It’s Super Duper Bowl weekend, folks. Let the tie-ins begin.
First things first – food, glorious food. Area restaurants like Douro in Greenwich and Crabtree’s Kittle House in Chappaqua will be stepping up to the line of scrimmage with special mouth-watering feasts and nibbles, in-house and takeout, to enhance your experience of the game. (WAG attended a Super Bowl party last year at the Castle Hotel & Spa in Tarrytown, and we can attest that the sliders and shrimp went a long way to easing the Denver Broncos’ blowout defeat by the Seattle Seahawks, who are trying to make it two in a row, this time against the New England Patriots.)
Many of you, of course, will be staging your own Super Bowl shindigs, and there seems to be a tussle for the soul of America between those who want healthier choices for the big game – call it Deflate-plate – and those who say, Let it all hang out.
According to a survey of 344 men and women commissioned by Blimpie – based in Scottsdale, Ariz., a half-hour drive from Glendale, site of Super Bowl XLIX – 53 percent of Americans crave a healthier Super Bowl spread. However, 41 percent say they eat more calories on Super Bowl Sunday than on Thanksgiving. And when asked the most annoying thing about a Super Bowl party, running out of eats and bevies ranked right up there with parents who can’t corral the kiddies, too-serious fans and (attention, George Costanza) double-dipping.
Pizza, wings, chips and salsa, and subs remain the most popular offerings, which is good news for Blimpie, a national sub chain.
The survey also reveals that folks love their Super Bowl, which they cite as their favorite “holiday” after Christmas. More than one in four would make it a national holiday, while more than 2 in five would petition the NFL to move it to a Saturday night. And more than four in five hang with the entire game, regardless of the outcome, although a quarter of respondents said the commercials are the best part.
“We’re thrilled to see subs on the list as a favorite Super Bowl food, and we have many healthy sub options like the Blimpie Best, Turkey & Provolone and Ham & Swiss,” says Steve Evans, vice president of marketing at Blimpie (blimpie.com). “Super Bowl Sunday is one of our busiest days of the year, and many of our stores do 20 percent of their entire year’s catering order on this one day. So we’re ready to serve our fans the healthy game day food they say they’re craving.”
That’s music to the ears of Dr. Steve Feyrer-Melk, also of Scottsdale, where he practices at the Optimal Heart Attack and Stroke Prevention Center. He’s also chief science officer of Nudge, a health app that collects and sorts data from the most popular health and fitness apps on the market.
Feyrer-Melk offers these tips on how to stay healthy and avoid eating the 1,200 calories and 50 grams of fat that the average fan will consume during Sunday’s festivities:
- Have a healthy mid-morning snack like a Greek yogurt, or a cup of cottage cheese. Don’t “save up” your calories. You want to go to the party in a state of nutritional equilibrium, not a caloric deficit. Olga Klyuchtis’ healthy tropical smoothieis a recipe that incorporates Greek yogurt in a delicious way.
- Hit the veggie tray. Try baking Kale Chips for a fun and tasty twist on the traditional veggie platter.
- Avoid potato chips with a yummy substitute like Oven Baked Carrots and Sweet Potato Fries.
- Avoid cheeses and sauce dips. Each tablespoon is most likely 50 or more calories of not-so-healthy-nacho cheese.
- Choose whole grain buns and limit the number. If you can go without, do it.
- Choose snacks higher in protein like chicken wings, shrimp and lean meat. Try Serena Wolf’s Summer Salad with Avocado and Grilled Shrimp or Olga Klyuchtis’ Easy Baked Chicken Wings for healthy and flavorsome alternatives.
For more on these recipes, visit Sidechef.com. Dubbed the “Siri of cooking apps,” SideChef reads aloud all recipe directions, navigating through each recipe like a car’s GPS. – edited by Georgette Gouveia
