Each year on a cold Sunday in early February, families and friends gather around their televisions, place their bets and partake in a feast of snacks to watch the annual Super Bowl. With so many options to bring and make, consider mixing it up this year with healthy Super Bowl snacks.  

Matt Stark, the program coordinator for nutrition and dietetics in the College of Health and Human Sciences at NIU, offered some helpful advice on eating healthier during Super Bowl LVI. 

“One thing I always recommend people when I worked as a dietician is, opposed to walking up to where all the food is at and grazing, grab a plate and put a little bit of what you want on your plate and walk away so that way you’re not standing in front of the food tempted to eat more of it,” Stark said.

This is a great way to eat in moderation using the “out of sight, out of mind” motto. For Super Bowl party hosts, Stark recommends that a fruit or vegetable plate be included in the food options and, depending on desire for creativity, a fun and enticing way to present fruit and vegetables is arranging them as figurines. 

“I think a lot of people turn to sports bar types for the Super Bowl so a great option would be Fatty’s Pub and Grille,” said Olivia Bosse, a nutrition and dietetics grad student and intern. “If you are trying to be a little more health conscious, Fatty’s has a lite menu that gives nutrition information about calories, fat and carbohydrates.” 

Fatty’s Pub and Grille is a restaurant and sports bar, located at 1312 W Lincoln Highway, that offers a variety of drinks and entrees.

Chips and dips, jalapeno poppers, pretzels and pizza are all great snacks that can be added to the Super Bowl Sunday menu. Throwing vegetables on your pizza, spicing up plain vegetables with a fun recipe and noting other options such as gluten free or vegan are all great ways to make Super Bowl Sunday a little healthier. Bosse and Stark note that avoiding food is not necessarily the answer, but eating in moderation as opposed to binging is the best way to practice healthier eating habits in everyday life, as well as this Super Bowl Sunday.