Make Your Game Day Party Healthy and Fun

In this article:

• The Super Bowl takes place annually on the second Sunday of February.
• Many people throw or attend parties. Traditionally, food is plentiful and calorie-dense. There’s often alcohol, too.
• It’s best to stick with lean proteins, vegetables, fruit, and smaller servings of other foods.
• Healthy swaps for your favorite party foods are also good choices.
• Other healthy choices include limiting or avoiding alcohol, standing up to cheer on your team, and plan the number of plates you’ll have.
• Lark can help you make healthy choices every day to help you reach your weight loss and health goals with or without GLP-1 medications.

When it comes to Game Day, food choices can be unhealthy and unlimited. For example, over 100 million Americans typically watch the Super Bowl, and average food purchases include 6,000 calories per person. TV-watching parties extend through the season and across sports, but here’s how you can enjoy your watch party or event while making healthier choices.

Typical Game Day Fare

Consumption on the day of the Big Game includes over a billion chicken wings, millions of pizzas and pounds of potato chips, and hundreds of millions of gallons of beer. Ribs, dips, hot dogs, and soft drinks are other popular choices. Additional snacks and desserts may include cookies, brownies, and cupcakes.

These are high-calorie, highly processed foods. Eating them for hours can add thousands of calories and make you feel uncomfortable. In fact, the UKG Workforce Group estimates that over 16 million Americans are likely to call in sick to work on Monday after Sunday’s game.

Winning Choices from the Coin Toss to the End

It’s possible to make healthier choices throughout the game while still enjoying the special atmosphere. Here’s help building your playbook.

Chips and Dip

Potato chips and tortilla chips are typically fried, refined starches. Veggie chips or straws are often made with starch as their main ingredient, so check the list of ingredients to see if potato or another type of starch is first or second. Chips and veggie straws have about 100-150 calories per ounce, and it’s easy to eat several ounces during a football game!

Crisp raw vegetables are lower-calorie, higher-nutrient choices for dipping. Celery sticks and cucumber, radish, daikon, and Korean radish slices are ideal for dipping. Baby carrots, snow peas, and mini bell peppers take no effort to prepare and are other good choices. You can also dip florets of cauliflower and broccoli. For another dipping option, try whole-grain pita chips.

Creamy and cheese-based dips are usually high in fat and calories. Ranch, onion, spinach artichoke, and blue cheese dip are examples. Guacamole, tahini, and hummus are more nutritious, but still high in calories. To lighten them up, puree in some cooked vegetables like cauliflower or broccoli. Try homemade salsa or storebought jarred or fresh salsa as alower-calorie option. Light ranch is another possibility.

Appetizers

Skip high-calorie, fatty, and high-carb items like cocktail franks and pastry-wrapped sausages, mayo-laden deviled eggs or prepared salads, and battered and fried choices like jalapeno poppers and cheese sticks. Try healthier stuffed eggs, or lighten up egg salad, crab salad, or potato salad by using plenty of vegetables and choosing yogurt and light mayo instead of full-fat mayonnaise. Turnip salad can be a flavorful, low-carb substitute for potato salad.

Finger Foods and Sides

Whatever else you’re munching on, lighten it up and add nutrients like fiber or protein. Try fish tacos instead of full-fat beef tacos or nachos, or serve a platter of pinwheel wraps instead of subs with fatty deli meats. Other finger foods and sides to consider are cauliflower popcorn, spiced nuts, air-popped popcorn, baked sweet potato fries, and potato wedges.

Lighter Proteins

Hot dogs and sausages are high in calories and are usually full of nitrates, which can cause cancer. Instead, opt for meatless sausages and hot dogs. Instead of beef patties, choose lean ground turkey patties or veggie burger patties. Swap refined white buns with butter or mayo for whole-grain buns, whole-wheat tortillas, or lettuce leaves with ketchup and mustard. Meatballs are another great option; if you don’t want to cook them yourself, look for frozen turkey or meatless meatballs. Try baking chicken wings and serving them with marinara or light ranch sauce.

Hearty and Healthy Chili and More

Chili made with ground beef or steak can add hundreds of calories before you know it, not to mention more saturated fat than anyone should eat in a day. Try turkey chili or vegetarian chilifor alternatives that are just as satisfying, far lower in calories and fat, and higher in fiber. You can make them as spicy as you like to please your guests! Offer toppings like shredded lettuce, sliced green onions, diced tomatoes, shredded low-fat cheddar cheese, and nonfat plain yogurt.

Something Sweet to Finish

A fresh fruit platter can satisfy a sweet tooth without added sugar or saturated fat. Set out whipped topping for fans who need an indulgence. Recipes for stewed apples with cinnamon, lighter cheesecake, and more are here.

Water

Water is inexpensive, ready to consume, and effortless to clean up. It’s also calorie-free and healthy. For variety, offer ice cubes and enhancements like lemon and lime wedges, sliced oranges and cucumbers, and sprigs of mint or rosemary. Unsweetened tea and black coffee are also simple, low-calorie options. In comparison, each 16-ounce glass of soda has 200 calories and 50 grams of added sugar.

Mocktails can be a good option if you’re looking for a beverage without alcohol or much sugar. Here are some skinny mocktail recipes, including a margarita, grapefruit lime cooler, and minty mojito. Light beer or non-alcoholic beer is an option that’s better than full-calorie, fully alcoholic beer.

Fitting in Indulgences

If there are certain treats you really want, try compromises like having smaller portions or substituting with healthier alternatives. Here are some examples.

• Instead of a handful of chips, have 2-3 chips and a plateful of raw vegetables to dip
• Split a single brownie or cookie with a friend. Better yet, have just a bite of theirs
• Make a healthier version, like an oatmeal cookie with banana and applesauce instead of sugar and butter

It’s easier to fit in indulgences without going too far off of your healthy eating intentions if you plan ahead. That way, you can think about what you really want, and how you can have it in a healthy way.

The Party Beyond the Food

There’s more to health than which foods you choose, and you can do more on Game Day than watch what you eat. For example, try to get active beforehand, whether that means taking a walk, tossing around a football, or fetching stray balls for people who are tossing footballs.

It’s easier to moderate your food intake if you only eat while sitting down and when you’ve served food onto a plate, instead of eating while walking around. It’s a good idea to plan ahead for how many plates you’ll have. You might, for example, set a schedule for having a plate ofappetizers in the first half, a bowl of chili at halftime, and a dessert in the second half. That helps prevent you from eating more than you realize.

Try to make game time active. It’s fun and healthy to exaggerate your support as a fan. Stand up and cheer when your team scores, completes a pass, or gets first down, for example. Also, stand up and boo every time the other team does something good.

Be aware of alcohol consumption. It’s best not to drink; if you do drink, follow safety precautions like limiting drinks to one (women) or two (men). An article published in Alcohol Research says that drinking is particularly heavy on the day of the football championship game. High-intensity drinking is linked to more injuries, violence, and risky behaviors.

How Lark Can Help

Consistently healthy choices, including modifications on Super Bowl day, can help you reach your weight and health goals. Lark can help you make positive choices on a daily basis. Your Lark coach is available 24/7 for encouragement, nutrition and physical activity coaching, and habit tracking. Lark can help you make healthy choices and establish habits that fit into your lifestyle so you can lose weight and keep it off with or without GLP-1 medications.

‍Click here to see if you may be eligible to join Lark today!