Fatty Festivities (Cinco de Mayo addition)

Cinco de Mayo is here friends.  That one day a year that I can have a margarita for breakfast and its “festive” not a “serious alcohol problem”.  When eating tacos for every meal is “fun” and not a “serious gastrointestinal event”.  Knowing that celebrations in general require, by law, being a glutton- I plan to eat my fill.

Attempting to eat healthy is a difficult path when you love food.  I didn’t become the fine looking fatty I am today by eating broccoli and lettuce.  Attempting to eat healthy, but not have it taste like dirt and sadness, is important if you want to maintain it.  And planning for a healthy option when things are about to get crazy (margaritas for breakfast crazy!) is putting out things I love, but that are also good for me.

Because my husband and I like different food, it can be difficult to agree on a healthy diet.  That’s why my plan for this year is to set up a buffet.  I am not a huge fish fan, but my husband is.  Having a fish option allows him to make fish tacos if he’d like.   I love shrimp and scallops.  Grilling up seafood, chicken, beef, and other options allows for me to pick what I want.  This also works with large groups- everyone can pick what they enjoy, build the foods they want, and have as many servings as they want.

I love avocado, and it’s a perfect topping on any kind of taco.  They are calorie and fat dense (234 calories per cup and 21 grams of fat!), so coating every taco in them may not be the best idea.  Now, the fat is mostly the good monounsaturated type, and avocados are a great source of many vitamins, but too much of a good thing blah blah I’m already fat I don’t need extra calories.  So adding avocados along with other toppings is great, just don’t make an avocado taco topped with avocado and a side of avocado.  Put other stuff on there too.

I also love spicy salsa, and I have an avocado lime salsa (more avocado!!) that I use with everything now.  Herdez Avocado Salsa has a good spicy flavor, and is another healthy option for toppings- only 60 calories for 2 tablespoons.  Because it’s a thin salsa, it works well on tacos in place of other sauces.  Salsa and pico de gallo are other healthy options that add flavor.   I also use nonfat Greek yogurt in place of sour cream.  It has the perfect texture and flavor to work as a replacement, and has far fewer calories than low fat sour cream (35 calories for 2 tablespoons verses 60 calories in reduced fat sour cream).  The other difference is that nonfat Greek yogurt tastes delightful, whereas low fat and nonfat sour cream tastes like caulk and looks like eel goo.

Finding healthy ways to eat things you love is important when trying to lose weight.  You can’t cut out everything you love and expect to maintain any diet.  I love tacos!  Finding a new way to eat what you love, but do it better, is the best way to celebrate and maintain a fit physique.  So go have a taco or 80- but top it with things that are good for you!