HEALTHY MEXICAN FOOD ???

Can Traditional Mexican Food be healthy?

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Umm…healthy Mexican food!  Would you enjoy biting into a mouth-watering, healthy tamale, taco, quesadilla, burrito or enchilada?  You bet!

Nevertheless, you ask, “doesn’t traditional Mexican food have lots of calories, carbohydrates, and fats covered with rich cheeses and sauces?”

Just try some of our “Lighter Side” Mexican food recipes and your clothes will thank you.


Traditional Mexican food has changed drastically through its history.  The ancient Mayan civilization  (from 320 AD to 1,000 AD,  spread through SE Mexico, Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala) is generally credited with much of our authentic Mexican food.  Some of the foods used in Mexican cooking, like the tomatilla, have been documented back to 800 BC…and archeologists have documented chili peppers being used around 5000 BC.  The Mayan culture was as nomadic hunters and gatherers.  Their diet was mostly vegetarian, so they had to utilize foods that were easily prepared and transportable.  Could these be the first fast foods?
 
 
From 700 AD to 1,000 AD, the extremely militaristic Toltecs from northern Mexico fought with the Mayan Indians and became the dominant cultural force their region.  For the next 200 years, the Aztecs waged war with the Toltec/Mayan peoples and they gained control over the area around 1,300 AD.  While the Aztecs brought squash, avocados, guava, honey and domesticated turkey, ducks and pigs to their healthy Mexican food choices, the basic staples of  maize, beans and rice remained the same.

 
Many Mexican Indian food historians attribute the introduction of chocolate to the Aztecs.  However, the Mayans had been using it for centuries prior to the Aztecs.  The Aztecs just elevated it as a drink only for the nobility, warriors and for special occasions, as they believed cacao or chocolate was a “food of the gods,” the literal meaning of the plant’s botanical name, Theobroma cacao.  Anyone who violated that practice was sentenced to death.  Both the Toltecs and Aztecs believed their rulers and mighty warriors were descended from the gods; so the drink was only for the gods.

This authentic Mexican food, chocolate, was a gift from the Old world to the New world when Ferdinand Cortez took some back to Spain in 1519.  Two years later when Spain invaded Mexico, they brought many new foods like sheep, pigs, cows, dairy products, garlic and new spices which changed healthy Mexican food forever.
When we eat authentic Mexican food, we have to thank many cultures for their contribution to the Mexican cuisine. Flan was from medieval Europe.  The Inca Indians gave us ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime juice with other spices.) Ecuador and Peru added tropical fruits to the ceviche.  The Portuguese spread the use of many varieties of chili pepper plants. South America, the Caribbean, West Africa, France and many others added to the Mexican food palette. There is a hint of Mexican food in worldwide cuisine and Mexican food has a hint of worldwide cuisine in it.
Authentic Mexican food had a wide variety of fresh, hearty and healthy foods.  We can use them all to prepare either traditional healthy Mexican food or Lite Mexican food.  See the recipes side by side along with health tips and hints on the following pages.

Recipe Secrets.net