Tips for tackling your diet at Super Bowl parties

DALLAS – Jan. 24, 2019 – If you have resolved to eat healthier to manage your diabetes, blood pressure, or cholesterol, parties can present a challenge, so it’s important to have a game plan before tackling the Super Bowl spread, UT Southwestern Medical Center dieticians say.

“Remember that healthy-food choices and controlling portions are key to good health,” says Dr. Jo Ann Carson, a registered dietitian nutritionist at UT Southwestern.

If you’re hosting a party, include healthy options such as salad, fruits, and vegetables. Low-calorie and sugar-free selections can help diabetic friends and family control calories and carbohydrates and make sound choices without much fuss.

“For people with diabetes the goal is to keep the carbohydrates down – and encourage more of the protein-rich foods – to enhance satiety,” Dr. Carson advises. She also coaches her patients to eat slowly, so that they consume a limited amount per quarter, and to get up and walk around during each commercial break to encourage activity as well as better eating habits.

If you’re a party guest trying to keep control of your diabetes, find out what’s on tap for the Super Bowl party you’re attending. If it’s shaping up to be a high-carb feast, bring some of your own favorite dishes, or coordinate with others with diabetes to ensure the table includes healthier options. It is also important to monitor blood sugar on a regular basis.

If blood pressure is more of a concern for you, load up on fruits and veggies that provide potassium and limit your sodium by avoiding salty snacks, dips, and sauces.

Dr. Carson offers these hosting guidelines: 

Zero penalties for eating these foods

Salad greens, sprouts, mushrooms, onions, peppers, radishes, tomatoes and sugar-free and low-calorie dressings

Crunchy low-calorie vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, jicama, asparagus, and cucumbers

Varied beverage options such as water, unsweetened tea, coffee, and calorie-free diet sodas

Grilled fish, skinless chicken or turkey, and/or soy-based “veggie” burgers

Low/Nonfat dairy options including nonfat cheeses, yogurts, and skim milk

5-yard penalty (Eat sparingly and watch portion sizes)

Fruits and vegetables, especially those with edible skin (apples, corn, and beans) and those with edible seeds (berries)

Whole grain options for rice, pasta, breads, and crackers in small portions

Beans/legumes such as kidney, pinto or black beans, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, and lentils

Unsalted nuts (1 ounce or about 20 nuts is a serving)/p>

15-yard penalty for consumption of these items

Cookies, pies, candies, desserts

Potato chips, high-fat dips, and high-fat crackers

Sodas, alcohol, and sweetened beverages

About UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 22 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 17 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 15 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The faculty of more than 2,700 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in about 80 specialties to more than 105,000 hospitalized patients, nearly 370,000 emergency room cases, and oversee approximately 2.4 million outpatient visits a year.