5 tips to keep your Super Bowl feast healthy

January 30, 12:06 PMNutrition ExaminerCarol Bardelli

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Super Bowl fare can be delicious and diet friendly.

One of the most celebrated feast days is upon us. Super Bowl Sunday and fattening foods go hand in hand. This party revolves around watching hours of television sitting on the couch and snacking endlessly on irresistible goodies. What's a weight watcher to do? Follow these five tips and you can mitigate the damage to your diet. Remember to enjoy yourself, and if you do over do it forgive yourself and get back on program on Monday.

1. Portion control always counts. Use a small saucer or bowl and never eat more than a 1/2 cup of anything at a time. You know you'll be snacking throughout the game so make your snacks mini servings. Offer snack size munchies like mini tortilla wraps or mini pizzas on English muffins instead of full size entree items like large sub sandwiches or whole pizzas. Limit alcohol and soda. These simple changes save calories while keeping your blood sugar level steady and your hunger at bay.

2. Choose proteins and vegetables over foods high in refined carbohydrates. Protein foods like lean Buffalo Chicken Wings, chili, chicken kabobs, and lean cold cuts satisfy hunger longer than chips, ice cream, pretzels, bread sticks, and other high calorie refined carbs.  Make sure there's lots of vegetables available like crudites with salsa, three bean salad, a vinegar based Cole slaw, fruit salad, and yogurt based dips. Filling up on high fiber foods keeps you satisfied. It's easier to pass up the high calorie treats when you're full.

3. Substitute lower calorie foods for high calorie foods. This seems like a no brainer but most people don't bother  on special occasions. They buy the high fat, high carb, and high calorie foods out of habit, or a sense of entitlement. "It's just one time." "I deserve to splurge." "The regular hot dogs taste the best." Full fat hot dogs run as high as 200 calories. Many brand like Nathan's offer great tasting lower calorie options as low as 70 calories. Choose unbreaded shrimp with cocktail sauce instead of breaded chicken fingers with Ranch dip and save around 300 calories. Read the labels and choose lower calorie choices of meats, snacks, dips, dressings, beverages, and other game day favorites. Your waistline will thank you.

4. Get in a morning workout that includes resistance training. Resistance training causes you to burn calories up to 48 hour after a workout. Aerobics only has an afterburn of an hour or so. Setting yourself up for a workout afterburn means your body will use food for fuel and not just extra calories for storaqe in fat cells. People are also less likely to overeat after a good workout.  

5. Get up and move during commercials. You can still watch those glorious wonders of the advertising world while you do squats, lunges, push ups, ab crunches, or jog in place. Make it a contest and see who can do the most. You can accumilate an hour of exercise over the course of the pre-game show, Super Bowl, and post game show combined. That could add up to 400-700 calories burned. And you'll be less likely to stuff yourself if you know there's a push up competition coming in a half an hour.

Set yourself up for success by planning for success. For more read  Exercise and Appetite.