Is it possible to choose low calorie Mexican food in American-style Mexican restaurants? Not easily. Watching your calorie intake means steering clear of the oversized portions of fried foods smoothered with cheese and sour cream. Traditional Mexican food was nothing like this.

Traditional Mexican food featured high fiber complex carbohydrates with lots of vegetables and fresh flavor. Common foods included beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, avocado, peanuts, potatoes, and turkey. It wasn’t till the Spaniards arrived in the 1500s that wheat, pork, beef, and chicken were added to the traditional diet. The Spaniards were also responsible for introducing the concept of frying.

Even today, fried foods such as burritos, deep-fried tacos, and flautas are known in Mexico as “northern cuisine”. This refers to the region of Mexico that borders the United States.

No matter how healthy and lower calorie the original Mexican diet may have been it is difficult to find low calorie Mexican food in the United States. Most of the food served in American-style Mexican restaurants has been modified to suit American tastes.

What to keep in Mind

Traditional Mexican tortilla preparation called for steaming or grilling not frying. Whenever possible look for baked, grilled, and soft tortillas on the menu. Choose soft tacos, baked quesadillas, and salsa as a sauce or dip.

Salsa made with fresh tomatoes and other vegetables, whether a commercial variety or homemade, is almost always a low calorie choice. The tricky part is figuring out how to skip the chips that get served with the salsa. Your best bet may be to ask your server to not set any out on the table. But your eating partners won’t be happy with that!

Other words that may alert you to dishes to avoid include crispy, fried, and covered with cheese or sour cream. Watch out for large portion sizes, refried beans, and chimichangas. Desserts are often fried so choose instead to skip dessert or have a piece of fruit when you get home.

Some possible substitutions you might make include:

Chicken fajitas (marinated chicken grilled with onions, green peppers, lettuce, diced tomatoes with a soft corn tortilla) instead of quesadillas

Grilled shrimp instead of nachos

Chicken enchiladas with salsa instead of flautas, chimichangas, or burritos covered with cheese

Grilled fish or chicken instead of carnitas (fried beef or pork) or chorizo (sausage)

Decide what to order before you leave for the restaurant

Your best choice for keeping track of your calorie count when eating Mexican is to check menu choices online before you head out to eat. No matter what guidelines you may be given the calorie counts for any given menu item will vary considerably depending on the restaurant and method of preparation. One of my favorite calorie count sites for getting a quick overview of the calories in various restaurant meals is Calorie Lab. (For more calorie count sites see my previously posted article, Calorie Counts and Nutrients: Best Sites Online )

Finding low calorie meals is difficult. You might decide to pick a higher calorie meal that you will split with someone else or box up half to bring home before you even start eating.

Here’s a few lower calorie Mexican restaurant choices I found with a quick search:

The Acapulco Restaurant y Cantina offers a Halibut Filet with Salsa Tomatillo (a light and flaky grilled Alaskan halibut filet) served with fresh vegetables and rice for 420 calories.

Baja Fresh Mexican Grill has a “Bare Burrito” (charbroiled chicken, grilled peppers, chilies and onions, fresh chopped cilantro, Pico de Gallo and salsa served on rice with fresh black or pinto beans) for 640 calories. Split with someone else or choose to save ½ to 1/3 to take home.

Daddios Italian and Mexican Take & Bake has a Chicken Mexican Salad (salad mix, chicken or beef, tomatoes, black olives, onions, cheese, tortilla chips) for 392 calories (one small salad).

Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill found mostly in California seems to offer a variety of Corn Tortillas and Tacos with fish and chicken for less than 350 calories each.

Making Mexican at Home

A great way to satisfy your desire for Mexican food without all the calories is to make it yourself at home! I found an informative YouTube video on how to prepare the ingredients for low calorie chicken fajitas in quantity. Enjoy!

For more information on watching your calorie count when eating out you may want to read some of my other articles.

