fill you up with fewer calories than chips and salsa. That means you can eat more without worrying as much about your waist line. Pair fresh veggies with hummus for some added protein and fiber.
2. Limit Alcohol To 1 Drink
It can be easy to over indulge in food after a few extra alcoholic beverages. You begin to loosen up a bit and might crave higher calorie foods. To keep better control of your eating, limit yourself to 1 glass of wine, beer or mixed drink. Make sure to drink plenty of water or seltzer with a splash of fruit juice for a change.
3. Eat A Snack Before The Party
When hunger takes over, nutritious eating choices may go out the door. Before leaving the house eat a small snack to tide you over. An apple with nut or seed butter, string cheese with some whole wheat crackers or greek yogurt with blueberries are just a few simple and quick snacks that will keep your hunger more stable.
Nut-Tritious Nut Butters produce quality almond, cashew, hazelnut, pecan, pumpkin, soy nut, sunflower and walnut butters. Try any of these varieties with some fruit for a filling snack.
Desserts are truly a treat. If a friend brings a special homemade dessert that you want to eat, allow yourself 1 piece. Enjoy and savor the dessert. One treat will not ruin a diet. Remember that it is just one party. If you overdo it on the high calorie food, then just make sure the remainder of your meals that day are packed full of nutrient dense foods. Just like over the holidays, remember to plan on putting in the work tomorrow when training to circumvent the damage you’ve done as well. This helps keep your body more in balance, and balances out any overeating.
Want some crazy Super Bowl stats?
A) The pizza industry estimates 350 slices of pizza will be eaten per second during the game.
B) Approximately 8 million pounds of popcorn will be consumed.
D) The California Avocado Commission (CAC) projects that 26 million avocados will be consumed mostly in the form of guacamole.
E) During last year’s Super Bowl, more than 558 million wings were consumed, according to the Washington, D.C.’s National Chicken Council and more than 53.2 million cases of beer were consumed by Americans.
Want some tips, tricks and ideas to help you make healthier choices today?
I’m going to foreword this as I tend to do: I’m not saying that eating junk isn’t enjoyable for most. All I’m saying is that eating healthfully is way more fun and looking/feeling more confident and sexy when going to these social gatherings such as Super Bowl parties, it MUCH MORE FUN!
Right Down To It
1. Finishers: We love finishing things! That’s why it’s so hard to leave things on our plate; like the last few bites we might not even want. For many of us, we’re done eating only once our plate is clean.
a. The game plan: Let’s use smaller plates, dishes and glasses.
2. Never Forget: There was a fascinating study by the Cornell Food and Brand Lab in which one group of people ate chicken wings and the bones were kept in front of them. In the other group, the plates were cleared every 15 minutes or so. Who do you think ate less? The group who saw all of the bones. We can do the same with alcohol. Always serve new glasses, but be sure to leave the old glasses out along with bottles.
a. The game plan: Keep all of our bones and food remains on our plate. Do not throw ‘em out. Keep all of our cans and bottles too.
3. Stop reaching: Always pour the chips into something. And if they’re already poured into a big bowl, take a few on a small plate. Otherwise, the hand keeps reaching. Having endless portions in front of us is a sure fire way to overeat.
4. Less is more: The first bite is always the best so why not reduce our portions? This works really well if there are a lot of foods we really want to try.
5. Are we actually hungry? Remember: Companies spend tens of millions of dollars advertising because it works. It cues emotions and memories. In fact, it can work instantly. Many of the commercials are for food and alcohol.
a. The game plan: As much fun as the commercials are maybe it’s not a good idea for us to watch them. Stand up. Stretch. Help out in the kitchen. Besides, the best commercials will be all over TV and the internet in the coming weeks anyway.
6. Double fist: Not necessarily alcohol but any beverage. I know this might sound a little ridiculous but it just might work. Double fisting means holding a can (or bottle) of beer (who says we can’t make it anything though?) in each hand. If we’re always holding something in each hand, we can’t eat.
7. Eat with your non-dominant hand: It takes 20 minutes for our brain to realize the effects of food we ate. Hence, we keep eating when we are no longer even hungry.
a. The game plan: Make it harder to eat. Use chop sticks. Eat with our other hand (and laugh a lot!). Let’s try pacing ourselves with the slowest eater. The slower we eat, the more full we’ll feel because we’ll be letting our stomach do its job.
