15 Top Tips for a GUILT-FREE Super Bowl
- smplfyyourhealth
- Feb 11, 2024
- 2 min read
Do you feel guilt or shame after events or when you eat food at gatherings?
Do you place different foods on a pedestal, naming them as good or bad?
Do you want to have a guilt free Super Bowl party?
Then this guide is for you!
INTRODUCTION
When the Super Bowl approaches the feelings of anticipation, excitement, gatherings, and tailgating parties stream through our mind. A great deal of us look forward to more than just the game, we look forward to the food, seeing friends, sharing beverages, and that overall team like atmosphere. However, sometimes we have the Karen’s of the world at those parties who like to drag diet culture in and rain on our parade of fun and festivities. You may hear snide comments like are you going to eat all of that, the diet starts tomorrow, I ate enough for the whole week… the list goes on. Fortunately, there is a way to avoid all of that BS and allow yourself to remain fully immersed in the festivities instead of the Debbie downers stuck in their diet. Below I have 15 tips to help you prepare, survive, and ENJOY Super Bowl 2024!
Tip #1: Set yourself up for success and wear clothing that is comfortable
Comfortable clothing instead of spandex tight jeans allows the body room to move as it fluctuates when we eat and when it digests food. This simple step helps to avoid poor body image and negative self talk.
Tip #2: Set Boundaries and remember you can leave any conversation (Diet or otherwise) that you do not want to be apart of
It is almost inevitable that someone is going to make a comment that stems from diet culture or their own demented relationship with food, movement and their body. Statements such as the diet starts tomorrow, I’ve eaten enough for a week, I’m being so bad, etc can result in those comments leading to feelings of shame, guilt, frustration, anxiety, bullying, relapse, and so much more. So how do you handle it? Well you have multiple options, fortunately. One option is two simply state your trying to listen to your body and get curious around the why’s of what it tells you. Another option is to change the subject to something else. Simply making that subject change can give them the hint you aren’t comfortable with that subject topic. One tactic that keeps you safe is simply leaving the conversation and walking away. This keeps your boundaries up for what you are comfortable being around. These are just a few of many that can help give you cushion when those diet and negative body image subjects rise to the surface.
Tip #3: Give yourself permission to eat as much or as little as YOU want!
Giving yourself permission to eat as much or as little helps take awake that restriction aspect. Creating rules, restrictions, and regulations makes it so our mind and body place a lot of emphasis around the thing we said we CANT HAVE! It increases awareness surrounding it. But by giving ourself permission we take food off the pedestal and it has less hold over us.
Tip #4: Remember you can have these foods at anytime of the year, they don’t have to be a one and done!
Festivities and tailgating can bring with it specialty foods that are often times known to be had specifically at special events. Things like pretzel bites, special cakes, snacks, etc become more prominent and can feel like this is our only opportunity to have them. The great news is, it’s not! You are an adult, which means you can have these foods at any time during the year. Ordering a specialty meal from a specific restaurant or asking a friend for that specific recipe can occur at any point. This helps to take the anxiety and single opportunity awareness out of the equation. It also helps to reduce food being put on a pedestal, which can create heightened awareness and feelings of anxiety around the meal.
Tip #5: It’s ok to throw away food if you get full, it is not being WASTEFUL!
If you’ve ever been called wasteful or been told to clean your plate then this tip is for YOU! These statements listed above while not ill intentioned, can lead to a disconnect with our fullness and hunger cues. This can lead to under and over eating, two things we often want to avoid due to discomfort! But you comfort and honoring your body should not come at the cost of eating a few more bites to reduce waste. Your body and the signals it tells you MATTERS!
Tip #6: It is ok to eat foods that are not nutrient dense, they still provide nutrition and give your body nourishment and energy!
Diet culture and the society we live in like to make it a point to tell us soul nourishing foods are empty calories that serve no purpose. This is simply not true. They help us connect with our loved ones, they help us learn to respect different textures and different flavors, and they do in fact give your body nourishment ! While they may not give you as much nutrition as some foods, they still provide nutrients and nourish your body! Instead of using phrases like empty calories and healthy foods, try to replace those terms with soul nourishing and nutrient dense foods. This helps take good off a pedestal and reduces guilt, which is now on the ingredients list… I GUARANTEE IT!
