Super Bowl Sunday is the relatively new eating holiday in the timespan from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day. For a while there, we weren't sure if we would have a Super Bowl with the impending NFL strike. Unlike the NBA, the NFL played a full schedule this year, and the Super Bowl will be on time. During the uncertainty, I made a mental note to not go crazy food-wise for Super Bowl Sunday.
Whether you count Halloween, the late-fall to mid-winter stretch has a lot of eating holidays. Throw in a January birthday, and you have a lot of potential eating hazards.
I am pretty much required to watch the game since my day job is running an ad in the game. However, my plan is to have a regular dinner on the night of Super Bowl Sunday.
No bag of chips. No multi-layer dip. No pizza. No delivery. No multi-beer tab. Just a simple Sunday night dinner.
I might have kept the tradition if the NFL hadn't struggled with how to split gazillions of dollars. After all, we don't think to have special menus for the World Series, NBA finals, or even the Stanley Cup. The Super Bowl is one February night, so why not? It's too close to my birthday and Valentine's Day, two anxiety and pressure days in themselves.
Having "eating holidays" can be a way to have some fun while doing well most of the time. However, winter is the worst time since you are already tempted to eat more to stay warm. Certain holidays bring a propensity toward junk food, especially Super Bowl Sunday. At least on Thanksgiving, you get a healthy balance of carbohydrates, protein, fruit, and vegetables, even if the amount is unbalanced.
To prove we are fun, you can eat your regular dinner in front of the TV while watching the game. West Coast viewers can treat it as a late-afternoon snack or they can wait until halftime to start dinner. Just make it a normal Sunday night meal … with the biggest football game of the year.
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