Are chicken fajitas healthy

[pollypoxx]

On one hand protein and veg. On the other sour cream and cheese.

Trying to eat in a calorie deficit at the moment and just wondering if this is a good dinner choice, particularly if I were to forego the wraps and have some cauliflower rice with them too.

Opinions?

Or a light grating of parmesan; it is strong so only a tiny bit needed.

I don't think that sour cream or cheese are "unhealthy", but they aren't necessary for fajitas anyway. I never use them. Just chicken, spices, peppers, onions, and a dash of soy sauce that goes in near the end of stir-frying the veggies.

For spices I mix my own: ground cumin, ground coriander, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and cayenne pepper if you want heat. Experiment to get the right proportions, but start with twice as much cumin and coriander as the others. Much cheaper than the "kits", which are just a way to get you to pay £2 too much for a packet of flour tortillas.

I tend to have one wrap then a mix of chicken/veg/sour cream eaten with a fork. So two wraps worth but just one wrap.

I disagree with replacing the sour cream as low fat “diet” foods are less filling so a lesser amount of sour cream is more satisfying and, within your calorie allowance, a better option for a sustainable diet.

A good trick that I have learnt from my vegan DD is adding nutritional yeast when frying cooking gives a cheesy taste without the calories

sour cream and cheese are going to add quite a lot of calories

It's not a fajita if it's not wrapped in a tortilla, it's just fried chicken and veg with a salsa/sour cream.

They absolutely can be! I have Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and use my own spices. I make my own guacamole and salsa, and I tend to eat with a bit of rice as opposed to tortillas but I give the kids the crosta mollica wraps as they have no upfs.

Anything can be part of a healthy and balanced diet.

Crikey I did not expect so many comments about fajitas 😂
To answer a few questions - I need to lose weight and I need to also eat a healthier diet. So both calorie counting and getting a decent amount of nutritionally beneficial food is important to me going forward.
This is going to require a massive change of mindset and lifestyle habits for me because I am a big foodie, I love carbs, cheese, chocolate and big portions. I need to cut down and make healthier choices which I’m trying to do with the wrap/cauli rice swap. One step at a time…
Anyway I appreciate all the views on MY FAJITAS (said in Ross from Friends voice)

Healthy. Or can be. I use baby gem lettuce leaves in lieu of flour-based wraps. Still use sour cream and cheese but I only enjoy these sparingly anyway.

Better to be cutting down on the white processed carbs than fats and protein.

I like fajitas as a quick and fairly healthy meal for the family. We don't put cheese in ours at all, actually.

Wholemeal or sweet potato wraps.
Chicken, onion, pepper, mushrooms.
Spices to taste.
Proper sour cream.
Smashed avocado or guacamole.

Usually get 3 portions' worth of veg into the DC, plus protein.

Theres no such thing as healthy or unhealthy food, but calculate what calories you have available and how much it is and fit it in
It doesnt have to be daily, use a weekly average

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

@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 :)

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.

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

Strange eh?

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.

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.

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.

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