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WASHINGTON — St. Patrick’s Day is a day of indulging in Irish staple foods and alcohol, but it can also be hard on our diets.
Toasting is a big part of the celebrations — usually with a glass of green beer — but Sally Squires, writer of the Lean Plate Club blog, says to watch your alcohol intake.
“If you want to raise a glass of whiskey or green beer, you’re looking at about 100-150 calories per glass,” say says.
“It would be good if you ate some food with that so that the alcohol doesn’t get into your system too fast.”
Corned beef and cabbage is a popular Irish meal, and Squires says the good news is that corned beef is considered a lean meat with good protein.
“It does have a little more sodium than other cuts of beef but it’s a pretty good choice … it’s about 200 calories for about three ounces,” Squires says.
And then there’s the cabbage, which she says is an overlooked vegetable.
“It’s in this cruciferous vegetable group — brussel sprouts, kale, broccoli — those are really great vegetables to eat because they seem to help prevent cancer [and] they’re very low in calories,” Squires says.
“Plus, we know that the potassium that’s in the cabbage will help mute the salt in the corned beef.”
At the end of the day, there’s always dancing to work off all that food.
“If you’re dancing, you’re burning calories so maybe you could have one more glass of beer,” Squires says.