Embracing Greens for St. Patrick’s Day!

No matter your nationality, St. Patrick’s Day brings out the Irish in everyone!  However, holidays can have a tendency to put your commitment to a healthy lifestyle to the test.  The St. Patrick’s Day traditions like dark beers, Irish soda bread and corned beef and cabbage may not coincide with your eating plan, but it is easy to put a healthy twist on traditional St. Patrick’s Day meals. Here are some pointers:

• The best thing about St. Patrick’s Day is, of course, the color green—and tons of leafy vegetables that are loaded with vitamins and nutrients are green! So go ahead and decorate your plates with as many green veggies as possible.  Choose from spinach, asparagus, kale, brussel sprouts or the classic green cabbage and incorporate those as sides to your traditional favorites.
• Cabbage is the staple vegetable that is cooked for all traditional St. Patrick’s Day dinners.  This vegetable is a great source of vitamin A and vitamin C while also being very low in fat, calories and sodium.  Buy fresh, dark green-leafy cabbage.  It is incredibly nutritious and will add even more green to your meal!
• Many people look forward to eating cabbage along with corned beef and potatoes.  Potatoes are rich in nutrients and are a vegetable that should be eaten as part of a healthy diet.  Corned beef, on the other hand, is high in fat, cholesterol and sodium.  If you love corned beef, try and cut down on your serving size.
• There are a handful of different ways to make Irish soda bread.  Swap out white flour for whole wheat flour and use light buttermilk.  You can also make it gluten-free by using other grains such as teff flour, bulgur, steel cut oats, or flax seed meal.  Add in raisins along with other dried fruits to make it sweeter and give it more fiber.
• Beer, or any kind of alcohol, adds a lot of empty calories that you will want to cut down on.  Avoid drinking heavy beer and stick to the light or low calorie beers.  Also, limit yourself to one to two drinks, and have a large glass of water in between each.
• Parades are a big part of this Irish holiday and are a great activity for this time of year as spring is approaching.  So get out, breathe some fresh air and take a walk to your town’s local parade.  It is something your whole family will love and is an opportunity for some outdoor fun!

Cabbage, potatoes and other green vegetables are a big part of this traditional meal that contain a lot of essential nutrients.  As long as you go easy on the alcohol and do not overdo it on the corned beef and Irish soda bread, you will have a healthy and happy St. Patrick’s Day!

How will you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year?

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