I USED TO STRUGGLE with keeping my weight and cholesterol in check, especially when I indulged my passion for Mexican food—until I learned how to do it with no loss of pleasure and satisfaction! The first step in solving the problem was to understand why I enjoyed food so much. I realized that a good meal, besides the obvious answer of great taste, has the power to banish stress to a distant memory and that I unconsciously relied on that. Since then I have discovered that countless others use food as a way to deal with the pressures of daily life. I also learned that many will not give up their favorite foods, even after dire warnings from their physicians.
It followed that, for food lovers, the key to dieting and eating healthily could have nothing to do with blanket approaches to things like fat and carbohydrates, and certainly nothing to do with eating food they disliked. The more logical road to health through diet would be to eat meals with good nutrition profiles—not too many calories or too much fat, sugar, and unpronounceable chemicals—but that food must be so delicious that it provides the all-important reward. Only then would we welcome it as a permanent part of our lifestyle as opposed to a barely tolerated diet to be abandoned at the first sign of success.
I soon discovered another important truth: it doesn’t matter how healthy your food is if you eat too much of it. Fortunately, foods that are nutritious, delicious, and made with high-quality ingredients are so satisfying that most people are content with smaller portions. The simple and rewarding approach I envisioned and now use can be summed up as eating food that is delicious and healthy in moderate portions.
At first I wondered if it would work with Mexican food. Were there enough healthy and truly delicious recipes—recipes good enough to be served in restaurants—that didn’t take all day to prepare? It did work, even better than I thought possible. I quickly discovered that there are more delectable, easy-to-prepare Mexican dishes with exceptional nutrition profiles than I imagined when I began this exploration over forty years ago. This book contains the commonsense advice and outstanding recipes that have been successful for me, and there is no reason they cannot work for everyone who loves good food!