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!

Not a week goes by without my coming across thought provoking research studies, articles, and commentaries about weight loss, nutrition, and health. But sorting out what deserves my attention from what doesn’t isn’t easy. Today, I will share with you some news from the past 5-6 weeks that matters.

Weight Loss Success Stories: Are you getting the whole story?

I like to read the stories of people who are successful in their weight loss efforts. So often there are common themes. But common themes don’t necessarily tell the whole story.

I found an interesting article posted on the blog for CalorieLab on January 29 written by Sarah E. White. The title of the article is Weight-loss tips from REAL women (as opposed to celebrities). Sarah shares the highlights of successful “losers” from a variety of recent magazines.

The common themes of watching portion size, making healthier choices, and exercise are central to many of the weight loss stories. However, one of the stories focuses on success achieved in a drastic way. This is the story of Ellen Kelley who had many struggles with weight over the years and weighed 535 pounds at her highest. For Ellen, success only came with gastric bypass surgery.

There are many reasons why surgery may be a legitimate and necessary choice for some people for sound medical reasons. Unfortunately, I feel surgery is becoming an all too common theme and may at times be portrayed as an easy solution.

I don’t believe the reality of the lifestyle changes required after surgery is well known. And there are other drawbacks to taking such drastic measures that are not as well publicized as the success part of the story.

I came across a video news clip (also posted on January 29) about a woman whose success with surgery for weight loss was a mixed blessing. Her story is not at all uncommon and it’s one more people would benefit from hearing. If you have minute watch the video and see what you think:

What do you cook when you are on a low calorie diet?

I’m always on the lookout for healthy low calorie recipes, especially those that are easy-to-make and not too time-consuming to prepare. Sometime soon I hope to share with you a list of great recipe sites that offer a wonderful selection of easy-to-prepare healthy recipes.

A potential problem for many recipe sites is that you have to sort through lots of not so healthy recipes to come up with those that are both healthy and low calorie. In the meantime, it is all too easy to get distracted by delicious looking less-than-healthy high calorie dishes.

Today I will share one site that has nothing but healthy recipes. This site, developed by the Health and Human Services Department of the U.S. government, provides 100 recipes based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans: A Healthier You

What I like about the recipes on this site is that they are categorized by the time needed for BOTH preparation and cooking. You’ll find a selection of recipes that can be prepared and cooked in 30 minutes or less, 60 minutes or less, and 90 minutes or less. Some of the dishes are not what I consider to be low calorie. No problem. Because the dishes are healthy just eat less than the recommended serving size, if necessary, to keep the calorie count down.

The recipes include appetizers, soups, breads, beef, poultry, fish, vegetables, pasta, rice, sauces, desserts, vegetarian dishes and more. Included are a selection of kid-friendly recipes and multi-cultural dishes. AND each recipe has nutrition information including grams of saturated fat and milligrams of sodium. This is big help for anyone on a heart healthy diet.

Bon appetit!

Have a great week, watch your calories, and stay healthy!

(Did you have a chance to read my last post on where to find great food databases online for calorie counts?)