29 days to a healthier me - DAY 15

Half way point here...and I have to say I feel like I am healthier but I am not going to take any quantitative measurements until the 29 days are complete. I do know that I have not been eating as big of portions so that is awesome, I've been eating waaaay more fruits and vegetables and I have not once been forced to eat fast food aside from Subway. Today I picked up some meal replacement bars knowing I am going to be at a trade show and not sure what kind of food there will be available at the show.

I've been thinking about Mexican food a lot...I love Mexican food, I love the chips, cheese, burritos and quesadillas covered in cheese but know that isn't on the weekly plan but is something I can have every once in a while. We were fortunate enough to be invited to dinner to a friend's house on Saturday night for tacos which completely satisfied my Mexican food craving and also a margarita or two to wash them down. So I got to thinking yesterday, what is a way to cut the fat and calories in Mexican food, specifically tacos or what is the comparison?

I pulled this information from a calorie comparison site called Calorie King.

• Ground Beef (218 cal, 13 grams fat in 3 oz browned) vs. Ground Turkey from breast meat (161 cal, 6 grams fat in 3 oz browned)
• Taco Shells (62 cal, 3 grams fat in 5 inch diameter) vs. Fat Free Soft Taco Wraps (90 cal, 0 grams of fat, 6 inch tortilla)
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese (100 cal, 8 grams of fat in 1 oz) vs. 2% Milk Reduced-Fat Cheddar Cheese (80 cal, 6 grams of fat in 1 oz) vs. Fat Free Cheddar Cheese (45 cal, 0 grams of fat in 1 oz)
• Sour Cream (26 cal, 2.5 grams of fat in 1 tablespoon) vs. Light Sour Cream (18 cal, 1.4 grams of fat in 1 tablespoon) vs. Fat Free Sour Cream (8 cal, 0 grams of fat in 1 tablespoon)
• Salsa, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, olives, etc. are pretty much freebies so enjoy as much as you want!

So the full fat version would tally at approximately 406 calories and 26.5 grams of fat and the lightest fat version would come in closer to 304 calories and 6 grams of fat. Now you could pick and choose your demons...like me for example I love me some beef so I would likely not replace turkey for the beef in a taco but I could do all the others. If you wanted to add some more protein to the meal do what I do on occasion and add a can of black beans to the meat you use, use fat free plain Greek Yogurt and/or avocado on top.

Being completely honest I'll take the full fat version any time. I also want to promote the taco seasoning that our friends used the other night. It was amazing, just like Mexican restaurant seasoning not like the orange stuff I usually use! It was Chi-Chi's and it was really good. I've never seen it at my grocery store but they do have it on Amazon!

Image from here...