Are chicken fajitas healthy

What do you mean by 'healthy'? Low calorie? Low fat? Relatively unprocessed? Low salt? Low sugar? Low carb? Why are cheese and soured cream unhealthy? There is no reason not to eat them as part of a balanced diet. Eating low calorie just makes you hungry and more likely to give in and snack on crappy food later.

Can’t help on the calorie deficit part, as assume that will need some sums from you, but you can defo make it a healthy dinner

Fat free Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, small amount of reduced fat cheese, and iceberg leaves perhaps instead of wraps

Yum!

Fajitas are one of my stock meals, i use an off the shelf fajita kit (12 fajitas, spice, salsa) 650g chicken, 2 red peppers, a bag of spinach, spring onion and an extra chilli and a sprinkle of grated cheddar before wrapping, works out as below....

I do “one pot” fajitas most weeks.

chicken cut into cubes and quickly fried with very little oil. Add fajita spice mix (usually old El Paso smoky bbq). Then add in chopped onion and 3-4 diced peppers. Optional tin of sweetcorn (dh loves it).

then serve with sour cream, grated cheese, guacamole and salsa on the side with wraps and/or rice.

Means I can have it with very little added calories but ds can load his with cream and guacamole! And there’s usually enough left for lunches next day!

I'm glad that you enjoy this, and everyone is different but damn that sounds like a joyless dinner.

Its basic science, where do you get the idea that science doesnt support it? If you eat more than your calorie requirements you'll put on weight.

Who the hell eats quark. Its repulsive and tastes nothing like sour cream or cheese.

Depends how you make them. I use no oil. Weigh out the grated cheese. Use quark instead of sour cream. Have only two small wraps or if cutting carbs I use letttace leafs

If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. That is inevitable basic science, as any shipwrecked sailor or stranded Arctic explorer will be able to tell you.

If anything has been debunked it is the use of short-term calorie deficit diets that promise rapid results followed by a return to eating far more than you need again.

I use a really strong mature cheese as you don't need as much

Just have chicken with stir fried veg?

Calorie deficit diets are totally debunked - do you not know that. No science supports them. Just read about it. They’re nonesense

Don't bother. I will not eat fajitas without sour cream, cheese and guacamole. And no, low fat versions are not the same. Try a stir fry with plenty of peppers and onions.

I'd rather have a small amount of a good quality ingredient than a large amount of an ultra-processed 'low cal' version of it.

Shows how different approaches are to diet as I would see no issue with cheese and all the component parts of this meal. The only reason I wouldn’t eat it is because of the tortilla as I avoid white carbs / ultra processed foods. So if you can home make wraps using spelt / whole meal flour or find non upf versions of whole meal wraps then I would avoid.

If you’re looking at calories alone then I understand cheese and sour cream can be calorific but this doesn’t seem as sustainable as looking instead at nutritious choices and avoiding white carbs / sugary / upf foods,

I’ve lived off cheese and yogurt as part of my diet and just avoided upf/sugar / white carbs and lost so much weight despite never being hungry.

All these countries around the world who are healthier than the average Brit, surviving on wheat flour, white flour products.

Strange eh?

No. If trying to be healthy - no. It depends on what your body/ weight is, and metabolic rate is and cholesterol levels etc. but I’d say a wheat wrap, cream cheese, fried beans/ veg and or chicken , salt, not really healthy. Try… steamed veg/ white meat, quinoa, chipotle, chilli, avocado, feta cheese.

@JustSawJohnny Yeah, I know, and I agree with you on a wholewheat wrap front, as I said, they're healthier for other reasons. On lettuce, depends. Iceberg has zero nutritional value whereas even a processed white wrap will provide a body with some energy to respire and move around etc. You do actually need calories to survive etc. And the difference between a 2 tbsp serving of low fat yoghurt and sour cream is between 11 and 35 calories. Yoghurt with lime is indeed delicious but I just think with those numbers we should all eat what we like best and look at the bigger picture, as it sounds like you are doing :)

If you aren’t as fussed about the wrap but want a big portion - it’s nice as a salad bowl. So the chicken and veg, loads of lettuce, pickled onions or gherkins, tomatoes, cucumber, any salad bits you like. Bit of strong cheese, salsa, sour cream. Gives you a huge portion if you do lots of onion, peppers, lettuce etc

In fairness, Op did did ask if fajita's were 'healthy', as well as stating that she is eating within a caloric deficit.

Surely everyone would appreciate that a wholewheat wrap or a lettuce wrap is healthier than a generic white wrap?

I personally don't like white wraps and most of them aren't UPF free so I'd rather have a lettuce wrap and it's got absolutely nothing to do with low-carb diets in the slightest.

I also don't like sour cream, but either way Greek yoghurt, especially fat free, has less calories than sour cream.

There are more than one way to skin a cat.

I think the main issue with it is the wraps. They're usually pretty nutritionally devoid of anything of value.

Either way @pollypoxx, you’ve given me a great idea for tea tonight 😄.

Chicken tenders are my favourite at the moment. A portion is about 250 calories, plenty of protein in it and I can have them with a Massive Salad® and some sriracha mayo.

Greek yogurt or Skyr is a good sub for sour cream - more protein as well.

I've never been keen on cheese in fajitas. 2 tablespoons of sour cream is only 60 calories. A wrap is about 180 calories. It is not huge numbers.

If I fancied fajitas I'd make that work with the rest of my weekly calorie deficit by balancing it out with a light lunch or breakfast, or lighter dinner another day that week. The trick is not to have fajitas (or similar) every night! Enjoy them one night, then next night have a veggie omelette and salad.