Super Bowl Food in Exercise: 2019 dietdetective.com

by Charles Platkin, PhD
Super Bowl Food
Super Bowl Sunday: it’s like Christmas for sports foodies and second only to Thanksgiving for eating calorie-laden foods. In order to give you some perspective, what follows are a few of your favorite Super Bowl food and what it costs to burn them off. Yes, you can enjoy this one-day splurge; however, the concept helps to illustrate the cost of various foods in a language you can understand. The reality is that better techniques are needed to help consumers make lower-calorie food choices, and this is a great opportunity to send that message. (I’ve even completed a study on the topic: see http://bmcobes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40608-014-0021-5.) So read on to make sure your Super Bowl food choices are splurgeworthy.

THREE SLICES OF PIZZA HUT, PEPPERONI LOVER’S – LARGE ORIGINAL PAN SLICE = RUNNING THE LENGTH  OF 144 FOOTBALL FIELDS

Yes, it’s 460 calories per slice, and you would have to run 141 football fields (100 yards each) at an average speed of 5 mph. Last year there were approximately 12.5 million pizzas sold according to the American Pizza Community. Pizza is at the top of the list of go-to Big Game foods, and Pizza Hut is estimated to sell more than 2 million pizzas on Sunday.

Fit Tip: Fit Tip:  Get thin crust pizza with veggies and eat it for lunch, not just as a half-time snack.

HANDFUL OF PEANUTS (1 OUNCE) = 41 MINUTES OF CLEANING YOUR HOUSE AFTER A SUPER BOWL PARTY

A handful, or about 1 ounce (30 peanuts), has 166 calories.

Fit Tip: Nuts are healthy. Peanuts are packed with nutrients, including vitamin E, folate, fiber, niacin and magnesium. One of the best things about peanuts is that they contain a large amount of protein, and protein helps to keep you feeling full longer. But they’re also very high in calories. Don’t sit with a huge bowl in front of you. And try to eat one at a time; don’t shove a handful at a time in your mouth.

TWO PIECES KFC EXTRA CRISPY CHICKEN =  957 TOUCHDOWN DANCES IN THE END ZONE

Deep-fried chicken is very high in calories.  Each KFC chicken breast has 520 calories for a total of 1040 calories.

Fit Tip: Coat skinless chicken with whole-grain bread crumbs and bake it.

FOUR BOTTLES OF BEER = DOING “THE WAVE” 2,828 TIMES

Beer and football just go together, but keep in mind, each 12-ounce bottle of Budweiser has 145 calories, or a total of 580 calories. That’s a lot of waves!!

Fit Tip: Planning to have a few bottles? Best bet is to try sampling a few very light beers before the game to see which ones you prefer.

THREE TOSTITOS RESTAURANT-STYLE TORTILLA CHIPS WITH 7-LAYER DIP = PLAYING 1 FULL GAME  OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

According to The Wall Street Journal, there are only about 11 minutes of actual ball-playing in a football game. That means you need to play one full game of professional football to burn off 3 chips with dip. Twenty calories for each chip (yes 20!!) and 30 to 40 calories for about 1 tablespoon of the seven-layer dip.

Fit Tip: Pick baked, low-calorie chips at about 120 calories per ounce and have one at a time. Don’t put out huge bowls of them.  If you make the dip yourself, try using low-fat cheese and sour cream with black beans, not refried. Or you could switch to salsa: 2 tablespoons have only about 15 calories.

ONE FOOTLONG MEATBALL SUB = 92 MINUTES JUMPING UP AND DOWN AFTER YOUR TEAM SCORES

Meatball subs are loaded with…well, meat, cheese, bread and sometimes other stuff too.  So they’re high in calories–a Subway Meatball Marinara Sub is about 870.

Fit Tip: Try using turkey meatballs, pita bread, and light cheese.

SIX DORITOS CHIPS = 8 MINUTES OF FOOTBALL TRAINING CAMP

Just one handful of nuts can mean loads of push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, sprints and more. Just one Dorito has 12 3/4 calories. Imagine if you had a couple of handfuls (about 280 calories).

Fit Tip: Look, if you have only a few chips, I think you’ll be fine.  But eating just a few is something you have to worry about any time you open a bag of chips.  I would normally recommend lower calorie chips, but the truth is, you’re better off with something like pistachio nuts or roasted almonds, as long as you don’t have more than 20 of them.

TWO HANDFULS OF POTATO CHIPS = 30 MINUTES OF CHEERLEADING
Each handful is about an ounce, so two handfuls of chips have about 300 calories. Oh, and if you add just 2 tablespoons of onion dip (60 calories) that’s another 6 minutes,

Fit Tip: Make homemade whole wheat pita chips and use non-fat yogurt instead of sour cream to mix up the dip.

10 BUFFALO CRISPY CHICKEN WINGS WITH BLUE CHEESE DRESSING  = 150 MINUTES OF CLIMBING THE STADIUM STAIRS

The wings are fried and high in calories, and that blue cheese dressing can be caloric suicide. Ten chicken wings at 95 calories each is 950 calories. Three ounces of blue cheese dipping sauce have 460 calories.

Fit tip: Use hot sauce without the blue cheese, and make the wings yourself. Go skinless, and bake them instead of frying.

____________________________________________________ CHARLES PLATKIN, PhD is a nutrition and public health advocate and founder of dietdetective.com, and the Director of the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center. Copyright 2019 by Charles Platkin. All rights reserved. Sign up for the free Diet Detective newsletter at www.dietdetective.com
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