Heathier Tacos for a Taco Fanatic…ME!

I love tacos and have tried over the past couple years of my healthy journey to figure out how I can eat them, frequently and not feel guilty. Tacos can be very unhealthy and I LOVE Mexican food so I was NOT going to stop eating them. I have found that making my taco meet a few ways to do this.

I have started growing my own herbs and a lot of them. In fact I grow 10 and next year will add a few more to the mix. I have found that making taco meet and flavoring with herbs is “key” when needing to cut down the sodium. I add whatever comes to mind and I have a taste for at the time. Then I add some cayenne pepper and Chile powder. This allows me to get away from using the prepackaged seasoning, which is mostly salt.

Instead of using grown beef I use ground turkey. I do not like the turkey that has mostly white meat though. On the fat ratio I think it is 97/5 and I buy the 85/15 one. So it is not quite as good, fat and calorie wise then the 97 but still a whole lot better than beef. If I use the 85/15 meat then it does not taste like turkey.

Another perk of turkey meat is that it digests faster than red meat so it does not give you that heavy and bloated feeling like the beef does. I only eat red meat 2-3 times a month and like I said, I love my tacos, so I had to find options. Now when I go out, which is very minimal, I do not like the ground beef flavor and always get chicken tacos when I am out. That leads me to another point. We actually make more chicken tacos in our house then the ground turkey too. I think it tastes so much better and the fresh herbs and spices taste so much better to me on the chicken.

We also use fresh cut avocado too. I love guacamole but not when they add all the prepackaged flavoring into it to spice it up. I have found that fresh cut tomatoes, green chills, or homemade fresh salsa with a pinch of lemon juice are even better! In fact, when I do have avocados it limits the sour cream I use to almost none! Soon I will try a nice Kefir sour cream from my friend Terry at My Journey with Candida and I am sure that will be fabulous too, and healthy!

The shells are also somewhere you can cut the calorie corner. Back in the day, when wraps first came out everyone thought they were better than bread etc. Well, the normal taco shells “wraps” can be just as fattening, or more fattening, then some breads! They are made with shite flour and fat! There are some lower carbohydrate options but when I compare them to the good ole corn taco shell the corn shell wins. Plus I love the crunchy sound and texture it has, so it is so much more fun. I never buy soft shells anymore. We just eat healthier bread and corn shells and I have also noticed a non-bloating difference too. I don’t bloat up when I avoid the soft shells.

Salsa used to be a fan favorite for me. I would sit and eat a whole bag of chips with a bottle of salsa to go along with it. I can still sit down and eat a ton of salsa but I have also “healthied” that up too. My fresh herbs, tomatoes, peppers etc. are awesome in it. A little cilantro is “key” in that too. I have a tree of it growing in my herb garden and it is awesome!

The other day I only had a cucumber and a tomato and I wanted tacos.

I cut up both and then a small part of my cilantro tree and BAM it was awesome.

I do not even need lettuce when I am making my own fresh salsa!

So my taco entails a hard corn shell, fresh cut avocado, fresh cut salsa with fresh herbs, chicken or ground turkey flavored with fresh herbs and some hot powder. It is so much better than going out and getting tacos and I DO NOT miss the pre-packaged taco seasoning. Now when I see others eat it, it makes my stomach knot up. The reason is because of all the grease that drains off of it. You know the grease that drips down your arm while eating it, yuck! I will dabble in a bit of sour cream too when the avocados are few and far between at the grocery. I use all natural sour cream and only a tiny bit anyway so I am not going to feel guilty about that.

There is my healthier taco recipe for you. Plus an added picture of my salsa! I love that I do not feel “weighed” down after eating my lovely tacos! And we eat them a lot!

Have a great day!

Tawna