Chef Wendell: How to eat healthy during the big games

Whether you are eating at home with friends and family or at a downtown bar or restaurant with the gang, there will be a full court press of tempting ‘bad foods’ lurking that you can’t avoid. Good news! There’s no need to bench your favorite foods. Just moderate and balance your intake.

If you’re making headway on your praiseworthy journey to whole heath, you certainly want to hold your ground. Perhaps we can assist you with some achievable decisions and suggestions that will allow you to still play-ball with your favorite temptations. It’s not about sacrifice. It just requires a bit of wisdom, self-control and a slight diversion from your normal drive to the hoop.

For example, if you are determined to beat the buzzer with a mountain of buffalo chicken wings, greasy ribs, fried chicken followed by 4 slices of pepperoni-cheese pizza, cut back how much you eat and offset the potential damage by eating a big, fibrous garden salad as well. Not a wimpy token Iceberg salad with measly, cherry tomatoes, and cukes. Go for dark leafy greens, lots of crunchy, colorful fresh vegetables, and oil and vinegar dressing. You’ll live, a lot larger I might add, by calling a technical foul on Bleu cheese and Ranch dressing–aka Hoosier gravy.

When you think of it, do you really need to slam dunk an insanely caloric, sugar laden 1 pound slab-o-cheesecake? It’ll take double overtime to digest and process that bad boy. One forkful should squelch your sugar jones. Share it with everyone at the table.

So you won’t foul out of the game, please consider these wise suggestions when dining out or eating at home.

• Instead of a baked potato with bacon, sour cream, and butter, order a baked sweet potato when available.

• At home, fill the orange-fleshed spud with de-greased chili and top with shredded low fat cheddar.

• Drop the chili fries and none will get hurt. Grease on top of grease.

• Avocado in anything but cream sauce. Guacamole is a wonderful choice.

• Salsa and chips, but moderate the amount of oily chips you eat.

• A bowl of hummus surrounded by Greek olives, tomatoes, cucumbers.

• At home, offer a lovely arraigned platter of fresh blanched asparagus spears and other spring vegetables like radishes. Dip them in the hummus rather than Ranch Dressing.

• How about a Big Salad, ala Seinfeld? Set up a make-your-own salad bar with sensible dressings.

• In restaurants, try a chicken, salmon or shrimp Caesar Salad and ask the water not to asphyxiate it with dressing. Better yet, ask for the dressing on the side. (Left or right, it’s entirely up to you).

• Cut back on warm bread, bread sticks and rolls. Sure, they are delicious, but a filling, fattening, pancreas-stressing carbohydrate.

• How about a warm bowl of soup? Bean or vegetable-based soups are easy to digest and highly nourishing. At home, make you own and serve from a crock pot with whole grain bread and crackers.

• Desserts? Sorbet, frozen yogurt, dessert coffee or a bowl of strawberries. Request your desserts be served with syrups, sauces and whipped toppings on the side or you’ll likely end up licking the bowl clean.

• Water-Keep hydrated between cocktails.

• And of course, added fiber-reduces the time food lingers in your GI tract.