8. Distractions: If we eat while we watch TV, or do anything in addition to eating, we’re going to eat more. Smell the grass. Live in the moment. Taste the food! Pretend you’re a food critic.
9. The health halo: Watch out for Subway, or any other ‘healthy’ eateries. Many people because they think they are eating healthfully will eat a lot more. The calories will add up and before you know it, our ‘healthy’ meal is not so healthy! Just because the cookies are ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ doesn’t mean they’re good for us.
10. Groups: When we are with 1 other person we’ll eat 35% more, with a group of 4 it’s 75% more, and with 7 or more it’s 96% more!
a. The game plan: Put whatever it is we’re eating down after each bite. Only take another bite once we’re done chewing the previous bite. Take a sip of water in between each bite.
11. Don’t call it a comeback: Towards the end of the game, we might find ourselves eating just to eat. Are you really still hungry? If you’re not hungry but choose to eat anyway — say out loud, “I’m not hungry but I’m going to eat this anyway!” (Or at least say it to yourself.) This helps to wake your long term, rational mind up because many times we’re just eating to eat. It also helps to let people know we’re crazy when we talk out loud!
12. Make it harder! If you’re having your own party, only serve in the kitchen. Being able to roll over and grab more food is going to make it very easy to eat a lot.
a. The game plan: If you’re at a party, do not ask anyone to get you anything. Get your food yourself.
13. Wear tight, tight pants! It’s a lot easier to stop eating when our clothes and belt starts telling us we’re full.
a. The game plan: Wear very tight pants because then you’ll have to stop eating when you’re stuffed. We’ll just be too uncomfortable otherwise.
14. To drink or not to drink? Is alcohol a trigger? Our irrational mind tends to get a lot louder after a few drinks. Alcoholic drinks are not only loaded with calories but they are likely to lower our inhibitions and might trigger us to eat more than we really want to.
a. The game plan: Don’t drink tonight and the Body Tutor on your shoulder might just be a little louder than the devil on your other shoulder.
15. Focus on the special stuff: Don’t waste calories on large portions of food you can eat every day. Limit the variety you have.
a. The game plan: Only two items on your plate at any one time. Having a lot of different items on our plate stimulates our appetite.
16. Is it worth it? Ask yourself, “Is this really and truly worth it?” before you dig in. Many times, we’re just eating food simply because it’s available.
17. The easiest tip of all! Eat before the game! If you have a wonderful meal before the game, you’ll be a lot less tempted to eat during the game.
18. Perfection doesn’t exist! Most importantly, and this is somewhat counterintuitive, don’t sweat it if you make a dietary mistake or two.
Just like any other day, Super Bowl Sunday will have its ups and downs. There is no perfect day much less perfect Super Bowl Sunday.
As always, if you’re consistent with your diet (and exercise) for the other 364 days you should be in great shape. If you’re not, I guarantee it’s because you’re not staying consistent with your diet and/or exercise.
Here’s a little bonus quick food chart for you to get the grasp on what Super Bowl goodies may cost you not just a few bucks, but have you putting away your skinny jeans and breaking out the sweatpants.
Super Bowl Snack | Amount | Calories |
Salted, buttered microwave popcorn | 3 cups | 90 |
Rold Gold Tiny Twists pretzels | 1 oz. (about 20) | 110 |
Salted peanuts | 16 | 96 |
Spinach, Artichoke, and Parmesan Dip | 2 tbsp | 100 |
Small pita triangles | 5 | 92.5 |
Restaurant Style Tostitos | 5 | 100 |
Guacamole | 1/4 cup | 91 |
Salsa | 20 tbsp | 100 |
Loaded nachos with beef | 1 chip | 143 |
Super Bowl Snack | Amount | Calories |
Triscuits | 5 | 100 |
Cheddar cheese | 1 oz. cube or slice | 110 |
Baby carrots | 25 | 100 |
Sabra hummus | 3 tbsp | 105 |
Hot wings | 1 | 70 |
Blue cheese dipping sauce | 1 oz. | 107 |
Beef and bean chili | 3 oz. | 102 |
Cheese pizza | 1/3 slice | 82 |
Pepperoni pizza | 1/3 slice | 89 |
Budweiser | 8 oz. | 96 |
Bud Light | 11 oz | 99 |
Until Next Time!
Keep it Fit,
Fitness Mastermind, LLC
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