Re: OK, how about Mexican?
- From: "Julie Bove" <juliebove@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 05:01:03 GMT
"mousepotato" <mousepotatowhiskers@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:461085a9$0$1381$4c368faf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I adore Chinese food too...
but what about Mexican?
They don't use near the carbs do they?
Huh? Beans and rice are not carbs? Please realize that there is no one
cuisine that is either good or bad. You can't use the all or nothing
theory.
Mexican food is my favorite but it is the thing I did without when I was
first diagnosed and for many years thereafter, unless I made the food at
home and could control how many carbs went into it. Most restaurants meals
in Mexican restaurants contain waaaaay too many carbs for me to eat. Now I
should say that my favorite thing to eat in a Mexican restaurant is a bean
burrito accompanied by rice and beans. There is no way I could eat that
now.
I also now have food allergies that I didn't know of before. But here is
one thing I used to eat. It was frozen cheese enchilada from Amy's
organics. I didn't eat it as is though because it wouldn't have been
filling enough for me. Instead, I topped it with additional shredded cheese
and strips of green pepper, onion and chopped tomato. Made a filling meal
and wasn't too many carbs for me. Whether or not the carbs would work for
you remains to be seen.
These days at home I will have a whole wheat tortilla with some refried
beans on it. Or I might have a couple of crisp tacos that I make myself,
always checking the carb counts on what I buy. On a good day, I can manage
45g of carbs for dinner. But that's me. You could be different. I usually
have to eat less carbs for breakfast or lunch.
Other things I make are "Mexican-like" dishes. What I like the most about
Mexican foods are the beans and the salsa. I like the cheese too but can't
eat it. I used to make a dip of beans, cheese and salsa, melted and stirred
together then served with chunks of bell pepper to use as chips. Espinaca
con queso or chile con queso can be used the same way. These days I am
dairyless so I just mix beans and salsa and serve them with assorted raw
veggies to dip. If you are meat lover, you could make all sorts of meats
using Mexican seasonings.
In a Mexican restaurant, there are a lot of possibilities, but keep in mind
that most of those meals come with beans and rice. Some come with tortillas
and of course there are the chips. These things are all carbs and carbs are
what raise our BG the most. I am not a meat lover so that limits my
possibilities in a Mexican restaurant. The meat and vegetable portion of a
plate of fajitas is a good choice, if you like it. I don't really. But I
will eat this on occasion, splitting an order with my daughter. I rarely
ever have a tortilla. Will just have a few bites of beans and rice, a few
pieces of meat, some of the onions and peppers and I'll usually have a green
salad on the side, unless the place we are dining at serves a lot of raw
veggies with the tortillas. Some do. You need to also watch out for the
coleslaw some places serve. It can (but isn't always) be loaded with sugar.
Another possibility at some restaurants is a kid's meal. But even those are
too carby for me at some places. It depends on how my numbers have been
running that day. Sometimes I can eat them, sometimes not. Sometimes I
will have just a tostada or a taco or two and a salad. At one place we
dine, I used to have the chile con queso but I'd eat it with a fork. Theirs
is different than most places. They combine strips of peppers and onions,
ground beef for taco meat, tomatoes and melted cheese. It's very thick as
opposed to the runny dip many places serve.
Salads as we know them are not traditional Mexican food but more and more
places are serving them. They can be a good choice, provided they do not
come in a fried shell. If they do, you'd do best to avoid that shell or eat
only a small piece of it. Many of the Mexican places I know of now have
Chef salads or salads made of all kinds of vegetebles. And there is always
pico de gallo, a fresh salsa, but I've eaten it with a fork like a salad.
Soups can be a good choice, but again it depends on what goes into them and
how many carbs you can eat. I can have a bowl of black bean soup (provided
the bowl isn't too large) and a few chips.
Another option is eggs. Although I can't eat those any more either due to a
food allergy.
As for the Chinese food, that's something I don't care for too much, except
for a few dishes that are waaaay too carby for me to eat now. Oddly one
thing I used to be able to eat that didn't seem to affect my BG at all was
fried chicken wontons. I know they're not good for you and I didn't care
for them all that much but I could eat them. My favorite Chinese food is
tomato beef over a huge bed of white rice or noodles. I found I couldn't
even eat two bites of the tomato beef without the rice and noodles without
having BG through the roof. I can make it at home with modifications to
make it doable. Doesn't taste quite the same though and my family doesn't
like it so I don't make it.
Stir fried vegetables with some added chicken, beef, pork or scrambled eggs
and appropriate seasonings can approximate a Chinese meal. My daughter is
allergic to soy so we generally don't have this kind of stuff any more.
Bottom line is... Figure out what it is you really want to eat, then find a
way to make it doable. Sometimes you won't be able to. But sometimes you
can get a pretty good approximation of the flavor. For instance, if you are
craving pizza, you might try a shallow dish of canned tomatoes topped with
some Italian seasoning and shredded cheese, then baked in the oven or put in
the microwave until the cheese melts.
.
- References:
- OK, how about Mexican?
- From: mousepotato
- OK, how about Mexican?
- Prev by Date: Re: OK, how about Mexican?
- Next by Date: Re: FRUSTRATED!
- Previous by thread: Re: OK, how about Mexican?
- Next by thread: Re: OK, how about Mexican?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
