The 13 Best Things to Order at a Mexican Restaurant, According to Nutritionists

A giant plate of cheese-smothered nachos topped off with sour cream, refried beans, enchilada sauce, and globs of guacamole is sexy, sure, but you may not feel so hot a few hours after eating it. The sad truth: Many dishes at Mexican restaurants are packed with hundreds of extra calories, nearly all coming from saturated fat, which can leave you feeling bloated and overly full—like a double-stuffed burrito.

“Even simple, traditional meals, like tacos or an enchilada with beans and rice, can set you back 1,000 to 1,500 calories, not to mention the bloat-inducing sodium overload,” says Sharon Palmer, R.D.N. “And there are even bigger gut busters on the menu, like giant quesadilla and nacho platters, which can rack up closer to 2,000 to 2,600 calories—exceeding the amount that a healthy, active person should consume in a whole day.”

But we’d rather drown in a vat of queso than suggest you skip out on margarita night all together, so we asked our favorite R.D.s to share the healthier options they rely on when they dine at a Mexican restaurant. Follow their menu moves, and you can have your guac and eat it, too: