St. Patrick's Day is on the 17th of March and that means fun and festivities on the weekend! Here's how to do it when you're still focused on keeping to your fitness and diet goals.
The 17th March is St. Patrick’s Day, and we’re all Irish on St. Paddy’s Day! It’s a day where we commemorate the patron saint of Ireland and for some of us it’s a night of drinking, debauchery and enjoying hearty, (un)healthy food. For many it’s the day they’ve been waiting for all year - even more than December 31st. But, before you start to panic about the night’s festivities derailing your healthy progress, don’t worry.
We know that a slip may happen, but because we care, we’ve put together some helpful ways you can stay on the straight and narrow, but also let your hair down and have some fun.
Go green or go home this St. Patrick's Day
Planning on celebrating St. Paddy’s Day with a party? You don’t need to throw your diet out with the bathwater. It may be hard, but try to remain mindful of your food intake. We know there will temptation aplenty, but if you focus on your food and eat slowly you’ll be able to control your portion sizes. And, while it seems silly, portion sizes make a big difference on a night out, whether it’s what you’re drinking or eating.
Alternatively, if you’d rather stay in control of your food, you could throw a party. That way you can give your refreshments a healthy twist - and keep with the universally green theme. You could make gluten-free spinach pancakes or cucumber and avo salad!
You could also whip up some of our delicious green power smoothies for a healthy energy boost.
If you’re going to drink, drink responsibly, and here’s a helpful tip, alternate your drinks with water. We all know that water - and keeping hydrated is important but there is a point to our advice. When you alternate your Guinness or whiskey with water, you will drink less alcohol on a whole throughout the night.
Make those steps count - shake your shamrock
If you’re planning on skipping your workout in favour of a night out, why not suggest to your mates that you go dancing. You can burn up to approximately 400 calories in an hour and a half of dancing.
Dancing is a whole body workout that will get your heart rate up, make you stronger and help with your balance and coordination. The best bit about going dancing for St. Patrick’s day is that your workout won’t feel like a work out! Just make sure you wear comfy shoes 😉and clothes you can move comfortably in.
If you’re planning a ‘quiet’ night in this year, and you don’t feel like braving the crowds and overpaying for a green drink, you could up the ante and include a dose of healthy competition and hold a games night!
A definite crowd pleaser is the ‘Shamrock Shake’, all you need is twenty ping-pong sized balls (per person playing), tissue boxes and panty-hose (or something similar) to tie the boxes round your waist.
How to play: Each player fills their tissue box with twenty balls, and then proceed to shake their hips and get the balls out - the first person to lose all their balls is the winner. You can add your own twist by adding music to it!
If you’re not a fan of the shamrock shake, you could always try the cabbage crawl!
The Cabbage Crawl:
All you need is a cabbage per person playing, a roll of tape and a room long/ wide enough to roll the cabbage across.
Tape across the room on two sides, and place a head of cabbage (lettuce can be used in a pinch) on the other side of the room. Each player must get down on their hands and knees and push the head of cabbage across the room with their head - while crawling across the room. The first head of cabbage across the line wins!
Although, St. Patrick’s Day is largely a day about having fun, so if you wanted to switch up an egg and spoon race to be a potato and spoon race - we’re sure that’ll be okay too! So whatever you do decide on doing and whoever you end up doing it with, make sure you have fun!
Of course if you want to eschew the party scene altogether, keep an eye out for St. Patrick’s Day themed night runs and see if you can gather some mates together!
Download the The Honest Guide to Weight Management for tips to help you reach your goals healthily.
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