On St. Patrick’s Day, Irish descendents around the world come
together to celebrate
their heritage. The festivities usually center around the
traditional feast.

In America, a typical St. Patrick’s Day menu includes corned
beef and cabbage, champ
(mashed potatoes with cream and scallions) and brown bread.

It may be a nostalgic meal for the Irish at heart, but not for
the heart-conscious.

“Corned beef isn’t one of the most nutritious beef cuts,” said
Connie Crawley, a
nutrition and health specialist with the University of Georgia
Extension Service.

A 3.5-ounce serving, she said, has 251 calories, 19 grams of
fat, 6 grams of saturated
fat, 98 mg. of cholesterol and 1134 mg. of sodium.

The cabbage, however, has no cholesterol and is low in fat,
calories and sodium. Well,
it is until it’s cooked for hours with the corned beef.

“How much fat and sodium are transferred is hard to say,”
Crawley said. “Of course,
if a person only has corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day and eats a
low-fat, low-sodium
diet the rest of the time, the traditional meal is no big
deal.”

If you want to minimize the damage, Crawley suggests cooking the
beef ahead without
the cabbage. Then chill it so some of the fat comes to the
surface and can be lifted off
before reheating. Pouring off the cooking water and reheating in
fresh water will cut
out some of the sodium.

Cook the cabbage separately in low-sodium beef broth with
peppercorns.

To prepare champ, just peel and cube enough potatoes to feed
your family. Add them
to a boiler of water with sliced scallions (just the bulb). Boil
until tender. Drain well.

Put the potatoes in a bowl, add butter, cream or the water the
potatoes were cooked in,
and mash well. Add the green tips of the scallions, and salt and
pepper to taste. Stir
until smooth. Serve hot.

To cut the fat from the potatoes, cook them in the skin, then
cool slightly and peel.
Mash them with warmed skim or evaporated skim milk and a little
diet margarine or a
butter-flavored substitute.

You can keep the traditional flavor of the St. Patrick’s Day
meal by substituting
salmon, another traditional Irish dish, for corned beef.

“Salmon is one of the fattier fish,” Crawley said. “However, the
fat can range,
depending on the type of salmon, from 3 to 9 grams per 3-ounce
serving. It’s very low
in saturated fat, with only 1-2 grams. Some of the fat is the
polyunsaturated omega-3
fatty acids that may reduce the risk of heart attack.”

Salmon has 40-50 mg. of cholesterol and 40-50 mg. of sodium
unless you add
ingredients like soy sauce or salt that raise the sodium level.
It can be grilled or baked
without added fat. If the fat is needed, brush the salmon with a
little olive oil.

“Certainly this is a better choice for someone concerned about
cardiovascular disease,”
Crawley said. “Plus, salmon is more economical. It has less
shrinkage than the corned
beef and often is a very good price.”