Lose Weight Eating Mexican Food

How to Eat Mexican Food and Lose Weight

Do you love Mexican food? You’re not alone, last year Americans ate over 4.5 billion tacos!

I’ve been a fan of Mexican food my whole life. I even worked at Taco Bell when I was in high school. Not surprisingly my favorite thing to eat at Taco Bell was the Choco Taco ice cream taco. It’s not Mexican or healthy, but it’s delicious.

How You Can Make Mexican Food Healthier to Lose Weight

Below are a few options on how to make Mexican restaurant food healthier to help you lose weight. Try starting with one option and then turn it into a habit. This is so you’re making gradual changes because you still want to enjoy eating out. The goal is not to go out to eat and then feel deprived that you’re not eating anything you like.

Drinks at Mexican Restaurants

Sweet beverages whether that’s Mexican Coke or mango margaritas can increase your sugar consumption. Having more sugar may make you feel like eating more food for the rest of the meal. Cutting back on sugar can help you lose weight.

1. For margaritas try switching from a frozen fruity margarita to a fruity margarita on the rocks. Usually, frozen margaritas have more syrup which can add up to extra sugar for you. Then eventually transition to a regular margarita on the rocks which will have even less sugar. It’ll take time to get used to the way regular margaritas taste if you always get fruity drinks. Give yourself time to make this transition. If you go out for Mexican food every week give yourself 3 months. If you go out for Mexican food less than every week try it for 6 months.
2. Many authentic Mexican restaurants have Mexican Coke. Although it’s refreshing it also has a lot of sugar, try switching to Diet Coke. It’s a relatively easy way to cut back on sugar.

The Basket of Tortilla Chips

Chips and salsa are my favorite part of Mexican food. Unfortunately, restaurant tortilla chips are frequently fried and/or made from white flour. If you’re like me, you can eat at least one basket of chips by yourself. If that’s the case, you’re going to eat enough carbs for the whole meal before you even order anything.

You have a few options:

1. 1. No chips and salsa- this is a major life choice if you can do it, good for you!
   2. Order something carb-less for the main entree – this isn’t a carb-free diet, but one basket of chips is enough carbs for the whole meal.
   3. Order something with carbs and gradually stop eating the carbs.  For example, let’s say you normally order 3 tacos. Start out by eating 2 tacos and just the filling of the 3rd taco no tortilla. Gradually transition to eating 1 taco and 2 taco fillings. Eventually, your goal is to eat 3 taco fillings and no tortillas. This is what I do.

Freshly Made Flour Tortillas

If you’re having trouble eating fewer carbs, try switching from white flour tortillas to corn tortillas. This is a good option because it helps you cut back on high glycemic index carbs, eating healthier carbs can help you lose weight too.

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