Mexican Fiestas - Diet Dilemma or Diet Delight?

Written by Diet Bites

Go light - go Mexican - go fiesta! What would life be without the heavenly taste of fresh baked bread or peaches just picked from an orchard - or a Mexican Fiesta meal?

Pretty bland - that's what life would be. Just because you're watching your waistline doesn't mean you can't ever kiss a taco good night again. Here's how!

The Mexican Fiesta Damage Report - 7 Items to Monitor Closely During Fiesta Madness
1. Cheese
2. Grease, oil, lard, shortening
3. Sour Cream
4. Avocados
5. Mayo
6. Butter
7. Chips (includes white, ivory, yellow, blue, red, green or fuchsia!)

Corn VS Flour
You can have TWO corn tortillas for the same amount of calories as ONE flour tortilla. So…get corny.

How to Load Your Chip for Salsa
Chips and hot salsa - it's not the salsa that sticks to your hips, it's those great tasting evil chips. So what's a body to do before the food arrives? Well, you can always go watch the tortilla making machine whirl out the finished product, or you can indulge WISELY in that tasty hot salsa and basket of crispy tortilla chips at your table.

There is a trick that you can use whenever you enjoy a Mexican fiesta. Limit yourself to 15 chips. You can enjoy UNLIMITED amounts of hot salsa. See how much you can load on your chip; it's filling and it will keep you occupied until your food arrives. Remember; 15 chips (or 30 broken pieces) and unlimited salsa.

Preparing for the Fiesta!
If you're fortunate enough to know that you'll be enjoying a Mexican Fiesta in advance, try preparing by using some of the following tips:

1. Eat a very light breakfast such as a bowl of cereal or consider foregoing dinner.

2. Have your Fiesta for lunch rather than dinner and if you do kiss that taco goodnight, you must be very, very good when it gets light again.

3. Ask the waiter to bring you a side order of grilled veggies. These go nicely with the corn tortillas & hot salsa.

4. Ask if the restaurant offers reduced fat products, such as sour cream.

5. Fajitas are a healthier choice than the cheese enchiladas. However, if you're craving cheese enchiladas, then have cheese enchiladas. Order a small batch, then stick to the corn tortillas and grilled veggies by using that as your 'tummy filler' or your 'tummy top-off'.

6. When you are leaving the restaurant and the clerk asks if you'd like a homemade praline, do NOT throw the nearby pony piñata at her. Calmly, sweetly, sternly just say 'NO, THANK YOU'. It should not be necessary to bare your teeth or exhibit your tonsils to get your point across.

7. If you must have a margarita, then it's going to cost you about 200 calories and that number will vary according to the restaurant's Little Ole Spirit Maker. So as you're making this decision, silently ask yourself, "Do I want the margarita or 4 tasty corn tortillas filled with grilled veggies?"

My Fiesta was too big. What can I do?
Yes, it happens. We get exposed to the erotic strum of a Fiesta guitar, and those glittering sombreros, and those heavenly Godzilla-sized pralines and we sometimes lose ourselves in the Fiesta madness. Before we realize it, we get locked in the twang of the guitar, hypnotized by the glittering of the sombreros AND the buttery looking pralines, and our 15 chips have metastasized to 30 whole chips, or 60 broken chips.

So what can you do?

YOU are in control, not your tummy. Get right back on your diet - not tomorrow, not Monday, not after the holiday - NOW. Right NOW.

Summing it up!
Anyone who is dieting or just watching the types of food they eat in order to achieve optimum fitness should be commended! It ain't easy.

As we go through life we find many good things through exploration, through trial, through error. We are all going to bumble things up from time-to-time because we are human. And because we are human, we tend to like the ability to make choices in simple things, like the things we eat. So I hope that you will not be too restrictive and enjoy some of the simple things in life, such as a Fiesta! Just follow the tips we've discussed, make wise choices, and enjoy!

Now if you'll excuse me, I must go locate Tom. The last I saw him, he was masterfully strumming this very large guitar and wearing a bright red sombrero. And where did I put those castanets?

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