The Super Bowl is a super fun time for sure – but let’s stay on top of our health goals! Especially since we have to go back to school or work the next morning 🙂
The portions of this article that discuss alcohol are for those over 21 years of age!
How to Handle a Super Bowl Party
Bring The Goods With You
If you’re allowed to bring something to the party, great things to bring are:
Seltzers – to keep our hands busy when we’re not actually hungry anymore
Platter of veggies & salsa – salsa is my favorite thing to dip veggies in, because it’s pretty much just cut up vegetables! So you’re just dipping veggies in veggies 🙂
Don’t Arrive Starving
I’m sure you’ve heard this one before! If we let ourselves get too hungry, we won’t be able to make good choices!
If you Don’t Know What’s Going to be Served, Bring a Snack
Pack something non-perishable in your purse – a single-serving pack of nuts, a packet of nut butter, a pack of baked cheese bites, that type of thing!
Choose Your Favorite Starchy Food
If you’re following my “Rules of Thumb”, you know that I recommend sticking with 1 starchy food per day for weight management & optimal health.
Starchy foods include grains like bread, rice, pasta, and quinoa, but also starchy vegetables like potatoes, beans, peas, corn, hummus, French fries, etc.
Sticking with 1 serving of starchy foods is ideal – so 1 piece of bread, or 1/2 cup of cooked rice or starch veg like peas.
So this means, at a party where we’re sitting & eating for a lonngggg time, let’s stick with either 2-3 small apps with starch (like pigs in a blanket, mini hamburger sliders, etc.) OR the starch you’ll typically get as an entree (if there are entrees at your party) – so the potatoes, the pasta, etc.
A good thing to do when you’re at home is to measure out 1/2 cup of cooked rice, pasta, peas, etc., put it on a plate and really LOOK at what that looks like. This way, when you’re out, you’ll know what 1 portion is.
Survey the Appetizer “Scene” to Pick the BEST Apps
I always want my clients and those in my program to eat the foods they love, and not waste time on “mediocre” foods.
Therefore, a good thing to do is to really survey the scene of appetizers – look around and see all that is available, and then make the best choice – or choose the appetizer that looks THE BEST and TASTIEST to you 🙂
Alternate Alcoholic Drinks with Seltzer
A good way to…
slow down the amount of alcohol you’re drinking, and
stay hydrated (to avoid hangovers and “munchies” food later that night and the next day)
is to alternate the alcoholic drinks you’re consuming with seltzer or water. That means, after every alcoholic drink, get one or two glasses of seltzer or water in between the next alcoholic drink.
Another good thing to do is to add a wedge or two of lemon or lime to your seltzer (or water if you don’t like the bubbles) – this way, it still can appear that you’re drinking (to ward off those people pushing you to drink too much!) and can make the in-between drinks more enjoyable!
Stick with Alcohol That Doesn’t Have Sugary Mixers
I do generally recommend an overall diet low in sugar which I believe is better for one’s health.
Here are some good examples to choose from:
Wine
Prosecco or champagne
Light beer
Hard alcohol + seltzer/ water/ or a low-calorie beverage like a diet soda
Here’s a full list of different types of alcohol with calories!
Make Yourself “Weak” Drinks
This way, you can drink for a longer period of time without getting tooooo tipsy and then, let’s be honest, spiraling into “munchies” and fried food types of eating late at night and the next day.
Make yourself “weak” drinks – that have 1/2 the amount of alcohol they usually do.
So, for example, use a half-shot in a vodka soda, or a half-shot in a rum & diet coke.
OR, Pour Yourself “Half” Drinks
Similar to above, pour yourself half a glass of wine, or half a glass of prosecco, for example.
Take a Dessert with You When You Leave
This is a tip I got from a friend in high school that I never forgot, which REALLY helps me.
Survey the scene (like we did with the appetizers) and find the BEST looking dessert – whether that’s the cake, a cupcake, a donut, etc. and pick it up and take it WITH YOU when you leave.
This way, you’re still having dessert, but there’s not a chance for seconds, thirds, or fourths!
AND!
If you are looking for the EASIEST and most realistic weight loss program – that works for the LONG term (it incorporates weekly meal plans, how to stop stress & boredom eating, AND an accountability group) – check out my program HERE!
