Tuesday of this week was National Taco Day. Because of that we decided to have tacos for dinner a few nights this week. Calcium, potassium, protein and antioxidants can be inside that taco shell. If you are a sodium watcher you may already know they can also pack a whole lot of sodium as well.
This is what I did to include all of these nutrients and not have too much sodium. Most prepackaged seasonings are high in sodium and in that case, I typically use the seasonings I have on hand to flavor the foods we are eating minus any salt. Taco seasoning was not used. Instead I used Worcestershire sauce and a lot of cumin and paprika just because that is how we like it to taste.
I chose 96% lean ground beef this time, but they can be filled as you desire. You may want to try pork, fish, turkey or chicken or a veggie taco. If using veggie tacos be sure to include low sodium beans for more protein. Extra cheese will do this, but will also add more sodium.
Choosing the beef, I flavored with green onions (just the bulb) and then the green stems were added for filling the taco itself along with tomatoes, olive slices, cheese and romaine lettuce. Fresh jalapeno peppers are great to add if you like peppers. I recommend fresh jalapenos over those in a jar or canned because the sodium in fresh is next to zero.
Taco seasoning can have 400-500mg range for just one tablespoon (one serving). There are sometimes 6 servings in one package. Worcestershire sauce that I used has 150 per tablespoon. Even with that, I only used 2 tablespoons for a pound (16 ounces) of ground beef. The two small tacos we ate averaged around 400mg sodium. Using the taco seasoning would provide around 800mg sodium per 2 small tacos.
Seasoning the tacos as I did can be fun for the whole family and provide an array of nutrients without the extra sodium. There may be a National Taco Day and Taco Tuesday, but we all know, tacos are fun and scrumptious anytime.
Grace graduated in 1993 from UT Southwestern Medical Center Allied Health Sciences School with a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Nutrition. A few years later she concentrated her efforts in diabetes and became a certified diabetes care and education specialist. During her career she has worked as a registered dietitian nutritionist in long-term care, renal dialysis, home health, and diabetes outpatient care. Currently self-employed, she specializes in wellness and diabetes. Grace is a member of the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists. Grace now writes nutrition content for websites using her education, current research, and 29 years of experience.