Cinco de Mayo

julesaz

We are going to a Mexican restaurant on Thursday that has no available nutritional information. What would be my best bet for a filling dinner that won't annihilate my calorie count for the day?

Thanks for your ideas!

riley22

Good question! I'm going to a birthday party at a Mexican restaurant Wednesday. Hopefully someone will help us.

I usually get Chili Rellano's a la carte but I'm not sure if that's a good choice or not. It's always the chips and salsa plus or minus a margarita that gets me!

chefchazz

tacos....

autumn130

I LOVE Mexican food. Something to think about when eating there is... stay away from anything made with flour! I get the beef fajitas minus the tortillas with extra lettuce, quac, and sour cream! I also eat the beans... but no rice. It is more filling them you think.

Hope this helps.

oshmom

Street tacos- small soft corn tortillas and ask for grilled chicken, with cilantro, onions and salsa. No cheese. You can have 2 or 3 of those. If they come with 2 tortillas per taco, take one off. Ask for a side of whole black beans if they have them.

Good Luck!

hamiltf

I follow 'eat this not that' on twitter and they tweeted this right after I read this message! 10 ways to eat healthy at the mexican cantina. Hopefully this helps!

http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow/10-ways-eat-healthy-mexican-cantina

oshmom

oh, and try to stay away from refried beans, sour cream, guac or cream sauce.

hamiltf

Typically you can "create your own meal" from the a la carte menu. I usually try soft tacos made with corn tortillas and plain chicken. Add some onions, cilantro and maybe a little salsa and you have a pretty low cal/fat dinner that is really yummy. I used to order 2 or 3 of these at the mexican restaurant when I was in school! I agree with skipping on the refried beans and maybe substituting black beans instead. Easy on the guacamole because they usually load it with sour cream to make it creamier. TRY to stay away from the chips..but I know its hard!

ATT949

Bring your own lunch…

:-)

I like many different cuisines, including Mexican, so it's frustrating that Mexican food is, generally speaking, very high in calories, carbs, and fat. I'll generally go with carnitas. Fajitas are good too - steak and veggies.

One of my "aha moments" about how I ended up at 295 pounds was when I looked at the nutritional info on the back of a package of 12" tortillas - I stopped reading when I saw that each tortilla had 300 calories!

Oh, something I learned during my annual wine buying trip this year. A margarita is a calorie ambush but most of the calories are in the mix, not the liquor. A margarita without the mix is called a "skinny girl margarita" and they're actually quite good!

Bon appetit!

:-)

julesaz

Thanks for the quick responses. I like all the ideas. My plan is to stay far away from the margaritas! I like the fajitas without the tortillas and the small tacos sound good too.

Bjornulf

True Mexican cuisine is naturally low in calories; Tex-Mex on the other hand has a lot of fats and cheeses and foods fried in oil. So the best thing would be to watch what you eat. Soft flour and corn tortillas are fairly low in calories, chips have been deep fried, so they have a lot of added oil calories. Real Mexican food does not have rich creamy sauces, you might want to avoid those. Cheeses, you can tell fat content (more or less) by color. The more orange a cheese is, the higher it's fat content. Watch out for 'creamy' refried beans too. Some restaurants add lard to the beans to make a creamy richness that shouldn't really be there. Salsa is very LOW in calories.

Mexican food in America usually has almost no vegetables and so gives a very imbalanced meal. A friend of mine counters this by eating a large salad at home beforehand. Filling up with vegetables and so not overdoing it on meats in a rich and cheesy cream sauce.

I hope this helps, even a little.

captainlindarg

Perhaps chicken tortilla soup?

dustyhockeymom

I usually have a taco salad or tostada without the shell. I have lettuce, meat (either chicken or beef) black beans, cheese and salsa and then ask for sour cream on the side. I mix one tablespoon of sourcream with the salsa to make a dressing. My whole family loves mexican, so I had to figure out a way. I usually can't eat a whole serving. Also I have had a burrito without the tortilla, just rice or beans (both is too high), meat, and salsa.

Avoiding the chips is the hardest part. I think about meals past when we used to eat two baskets of chips for just the three of us. I love fresh tortilla chips.

mursey

Mexican food is tough! For me I just won't eat the taco shell or tortillas but I'm a low-carber. I guess if you're not a low carber then stick to grilled meat and avocado (I know it's fat but it's "good" fat) if you can.

Someone mentioned Chili Relleno. . that used to be my favorite but where I have eaten that, it's a deep fried pepper stuffed with cheese and also breaded. That would be the worst menu item for pretty much anyone on a diet.

Also- I LOVe margaritas but rarely have them after I read an article that said almost anything with sour mix in it adds something like 400 extra calories. Now, I can't recall what size drink that was, but you never know what you get with drinks that have ingredients like sour mix or syrups. It could be fresh squeezed limes and sugar, or it could be processed crap with tons of corn syrup. That's why when you go out you want to eat and drink things that you can sort of deconstruct in your head.

t_rog

Try and stay away from the chips, tortillas and taco shells. I've researched a little on this(i LOVE mexican) and fajitas seems like the best bet. Just the meat and veges. And very little beans and sour cream!

corsayre8

I generally do the chicken fajitas. Eat the chicken and veggies, beans and guac. If I have the extra calories/carbs, I will also have one tortilla. High protein, low net carb (even though i don't follow a low carb diet in general). A bit high in fat, but that isn't something I tend to be low on on a daily basis. I do stay away from chips or anything else fried. Also many Mexican restaurants have good salads, just make sure you look at the ingredients, they can be higher in calories than you may think for a "salad".

dragonflydi

We are going to a Mexican restaurant on Thursday that has no available nutritional information. What would be my best bet for a filling dinner that won't annihilate my calorie count for the day?

Thanks for your ideas!

Have you tried looking online? Seems like a silly answer maybe, but I just found nutritional info for a restaurant I didn't know was available by plugging it into google. I just put "nutritional info for XXXX restaurant" and poof! Even if it wasn't 100% accurate, it was a heck of a lot better than I could have guestimated.

BombolinaM

I LOVE Mexican food. Something to think about when eating there is... stay away from anything made with flour! I get the beef fajitas minus the tortillas with extra lettuce, quac, and sour cream! I also eat the beans... but no rice. It is more filling them you think.

Hope this helps.

That sounds so good!!

realme56

Por Favor in San Diego County makes these awesome veggie fajitas......black beans make them healthier and do corn tortilla or none. Fajitas even chicken. shrimp or beef are great. Take to avocado as it is a good fat but leave off some cheese and sour cream.

xraychick77

mmm mayo

denise_earheart

fajitas without tortilla and a light mexican beer is my yummy favorite