Healthy foods and things to avoid at a Mexican restaurant.

retro_gamer
retro_gamer Posts: 127 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi so I'm going to an authentic Mexican restaurant later and I'm also trying to lose weight, so I was wondering what I should order and what I should avoid, since I know nothing about Mexican cuisine.

Here is the menu of the restaurant

https://nagsheadguide.com/la-fogata/menus

Also I don't like seafood so anything with fish or shrimp I'm not going to order.


Thanks for the help.

Replies

  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    Fajitas should be relatively easy to deal with. All of the ingredients are grilled (or at least not fried), and since you build them yourself it's easy to know what's in them and to control the portions. Just make sure to add a couple of hundred calories to account for cooking oil.

    Try to avoid anything fried for obvious reasons (including tortilla chips) and beware of burritos and the like. Burritos, etc. aren't necessarily bad per se, they're just very difficult to estimate because you might not know exactly what's in them, they tend to include high calorie items (including cheese, sour cream, and guacamole), and portions are hard to control/observe since everything is wrapped up.
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    Carne asada is often my go-to. You can dress it up with guac and other stuff, or keep it pretty light. It's always super tasty, even by itself.
  • mcraw75
    mcraw75 Posts: 99 Member
    Pollo Loco and don't eat the tortillas.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    Also...tacos al pastor is very good, too. Basically meat and tortillas topped with whatever salsa you want. I love them.
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
    Pozole!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    mcraw75 wrote: »
    Pollo Loco and don't eat the tortillas.

    If one doesn't miss them, tortillas are a good place to cut calories. But if someone likes them, tortillas will fit into a deficit. Flour tortillas are more calorie-dense, but corn tortillas surprised me with how few calories they have. A small one, like you would get with fajitas, has around 50 calories. I would have no trouble fitting that into my dinner, even on a deficit.
  • orangegato
    orangegato Posts: 6,572 Member
    Avoid tortilla chips or a taco salad in a fried tortilla shell. Margaritas can kill your calorie allowance too. But have a good time! Mexican food is great.
  • Philtex
    Philtex Posts: 1,221 Member
    orangegato wrote: »
    Avoid tortilla chips

    If you haven't been to a Mexican restaurant before, they typically bring out tortilla chips and salsa as soon as you sit down. Rather than skip them, I suggest limiting yourself. I find 10 chips to be reasonable. I also recommend ordering the fajitas, probably chicken with corn tortillas rather than flour tortillas and watch out for the sour cream. Have fun. You can be back on plan tomorrow.
  • managematics
    managematics Posts: 27 Member
    From that menu, the Pollo Loco looks likely to be reasonable. Ask if they'll send corn tortillas instead of flour as others have mentioned. And limit yourself with the rice.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I can't pull up the menu, but if it's really a traditional Mexican restaurant, most things should be on the healthier side. Most traditional Mexican food is pretty healthy eats...it's the Americanized concoctions with a gazillion pounds of cheese and Tex Mex stuff that tends to be less healthy overall...

    I live in New Mexico and we have our own cuisine...I enjoy it when I have it, but I don't have it often as pretty much anything is a calorie bomb with the amount of cheese and whatnot that tops most items.
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