Cutting Calories in Burritos
Article by Diet Bites
Big Burrito Equals Potential for Big Calories
Almost all the foods that make up a burrito can add up to big calories because it's easy to overload that yummy flour shell. The typical homemade burrito can contain well over 600 calories, particularly when stuffed with cheese.
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Here are the biggest culprits when it comes to tipping the scales:
Typical Homemade Burrito:
Large flour tortilla
- 240 Kcals
1 cup of refried
beans - 250 Kcals
Full-Blown Cheese -
three ounces of grated for 375 Kcals
Mexican Spices, Seasonings
& Salsa
There is often a shallow vegetable mix thrown into the recipe such as onions, cilantro and bell pepper to add flavor and texture.
Seasonings, spices and salsa all tend to be ultra low in caloric values - so that's the good news for any dieter. All Mexican style salsas tend to be tomato-based; most contain about 10 Kcals per generous serving - about 1 Tablespoon.
Let's focus on the shell, the beans and the cheese to see how we can trim down our homemade burrito.
Skinny Burrito Recipe for Dieters
Flour Tortilla Shell Tips
- Look for the smaller flour shells when visiting your local market which can range from 80 calories and up. Choosing whole wheat-based tortillas are an even healthier choice.
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- Rather than frying the homemade burrito, simply warm or steam the flour tortilla, then fill with warm beans that have been mixed with the spices, seasonings and salsa.
Refried Beans Tips
- Measure out 1/2 cup of beans for a simple calorie-cut. How easy is that - and do you really want all that gas? While dietary fiber is awesome in taking care of 'business', too much can create issues of enormous proportions. Bloated belly, achy abdomen and crampy colon for starters.
Cheese Tips
We need to pull out the measuring tools from the kitchen drawer again. It's important to measure out the cheese as well as all other ingredients that are significant in caloric and fatty acid content.
Use no more than one ounce and opt for skim base cheese which can contain less than one-half the caloric values of full-blown varieties.
Our new homemade burrito contains about 300 calories. Now we have a lot of room on our meal plate to add additional healthy selections to go with our awesome Skinny Burrito.
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