Cinco de Mayo Makeover!

The following makeover tips are provided by Molly Kimball, RD, sports and lifestyle dietitian, to help you plan a fabulous Cinco de Mayo fiesta without inviting unnecessary calories.  Make just these three simple swaps, and you can shave more than 1,000 calories from your Cinco de Mayo celebration!

Traditional Carnita Burrito: A traditional carnita burrito with a tortilla, carnitas, beans, rice, cheeses, guacamole, sour cream, veggies and spicy sauce is loaded with an estimated 1240 calories, 62 grams of fat, 26 grams sat fat, 106 grams of carbs and 21 grams of fiber.

Carnita Burrito Makeover: For starters, substitute a traditional tortilla with La Tortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Multigrain SoftWrap, cut out the rice and cut back on the cheese. From there you can still add a bit of guacamole and sour cream, as well as veggies, beans and salsa to your burrito and cut out half the calories, almost half the carbs and 80% of the saturated fat, while adding 85% more fiber!

Nutritional Upgrade: 618 calories, 23 g fat, 5.5 g sat fat, 60 g carb, 39 g fiber

Chips & Salsa: Traditional tortilla chips have an estimated 430 calories and 22 grams of fat per serving.

Chips & Salsa Makeover: Make the switch to baked chips (e.g. Baked Tostitos, Baked Blue Chips, etc.) and lose 1/3 of the calories and 70% of the fat!

Nutritional Upgrade: 286 calories and 6 grams of fat per serving

Original margarita: on the rocks (8 oz):  580 cals & 66 g sugar

Margarita Makeover: (low-calorie mix like www.sinlesscocktails.com):  220 cals & 0 g sugar

Nutritional Upgrade: saves more than half the calories and 66 grams of sugar!

TOTAL CINCO DE MAYO MAKEOVER:

Original Burrito + chips & salsa + margarita: 2250 cal, 84 fat, 24 fiber, 66 sugar

Burrito + chips & salsa + margarita Makeover: 1124 cal, 29 g fat, 42 grams fiber, 0 sugar

Nutritional Upgrade for entire meal: 1,126 fewer calories, 55 grams less fat, 66 fewer grams of sugar, and nearly than double the fiber.

Have a happy and healthy Cinco de Mayo celebration!