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Calories in Spanish Food - Healthy Spanish Cuisine Guide and Tips

Depending on your location, your local Spanish restaurant will serve a range of dishes of European origin, but may also include cuisine from the Caribbean and South America. There are also a wide variety of Spanish-style dishes you can make yourself at home.

But how healthy are Spanish foods and dishes?

Generally Spanish food, like most Mediterranean food is quite healthy with staples of rice, potatoes and beans, often flavored with fresh tomatoes and tomato based sauces, served with vegetables.

Keeping the calorie count down essentially involves keeping the portion sizes small, and avoiding the high fat items, especially sausages and fatty pork and other meats.

Most Spanish restaurants serve a wide variety of delicious and wholesome dishes from which to choose. The variety includes, fish, shrimp and other seafood dishes, paellas, and steaks, roasts, grills and rice dishes.

A good way to start watching calories and fat is to choose a vegetable or low-fat protein based appetizer (grilled or baked; not fried) and a main course of seafood. Choosing smaller servings of the delicious range of rice dishes helps keep calories under control. Many of the poultry, beef and pork dishes can be served with small portion sizes and sauces on the side.

If you want to be more adventurous at restaurants, or with home cooked Spanish meals, this article will help as it includes a listing the calories and major nutrients in a variety of Spanish foods.

This article also includes lists of foods to choose and foods to avoid as well as a range of tips for making healthy food choices.

Rice dishes such as paella and bean dishes such as 'arroz con gandules' are good choices provided you ask for entire size or small servings. Look for dishes that have plenty of vegetables as well and seafood is a better choice than red meat.

Most of the tomato based dishes are an excellent choice, but be careful of the high salt content in many of the tomato sauces. Shrimp dishes can also have a lot of sodium. Caribbean Spanish pork dishes such 'chuletas' and 'pernil' are fine in moderation, but avoid the fried dishes.

Tips for Making Healthy Choices for Home Cooking and Restaurant Spanish Food

• Ask for all sauces and dressings on the side so that you can add just the amount you want.
• Choose protein dished based on seafood and poultry, grilled and roasted, rather than fried or choose small portion sizes of beef or pork.
• Avoid all fried dishes (entrees and main meals) or anything labelled as crispy( frita or frito).
• Choose water as your main drink. Many of the alcohol based and other drinks have very high calories.
• Keep your portion sizes under control - always.
• Fill up on salads (without dressings) and vegetables (without sauces)
• Try to avoid having any dessert apart from fresh fruit. Just about all desserts are laden with calories and fat.

Spanish Dishes to Choose

• Salmon or dorado dishes
• Small Serving of Roasted meat such as Cochinillo Segovian (roast suckling pig) - ask for a small portion with the fat removed
• Most Chicken and Fish Dishes made with tomato and served with vegetables
  Grilled meat and vegetables ("a la plancha"), such as Camarones a la Plancha (grilled shrimp), Champinones a la Plancha (grilled mushrooms), Calamares ala Plancha (grilled squid)
• Gazpacho (cold soup made with tomatoes and vegetables)
• Roasted meat and vegetable dishes
• Ensaladas (various salads - request dressing on the side

Spanish Dishes to Avoid

• Dishes made from fatty meats (for example Cortes Grasos del Filete)
• Large dishes with copious amounts of rice such Arroz con Pollo (chicken with rice) or Paella [You can ask for a small serving]
• Heavy meat stew dishes laden with lots of potatoes and with thick slices of sausages
• Roast Suckling Pig - Cochinillo Segoviano (there is a lot of fat under the skin)
• Dishes cooked with copious quantities oil (look for "al ajillo" or "al aceite"), for example Gambas al Ajillo (This is prawns cooked in oil with parsleyand garlic)
• Any Deep-fried dishes ( "frito" or "fritura" on the menu), especially Fritura Mixta de Pescado (dish with mixed fish deep-fried fish)
• Cheese dishes with more than a 20z (57g) portion (Manchego, Cabrales)
• All Sausage Dishes - Chorizo Cantimpalo (Spanish-style sausage), Morcilla (blood sausage)

Calories and Nutrients in Spanish Foods