Dishes at Mexican restaurants are usually on the larger side with the addition of rice and beans accompanying the meal. To help prevent overeating, I would first suggest ordering a house salad, which should entail tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and some avocado for your healthy fat. This starter salad will also help in the avoidance of eating the full entree when it arrives or you can ask for half the portion to be put in a to-go container.

Some terms that you should look to avoid on the menu are: fried, crispy, refried, breaded and cheese. Instead look for items that are baked or grilled and request sauces on the side so you can control the amount on your food.

Avoid sour cream or any additional toppings that will add to a higher and unhealthy caloric intake, but feel free to include fresh salsa, as this provides a great boost of vegetables with vitamins and minerals.

Mexican entree recommendations and tips:

1. Fajitas – These are a great option, as the dish comes freshly grilled with toppings and tortillas on the side. This is the perfect opportunity to be in full control as you build your meal. My recommendation is to ditch the tortillas and eat the fajitas as is with some salsa and light guacamole topping.

2. Burrito – This loaded meal can be healthy with a few revisions. Try ordering, as many restaurants term, a “burrito bowl” or “naked burrito,” which means no tortilla. Also, specify no cheese, no sour cream, and request the guacamole on the side. As a finishing touch you can replace the rice with lettuce or include brown rice as opposed to white or Mexican rice.

3. Grilled Proteins – For any entree choice choose grilled chicken, fish, or lean meat as these are excellent sources of protein, which help to keep you feeling full longer.

4. Tortillas – When including tortillas in your meal, choose corn or whole-wheat over flour tortillas, as they have less calories and fat and are higher in fiber.

Stay tuned next week as the How to Dine Out Series continues with “How to Dine out: Thai.”

Check-out these healthy Mexican recipes:

• Black Bean Mushroom Quesadillas
• Chicken and Red Chili Tamales
• Pork Fajita Pitas
• Turkey Corn Tacos with Fresh Salsa and Beans
• Strawberry Salsa
• Raspberry Margarita

Sign-up for Amy’s monthly Natural Health Newsletter.

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How to Dine Out: Mexican

Cooking at home you know exactly what is going into your food, but eating out we have less of that control and therefore, this month at DietsInReview.com, we are kicking off a series entitled “How to Dine Out.” Each week we will focus on a cuisine to help guide you through common choices you will find on menus at these types of restaurants.

A couple of tips to get you started:

1) Have your food items grilled or steamed.
2) Sauce and salad dressing should be on the side.
3) Liquid calories add up quickly, so beware of alcoholic beverages.
4) Just because it sounds healthy doesn’t mean it is. Don’t be afraid to ask your server questions and get more details about how the dish is prepared.

Tune in every Saturday through November 6, with the first part of the series kicking off October 16.

Check-out these healthy Mexican recipes, healthy pasta recipes, and healthy Asian recipes that you can make at home.

Sign-up for Amy’s monthly Natural Health Newsletter.

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How to Dine Out Series Kick-off

More than half of consumers say they are more concerned about their eating habits than they were a year ago… yet:

• 70% say that healthful foods are harder to afford
• 53% say they buy less-healthful items because those items are cheaper (not necessarily, as I wrote about the price of salmon vs. hotdogs)
• 44% say their budget prevents them from eating healthful foods
• 34% of respondents say that they are choosing cheaper fast food over more-healthful options
• 9% are skipping breakfast and 3% are skipping lunch
  

To that, I say, this is totally unnecessary. People may think they are saving, but trust me, they are paying for it in their health. They’ll pay even more later whether it’s in some combination of weight gain, lower energy levels or poorer quality of life.

Instead, here are some tips to maximize your comfort with minimal strain on your pocketbook.

• Don’t skip meals, especially breakfast – have oatmeal, store-brand low sugar cereal or eggs and toast for breakfast at home. No matter what kind of deal you’d get in a drive-thru, it’s still cheaper to eat at home. All these options are under a dollar per serving.