Tip #7 Stay hydrated throughout the party to help you remain in connection with your body and to help your food digest.
Staying hydrated helps in various ways. It can help you digest your food, it can help you stay in touch with how your body is feeling, and it can help you avoid physical discomfort that evening or the following day.
Tip #8: You DO NOT have to earn or burn off your food
Food is fuel regardless of what form it is in. Our body needs steady fuel in order to operate optimally. Dwelling on or overthinking the ramifications of eating past fullness does not aid our body, in fact, it hinders it from functioning optimally. The feeling of NEEDING to burn off the food you enjoyed during Super Bowl puts food on a pedestal and inevitably creates this heavy amount of control over us.
Tip #9: It's OK to overeat (eat past fullness).
Overeating or eating past fullness are normal parts of life. External and internal factors can impact our ability to be completely in tune with our body and completely mindful every second of everyday. Feelings of guilt and shame create extra unnecessary stress in the body, which is more stress than the extra food you ate will cause from one meal. Trust your body, it knows what to do with the fuel it has been given.
Tip #10: Remember guilt is not an ingredient in a recipe, external factors add that… you are allowed to cross it off the ingredient list for yourself.
Sometimes we feel guilt and shame after eating special foods. But, simply put, there is no reason to feel guilt around food. All food provides nutrition no matter what it is. Unless you literally stole the food there is no reason to place shame or guilt for what you ate at one meal.
Tip #11: You can always save the leftovers, take home a doggie bag, get the recipe, or freeze any excess you do not want.
At special events it is easy to make the food items and beverages feel like a one and done. We place a high amount of emphasis on this being our “ONLY” shot to enjoy them. But it actually is not. You have permission to freeze leftovers from your party, ask the person for the recipe, or even ask for a doggie bag to enjoy them later on. When we take food off the pedestal we take away the control it has over us. Food is just food, it is not morally bad or good. We don’t need to make it overcomplicated.
Tip #12: Check in with your body before, during, and after the festivities.
Before the festivities begin check in to see how your body feels… is it comfortable in the clothing you have on, are you hungry, thirsty etc. Repeatedly doing this throughout the night as best you can helps us to keep an eye on how we are feeling and reduce the risk of physical/mental discomfort.
Tip #13: Do not restrict food in the lead up to the festivities, this will often lead to overeating and guilt.
It is important to fuel yourself as you usually would, to avoid entering a hangry phase. By restricting before festivities we set ourselves up to overeat do to the extreme hunger cues we begin to experience. This not only sets us up to over eat, it also sets us up to feel physical discomfort when we do eat past our physical fullness.
Tip #14: You do not have to eat any food you do not want to… don’t let someone bully you about your food decisions.
Remember that you are in charge of you and your body. You do not need to appease anyone by force feeding yourself their dish if you are full. However you always have the option to consciously decide it’s worth it to eat past fullness to be involved in the moment. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Tip #15: This is 1 meal out of a minimum of 1,097 in a year
Keeping perspective can assist in remaining mindful that today is one day of 1,097, which is not going to harm your overall health. In fact, if you allow yourself to enjoy it, it will amplify happy hormones in the body. These happy hormones reduce inflammation, while the negative self talk absolutely increases inflammation the body will inevitably feel.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The bottom line is to avoid placing food on a pedestal. When we treat food as good or bad that’s when a disordered relationship between food, movement, and our body begins to develop. By avoiding morality surrounding food you are able to listen to your hunger cues more easily, avoid overeating since the food isn’t restricted, and we are able to avoid the guilt aspect as well. Food and beverages are apart of the game, but the social connection that is created during the festivities is what memories are built upon. Keep perspective of what you value and what will pass (like discomfort surrounding food rules). Remember, 1 meal out of 1,097… trust your body it knows what to do. It's one night out of 365 days.