TACOS AND PIZZA

jnewheiser wrote: »

It's easy to make low cal tacos - corn tortillas, steamed chicken, lots of spices, avocado, low fat sour cream, salsa, etc etc.
I haven't yet figured out how to get pizza for low calories that I actually want to eat.

To be fair, she didn't actually ask for low calorie (heck, a single piece of Domino's is low calorie, but that's not what she wants to hear); she wanted healthy substitutions which is rather dependent on how you define healthy. So just say what you like in pizza

add booze and I can be there soon

WinoGelato wrote: »

healthymissfit wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

Buy one or two slices of pizza somewhere. If you want it that much, it's not that hard to fit a couple slices.

For tacos, I don't see the problem, honestly, they are usually pretty low calorie.

You sound rather rude to be honest. I didn't ask what I could do to fit it into my calorie goal.... Just because you don't see a problem doesn't mean there isn't one! I was asking for HEALTHIER versions of both foods, regardless of how healthy or unhealthy they may currently be.

If we don't know how you currently make your tacos and pizza, how could we possibly offer you healthier versions? Also, what constitutes healthy in this case? Low cal?

Exactly this, OP. I don't think pizza or tacos are particularly unhealthy (at least not the ones I get, don't know what yours might involve or how you define healthy), but they can be high cal. For ones that are lower cal, have better balanced macros, and lots of vegetables (what I usually want in a meal), I would make the following changes:

Pizza -- very thin crust (when I make it at home I like the way this tastes anyway), don't go overboard on the cheese or the olive oil, add some kind of lean meat instead of a higher fat option, include vegetables. Maybe eat with a side salad.

Taco -- figure out a tortilla that works for you from a calorie/taste perspective or make your own (I never make tacos at home for some reason, so have no recommendations here), careful about oil when cooking the tortilla, go light on the cheese if you decide to use it, same with any high cal sauce, add lots of veg, use a lean meat option for the filling and don't fry it or cook it in lots of oil before adding. You could also skip some of the high cal bits and make something like a burrito bowl if you love the mix of ingredients and hot/sauce or guac and don't care about the tortillas, but likely if you are craving tacos you mean with tortilla. Guac, btw, is a good example of why "healthy" can be confusing -- avocados are really good for you and you can make a healthy guac easily, but it's still going to be high cal, especially in larger quantities.

You can really figure out what works calorie-wise by creating a recipe in advance and remembering to add in all the extras like the cooking oil and sauces.

The most challenging thing to me about fitting pizza into a day (and this might be true with tacos too, I just don't eat them much) is that it tends to be low on protein vs. carbs and fat and may not have the amount of veg I like to eat. I mostly fix that by eating more protein vs. fat/carbs at my other meals that day, and either seek out an option with more veg or add a salad, as noted above.

debrakgoogins wrote: »

With tacos, I don't change anything except that I use low fat sour cream, reduced calorie shredded cheese and load it with extra vegetables. I have taco night a few times a month.

The key is just planning your day ahead so that you can enjoy what you like. Try pre-logging everything you want to eat at a meal a day ahead then you will know how many calories you have left for the rest of the day. If you pre-log and it is higher in calories than you thought it would be, swap out a few ingredients...thin crust for regular crust...canadian bacon for pepperoni...mushroom for olives, etc. until you have a pizza (or any other food you love and want to eat) that you will enjoy and will still fit into your overall diet plan.

I like using plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream for the extra dose of protein.

We usually have tacos here once a week. We do ground turkey instead of ground beef, and I use corn tortillas instead of the huge flour ones that my husband likes. Tacos definitely aren't unhealthy unless you eat like 10 of them lol. As far as pizza goes, English muffins or flatbreads don't really do it for me, but I recently tried a cauliflower crust and it was delicious! Tasted just like a thin crust pizza! Here's the recipe if you want to try it!

http://www.eatagreatdeal.com/2015/01/the-best-cauliflower-crust-pizza.html

My husband and I make these great sweet potato tacos. Soft shell tortilla.. Sweet potato and whatever beans we have in the cupboard cooked almost like a thick stew.. Nice and spicy too .. Topped with lettuce, tomato , onion, salsa and a tbs of full fat Greek yogurt. Our favourites at the moment.

We quit using taco shells and just make taco salads, use enough romaine and they're plenty filling.

Pizza, I prefer to have on a cheat day, like once every few weeks. I would rather do that then try and make a not very appetizing healthy pizza.

HAW78 wrote: »

We quit using taco shells and just make taco salads, use enough romaine and they're plenty filling.

Pizza, I prefer to have on a cheat day, like once every few weeks. I would rather do that then try and make a not very appetizing healthy pizza.

Ha, I had taco salad last night but didn't actually post it because a lot of people feel that doesn't fill their cravings for tacos. I've also added a few chips to the top in the past to provide some crunch, but I've gotten to the point that I'd rather skip those calories.