• Have a healthier shopping trip – If you missed my blog and video on healthy grocery shopping, check it out here. The bottom line is you can save money by purchasing healthy canned foods like beans, tuna, and salmon or frozen veggies and fruits. Make your own pot of comfort chili with beans, crushed tomato, and spices. Compare prices and consider the store brands. Don’t snub coupons either. You could save some serious cash.

• Go for healthier comforts – There’s nothing wrong with wanting a little comfort food, be it the winter blues or the impact of the economy. But there’s a healthy way to do it. First, remember this: if the food did not cause the problem it won’t solve it either. Second, find balance in your comfort choices: If you’re eating out at fast food, just order the sandwich. If you are at casual dining, choose a healthy side dish to accompany the comfort main course. Make grilled cheese at home with low-fat cheese and reduced-sodium tomato soup.

You can save money and still eat healthy. Maybe you need to take some nutrition short-cuts. But don’t just trash eating healthy without first looking at smart ways to save your money. It might take more time planning and budgeting, but it’s worth it.

(via Chainleader)

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How to Afford Eating Healthy in a Comfort Food Economy

It can take up to 15 minutes for your brain to register with your stomach that food is in your system, a large proponent for overeating. Many times we will keep eating the food that is on our plate waiting for that “feeling of full,” only to have completely surpassed it. Eating a snack or appetizer prior to eating your main meal will help start that communication between your stomach and your brain, so by the time you go to eat your main course you will only need to eat a portion of it to fulfill your bodies’ needs.

While having an appetizer or snack can help with overeating and the communication between the brain and your stomach, it is important to keep the calories and fat in check. Having fried calamari or chicken wings to start will not provide the weight loss and health benefits that having a good healthy start to your meal will offer. I suggest having a light salad or soup to start. One of my personal favorites is a spinach salad with tomatoes, cucumber, cranberries, nuts and a balsamic vinaigrette. A quick toss to kick off your meal. For a soup example I typically like clear broths like miso soup with some tofu and spinach.

Think about options in which you can incorporate a smaller, healthier meal into your dining routine.

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Eat an Appetizer to Promote Weight Loss

The Pro: A nutrition boost! Soups can be a wonderful way to get more veggies, fiber, and plant-based protein in your diet. Soups made with low-sodium broth, veggies, beans, and lean protein have a lot of nutrition to offer for 100-200 calories per serving.

The Con: Most people worry about the sodium content of soups so they avoid them altogether. The reality is you have room in your sodium “bank account” for about 600-700mg of salt per meal. If you generally eat a healthy breakfast and lunch then you have room for a soup-salad combo at dinnertime every once in awhile.

The Pro: Makes meals last longer. Did you know that one of the keys to weight management is making meals last 20-30 minutes? That’s the time needed for hunger hormones to get the message that you’re eating and starting to feel full. Hot soups take some time to eat, so by starting your lunch or dinner with a modest one cup serving, you’re adding about 10-15 minutes to meal time.

The Con: No downside to this one! If you’re a 5-minute-meal eater, this is an easy way to start your new weight loss plan, by simply slowing down your eating pace. Instead, speed up your walking or running pace!

Soup-er Short Cuts

If you don’t have time to spend hours in the kitchen, you can still have soup that tastes like you did. Here’s a way to get a nice big pot of steaming soup ready in no time.

• Start with a large pot or dutch oven.
• Place a quart of low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock or broth.
• Combine a 16 ounce bag of frozen vegetables. Anything will do. Use mixed veggies for a standard vegetable soup or try something like spinach.
• Add in one can of rinsed and drained beans. Again, any kind will do, but cannellini, white beans, or kidney beans work best.
• Sprinkle in some black pepper and any of your favorite herbs and spices. Try some red pepper flakes for some subtle “heat.” If you have fresh herbs like basil and cilantro, save them for adding at the very end of cooking.

