This week’s Dine Out Dish features one of America’s favorite grab-n-go Mexican food restaurants.  We have bad news and good news here, so we’ll go ahead and give you the bad news first.  The burritos are not going to be the healthy option, as the burrito itself slams you with 290 calories, 9g fat and 44g of empty carbs-and that’s just to start with!  The good news is that their Burrito Bols allow you to fill up on healthy calories elsewhere!

A Burrito Bol that includes rice, black beans, chicken, and Green Medium salsa contains 455 calories, 11g fat, 50 g carbs, 12 g fiber, and 42g protein.  If that carb count scares you a bit, opt out of the rice and your new totals drop to 325 calories, 8g fat,  27g carbs, 12g fiber, and 40g protein.  If you would like to add some vegetables in there and opt to keep the rice out of the equation, you can get the fajita vegetables for only 20 more calories, the fat stays the same as above, and only 4g more carbs.  We all know avocados are good for us and Chipotle is known for their tasty guacamole, however adding this to your dish adds an additional 150 calories and 13g fat so we suggest to use sparingly-you don’t need to use the whole serving they give you.  And who needs to add cheese and sour cream when the salsa adds plenty of flavor itself?  We say~dig in and enjoy!

Oh Starbucks, how we love thee.  Unfortunately, in most cases, you are not a friend to our health-conscious lifestyle.  After some serious digging, however, we learned that us fit gals don’t have to rule out Starbucks in it’s entirety.  They offer some healthy choices, but the key is ordering correctly so you don’t commit a diet destruction.

Ordering one of their ’skinny’ drinks (a skinny latte or iced skinny latte) is going to be your best friend; this means that it is made with skim milk, combined with sugar free syrup (multiple flavors available: vanilla, caramel, cinnamon dolce, and hazelnut) and the whipped topping is left by the wayside.  The tall skinny lattes serve you 90 calories, 0g fat, 12g sugar and 9g protein.  The Grande Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte has 130 fat-free calories.  If you feel like being a bit naughty, the Grande Nonfat Caramel Macchiato has 190 caloreis, 1g fat and 32g sugars, and the tall Nonfat Cinnamon Dolce Creme hits you with 170 calories, 0g fat and 31g sugars. A tall Nonfat Pumpkin Spice Latte without whipped cream weighs in at 200 calories and no fat.  The high sugar content for these nonfat versions isn’t something to scoff at, so order carefully.

Now here is an interesting tip:  although you may order non-fat, that doesn’t mean that your drink is served to you with no fat in it.  Take  Starbucks’ Eggnog Latte, for example: even if you order a 12-oz. version ( Tall) made with nonfat milk and no whipped cream, it’s still going to clock in at 350 calories and 15g fat!  Or the grande Nonfat White Chocolate Mocha, which bombards you with 420 calories, 13g fat and 60g sugars!  That yummy, tall  Nonfat Hazelnut Signature Hot Chocolate?  350 calories, 9g fat and 57g sugar!  We could go on and on here, but we think you get the point.  At Starbucks, the safest bet is going to be their coffee, black.  If you need a little flavoring, the skinny drinks are your next best option!