1.Easy Ways to Cut Calories with Restaurant Meals

2. A Low Calorie Restaurant Food Guide

3. Low Calorie Chinese Meals: Restaurant or Takeout

4. Low Calorie Italian Food: What to Choose at an Italian Restaurant

As always, have a great week, watch those calories, and stay healthy!

Today’s 1200 calorie diet sample menu is nutritionally well-balanced with the exception of iron for women between the ages of 19 and 50. Today might be a day for an iron supplement. (If you are getting plenty of iron in your diet most days, an occasional low day won’t hurt.)

Have you remembered to assess your calorie needs and checked with your doctor before beginning on a low calorie diet? If not you may want to read my article 1200 Calorie Diet: Getting Started! You will likely find that you need somewhat more than 1200 calories at minimum, which is a good thing. You get to eat more food and it is easier to achieve nutritional balance!

A surprise food in this menu, at least for some of you reading this, is the afternoon snack of edamame beans. These are soybeans but not like the typical soy bean crop grown in the United States. Edamame beans are speciality soybeans that are very popular in many Asian countries. They are grown specifically for the ready-to-eat market.

These soybeans are harvested when the pods are still green unlike the usual soybeans, which are harvested when they are brown and dry. Edamame beans can be eaten raw, boiled, steamed, or in any number of recipes from soups to stews and casserole dishes. Look for them in the produce section in bigger chain grocery stores sold in the pod or in the frozen foods section both shelled and unshelled. The people of Taiwan, Japan, and China enjoy eating edamame beans as a snack.

I did have some trouble assessing the calorie count (check the label if frozen.) The values I’m finding online vary from 20 calories per half cup as listed at the CDC government site to as much as 120 calories per half cup as listed on the package of edamame beans in my freezer). Edamame are a good source of many nutrients including protein, calcium, and iron.

I like edamame beans a lot! Enjoy.

Sample Menu for 1200 Calories #10

Breakfast

1 Oatmeal Bran Muffin (~180 calories)

1 Tbsp. Peanut Butter

1/2 Grapefruit

water, unsweetened tea or coffee

Snack

2 pieces of Babybel Light Cheese (50 calories each)

Lunch

2 Rye Crispbread Crackers

1 container Lowfat Blueberry Yogurt (Stonyfield Farm Organic 130 calories)

4 oz. V8 100% Vegetable Juice

1 Medium Apple with the skin

water, unsweetened tea or coffee, or diet soda

Snack

1/2 cup edamame beans (For your safety be sure to buy American beans not Chinese - read the fine print. I like to eat these cold right out of the freezer in warm weather but lightly steamed in cold weather.)

Supper

3 oz. Chicken Breast (grilled, baked, or broiled)

1/2 cup Green Peas (boiled and drained)

1/2 cup Long-grain brown rice

8 oz. Skim milk

(Always remember to drink plenty of water throughout the day.)

Total Calories = 1207

Total Fiber = 22.5 grams

Fat = 21%

Carbs = 54%

Protein = 25%

Calcium = 1082 mg (Women between 19 and 50 years need approximately 1,000 mg a day, 51+ need 1,200 mg a day)

Iron = 9.5 mg (Women 19 to 50 years need 18 mg of iron, 51+ need 8 mg)

1500 Calorie Diet Menu

Modify the 1200 Calorie Diet Menu to fit your needs.

As I mentioned earlier, this sample diet comes up short for iron if you are between the ages of 19 and 50. You could choose to add some iron rich foods to your diet with the additional 300 calories. Or go with an iron supplement and add whatever you might like for the additional calories.

If you are over 50 and needing a little more calcium you may want to add another half cup serving of skim milk or a small piece of cheese. Otherwise increase the portion sizes or choose what you like for the additional 200-300 calories.

Need more 1200 or 1500 calorie diet menus for ideas? (Scroll to the bottom of each page for links)

1200 Calorie Diet Plan

1500 Calorie Diet Plan

Questions? Be sure to ask. Comments? Feel free to share. Have a great week, watch those calories, and most importantly, stay healthy!