How to Find a Healthy Convenience Soup

• Bravo for broth. Look for a broth-based soup over cream-based soups, which will be high in artery-clogging saturated fat.
• Say “whoah” to sodium. Some soups at the grocery store can have a half-day’s worth (1000mg) of sodium in a single serving! The good news is there are many low- and reduced-sodium soups available. I recommend looking for a soup with less than 600mg sodium per serving.
• Believe in beans and veggies. Look for soups made with beans and legumes like black bean, lentil and split pea soups. They will have more protein and fiber than other soups, which will help you feel full and satisfied. Any veggie-based soup, whether it’s vegetable barley, roasted red pepper, or butternut squash, will offer vitamins and minerals.
• Love your label. You wouldn’t buy a pair of jeans without knowing who made them so give your groceries the same label love. Flip the can before sticking it in your cart to make sure the calories, sodium, and saturated fat are low and the protein and fiber are high. Avoid soups that say “creamy,” “cream of,” or “bisque” unless the saturated fat is really low on the label (less than 3-4 grams per serving).

Also, check-out the healthy soup recipes right here at DietsInReview.com, including:

Artichoke Soup

Hearty Zucchini Soup

Mom’s New Beef Stew

Peter’s Grill Vegetable Soup

Tomato Pesto Soup

Now it’s your turn to sound off. What’s your favorite way to do soup? Have any ideas for making a cream soup healthier?

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Healthiest Soups for Fall

Canned beans

Not just the “musical fruit,” beans provide complex carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. In fact, a one-cup serving provides one-third of your day’s protein needs, half your fiber needs, and 65% of your folate needs (an important B-complex vitamin that helps prevent osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, anemia, and homocysteine buildup in the blood). For less than a dollar a can, you can-not go wrong! Try cannelini beans, black beans, kidney beans, lentils and black-eyed peas. You can buy them with no salt added, low sodium, or rinse them before use to remove about half the salt.

Recipe ideas: add to salads, home-made bean dip, three bean chili, and breakfast burritos.

Frozen fruits and veggies

I’d love to highlight one particular fruit or vegetable, but the bottom line is they are all good choices! Frozen fruits and veggies are picked and minimally processed at their peak freshness. Freezing does not diminish the nutrition quality. Fruits and vegetables are “very good to excellent” sources of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber that help keep your body healthy. They are very low in calories too, so they help you lose weight without having to eat tiny portions. One cup of most fruits and veggies have less than 50 calories! Think about that, how full are you going to get from two cups of fruit and veggies versus the “100 calorie packs?” There’s no comparison.

Just glance at the nutrition facts label and ingredients list. Look for frozen fruits with no sugar added and look for veggies with little to no salt added. There are some great frozen veggies that come with a light sauce, just make sure the fat and sodium don’t diminish the health benefits.

Recipe ideas: thaw frozen corn and mix with canned beans and canned diced tomatoes for a quick side dish, steam broccoli and top with lemon zest, make breakfast or dessert smoothies with a cup of frozen fruit and a half-cup of low-fat milk or plain yogurt.

Canned fish

Canned fish is a low cost way to gain a lot of heart-healthy nutrition. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish at least twice a week because it’s a good source of protein and low in saturated fat. Fatty fish, including trout, sardines, tuna, and salmon, are also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Recipe ideas: toss canned salmon in with scrambled eggs and serve over half a whole wheat English muffin with a side of fruit for a balanced breakfast, mix canned tuna with low-fat plain yogurt, celery, and onion for a quick and low-fat tuna salad served in a pita with tomato.

What are some of YOUR favorite canned and frozen food finds and how do you use them to eat healthier and manage your weight?

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Affordable Nutrition in Frozen and Canned Foods

From chili and turkey wraps to tator tots and the dicey salad bar, Zinczenko will show us how simple swaps at the cafeteria can add up to pounds lost over the course of the year without ever dieting.

Dave Zinczenko, editor in chief of Men’s Health magazine, is the co-author of the bestselling series Eat This, Not That including the Supermarket Guide and The Best and Worst Foods In America.

Check with your local listings for exact show times.

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Tune In: Eat This, Not That Buffet Food on The Rachael Ray Show

One example is the hectic schedule that most of us keep. Say what you will about the idealism of the ’50s, with mom at home doing the housekeeping. One of the benefits was that there was a home-cooked meal. That’s still a very real possibility, even with both parents working. But it’s certainly more of a challenge.

