Super Bowl Party Food- good eats!

The most watched television event of the year is today.  Who is tuning in?  Raised in Texas, you might say I'm a HUGE football fan.  We Texans do everything BIG and football is no exception.  You might even say that my passion for being a fitness instructor all started with football.  Yes, dancing to burn calories and stay fit allows me to be the cheerleader and dance team girl from the 80's who never wanted to let go of my glory days!  

I do have to admit though that I am more of a college football fan than NFL (Go Texas Tech!  My dog's name is Red Raider).  Don't get me started on our society's problems with paying professional athletes millions of dollars while our public teachers, firemen, policemen and military men and women get paid pennies.  THAT will be another blog on another day.


Now, even though I'm not an NFL fan, I will be watching Super Bowl XLVII for the commercials and the half-time show.  C'mon Beyonce, don't let me down like Madonna last year.  I'm counting on you for some new dance moves and inspiration!  


Along with billion's of other people I will be indulging in some "snacky food" today.  Super Bowl Sunday is the second-biggest food holiday in the US, behind Thanksgiving.  It's a booming weekend for the most popular foods: namely wings, chips and pizza.  An estimated 1.2 billion chicken wings will be consumed this Super Bowl Sunday, according to the Washington-based National Chicken Council.  (sited from www.csmonitor.com)  My husband just walked in the door from Costco with 10lbs of wings!  We are definitely contributing to the statistic today.  

So, what is on my menu?  Food that is actually not so high in calories and has some nutritional value!  

Hansen's Super Bowl Menu
Wings- baked not fried
Celery with natural peanut butter
Sugar snap peas
Broccoli with low cal ranch
Roasted potatoes
Popcorn- cooked on the stove with 1 Tbs of oil...and my BIG splurge of the day is butter on the popcorn!

According to some fun facts I found on the 93.1 Kiss FM of El Passo, TX radio station http://kisselpaso.com/super-bowl-fun-facts/ your average calorie intake during the game is about 1,200 calories!  Of course, you could burn that off doing about 3 hours of intense Zumba! Some other fun facts:

• 6 percent of Americans call in sick the Monday after Super Bowl.

• On the Monday after the Super Bowl, antacid sales increase by 20 percent.

• Pizza sales go up 35 percent the day of the Super Bowl.

• 8 million pounds of guacamole will be consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.

• 14,500 tons of chips will be eaten along with that guacamole.

• Dips and spreads are top choice for food to eat during the Super Bowl (at 30 percent) followed by chicken wings (22 percent), pizza (17 percent), chips and salty snacks (14 percent), and burgers and hot dogs (9 percent).

• Super Bowl fans spend more than $50 million on food during the four days prior to the super bowl.

• Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest winter grilling day of the year.

• More than 49 million cases of beer will be purchased. The Super Bowl is the seventh most popular “beer holiday,” behind July 4th, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Halloween.

• More drivers are involved in alcohol-related accidents on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year except St. Patrick’s Day.

• The Super Bowl is the second largest day of food consumption behind Thanksgiving.

• You would need about 13,333 NFL linemen (at 300 pounds each) to balance the four-million pounds of fat consumed from potato chips on Super Bowl Sunday.

• The average number of people at a Super Bowl party is 17.

• 5 percent of Americans will watch the game alone.

• Super Bowl weekend is the slowest weekend of the year for weddings.

• 1.5 million TVs are sold the week before the Super Bowl.

Enjoy your Super Bowl Day!  Go Green Bay! 

G