La Opinion asked Dr. Kantor:
Why is it important to switch from traditional Super Bowl snacks like pizza and wings?
Dr. Kantor’s response:
Super Bowl is the runner up to Thanksgiving on food consumption in America. We tend to center a long football game and a pre and post party around unhealthy snacks, appetizers, and treats. It is easy to consume foods that are dense with unhealthy amounts of calories, sodium, sugar, and unhealthy fat. The average person consumes 3000-6000 calories during Super Bowl because the options we traditionally have are packed with unhealthy ingredients and we tend to eat fast when our adrenaline is up while watching an intense nail biting game. Instead of traditional unhealthy options opt for options that are loaded with water, fiber, and lower in calories and take a longer time to chew such as fresh chopped fruits and vegetables, a large salad, dips like hummus, almond butter or guacamole. Making healthy options more available then less healthy options will result in less binge eating and unwanted consumption. You can still offer wings or pizza just make sure that you eat more of the healthy options such as fresh fruits and vegetables if you make multiple trips to fill up your plate.