A study by Cornell University researchers examined the dietary problems we face when people work hectic hours and don’t take the time to make home-cooked meals. The researchers found that parents who work long and unusual hours are more likely to grab fast food on the way home, or buy prepared meals.

“Long work hours and irregular schedules mean more time away from family, less time for household food work, difficulty in maintaining a regular meal pattern and less opportunity to participate in family meals,” says Carol M. Devine, PhD, RD and colleagues in their report.

Some of the researchers’ findings are fairly elementary:

“Structural work conditions among parents – such as job hours, schedule, satisfaction, and food access – are associated with food choice coping strategies with importance for dietary quality.”

That’s a fancy way of saying that when people are busy and don’t have easy access to healthy food; they go to fast-food drive-thrus or easy microwaveable foods when they get home, so they don’t have the added work of cooking.

The Cornell University researchers surveyed 25 men and 25 women in upstate New York. Here are some of the more interesting findings:

• About 25 percent of both groups said that they had no access to healthful, reasonably priced, good-tasting food at or near their place of work.
• Fathers who lacked access to reasonably priced, good-tasting food at work were more likely to miss lunch, eat while working or in the car, and were less likely to pack a lunch.
• Close to 75 percent of the parents had at least one fast food meal a week, and at least one take-out meal a week.
• Only 56 percent of fathers and 40 percent of mothers had more than five home-cooked meals a week.

(via: WebMD)

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Busy Parents Don’t Make Enough Home-Cooked Meals

Check out this table that cost-compares sources of protein. Salmon comes out well above hot dogs, ground beef and ham for “cost per pound.”

Note that the cheapest protein (soy) is also the “greenest.” Soy, along with other plants, is easier on the environment because it doesn’t unleash methane gasses that animals do. In addition, a lacto-ovo-vegeterian (milk, eggs permitted) diet has been evaluated and found to be more sustainable than meat-based diets because it requires less energy, land, and water resources than meat-based diets. (Am J Clin Nutr 89: 1699S-1703S, 2009). Soy contains no cholesterol and very little fat which makes it very heart-friendly as well.

When compared as providing cost per gram of protein, low quality meats are among the most expensive items; not to mention they contain far more fat and saturated fat – which is less heart-healthy. So do yourself a favor, pick up some salmon and grill it. Enjoy salmon over a bed of greens and some red skin potatoes. Buy some soy crumbles and use them in pasta sauce with crushed tomatoes for an inexpensive and affordable meal.

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Salmon is Cheaper than Hot Dogs

I decided to try my hand at making my own, and scouting around I found a really great recipe original to Faith and Family magazine and reposted on several blogs. It appears to be fairly healthy, with whole wheat flour and oats and sweetened with honey, which doesn’t affect the blood sugar as badly as honey. A bonus when you make your own is the lack of high fructose corn syrup and trans fats, and you can literally whip up these bars in minutes.

When they are cool, cut and wrap individual bars in wax paper and pop them in the lunch boxes. Or, you know, eat them all in one day. (I’m not telling which happened in my house!)

Homemade Granola Bars Recipe

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour, or spelt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup butter, softened*
1 cup honey

Add-ins: 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped walnuts, peanut butter, soy butter, cocoa powder. Other options include dried fruits, sunflower seeds, coconut, nuts.

Lightly butter a 9×13-inch pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and honey first. Then add all ingredients except add-ins. Beat hard until combined. Stir in add-ins. Press mixture into pan — really jam it in there – use your hands so your bars don’t fall apart.  (Note – I FORGOT to add the flour and then had to pull the batter back out of the pan, and when I did add it in, it was very wet and sticky, so I added another 1/2 cup of flour – which made the bars very dry. I thought that the batter needed to be less moist in order to stick together – don’t make that mistake.) Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing and serving.

Also try this Homemade Granola recipe with Grape Nuts and raisins.

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How to Make Your Own Granola Bars