While Super Bowl parties are a blast, they can be a minefield when it comes to healthy eating. The Super Bowl comes once a year, and we also know that your “play” on any one day does not really change your health or weight. Wings, cheesy dips, nachos, pizza…the list of not-so-great-for-you foods is long. Not to mention that you’ll probably spend three or more hours sitting on the couch.
Easy Swaps for Health
Your Super Bowl party does not have to be unhealthy. In fact, there are some easy swaps you can make for your favorite Super Bowl snacks that make them better for you and your guests’ waistlines.
Turning Fumbles into MVP Plays
These common Super Bowl food fumbles can be turned into MVP plays!
Pizza
Food Fumble: Pizza is a nutritional interception. One slice of pepperoni pizza approaches 400 calories. How many football fans have just one piece?
Food MVP: Instead, go for a veggie topping of thin-crust pizza at 150 calories. Make pizza from scratch with healthy toppings and opt for whole-wheat crust for an “extra point.”
Cereal Snack
Food Fumble: One large handful of cereal snack mix packs 390 calories because recipes may call for a pound of butter!
Food MVP: Pistachios or peanuts in their shell. We love these “activity” snacks as the shelling naturally slows you down. They contain good fats and stress-reducing crunch. One handful or ounce: 170 calories.
Chicken Wings
Food Fumble: Traditional chicken wings are full of calories and fat — about 160 calories and 11 fat grams per wing. Two Buffalo chicken wings with blue cheese dip can be almost 700 calories.
Food MVP: If you must wing, grill your own wings and ditch the dip or serve grilled Buffalo-flavored chicken breasts. That’s a relatively tiny 150 calories per five-ounce serving. Talk about a Super Bowl snack improvement!
Dips
Food Fumble: Creamy dips are usually full of fat and calories. The infamous 7-layer taco dip has 400-500 calories per cup.
Food MVP: If you’re making dip from scratch, try swapping Greek yogurt for the full-fat sour cream, or skip the creamy dips altogether and try guacamole or salsa. Guacamole may be high in calories, but it’s also high in heart-healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals.
Potato Chips
Food Fumble: Ah, the beloved potato chip … is there anything better than a fried and salted slice of potato? Better tasting? No. But better for you? Yes. Baked chips can be dry and, frankly, a little boring.
Food MVP: Homemade tortilla chips are vastly superior in taste and nutrition to their store-bought counterparts; by cooking them yourself, you can control how much oil and salt you use and spice them up with different flavors. Another alternative is to skip the chips and serve crunchy veggies like carrots, celery, snap peas, and jicama sticks.
Chili
Food Fumble: There’s nothing like a bowl of chili during the Super Bowl! It is a simple one-pot meal that feeds a hungry group. Preparing it with fatty meat and topping it with cheese, sour cream, and corn chips can really bump up the fat and calories.
Food MVP: Replace high-fat ground beef with lean ground sirloin and lean ground turkey breast to lower the saturated fat, and add extra flavor with lean bacon. Top with reduced-fat cheese, and you’re sure to score big nutrition points. Also, consider adding extra veggies like chopped mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, or celery.
Bacon
Food Fumble: Is there anything better than bacon? Well, not really!
Food MVP: If you’re wrapping sausages in bacon or have bacon in a recipe, don’t go without it — just halve it. If wrapping, cut a piece of bacon down the middle. If chopping up, just use half as much. Bacon is so flavorful that a little really does go a long way!
Subs
Food Fumble: Whether it’s subs, barbeque sandwiches, or sliders, cut calories by using less bread.
Food MVP: Use flatbreads, whole-wheat tortillas, or thinner versions of buns and slices of bread. These will cut the calorie count of your sandwiches big time!
Beer
Food Fumble: If you consume six regular bottles of beer at 150 calories, you have ingested 900 beverage calories. To burn this beer off, you would have to play 90 minutes of football.
Food MVP: Drink in moderation (one drink a day for women and two for men)! Between alcoholic beverages, consume jazzed-up water with fresh citrus, a splash of juice, or a sprig of fresh mint. This is a great way to meet your daily fluid needs without any extra calories.
So eat and drink strategically this Super Bowl, and don’t let every day be game day to ruin the “season” and leave you wondering where your health game plan failed you.
Written by Vicki Hayman, MS, University of Wyoming Extension Nutrition and Food Safety Educator