Taco Diet Article: For Pack Fashion

 

A man cannot live off of bread alone but it turns out woman can live off of tacos alone I went on a taco diet, and here’s how I felt:

With fad diets sweeping the nation around certain times of the year- January (New Year, New ME!) and Spring/Early Summer (Summer beach bod anyone?), I decided to try one. The Taco Diet is just what it sounds like: A diet of eating only tacos. I was ready- for the exhaustion, the large gap in my wallet and for trying the best tacos around the Triangle.

Tuesday How iconic, starting on Taco Tuesday. I woke up late, so I ended up skipping breakfast. For lunch, my roommate and I ventured out to Coco Bongo to get 99 cent tacos and I made sure to get some to go. The extras would be meals when I just didn’t have time to buy a taco or make one myself. For dinner I wasn’t very hungry after a late lunch, so I just heated up a taco and put some chips in a bowl and cuddled into bed with some physics.

Wednesday I woke up hungry and made it to class in 15 minutes, so I decided that I had time for a breakfast taco from Port City Java (I have later been told it’s a breakfast burrito but mine wasn’t wrapped like a burrito, so it counts, right?) It was alright, watery, if I’m being honest and nothing like the warm, cheesy taco I had for dinner last night. I finished my test early and decided (wrong) to go to Los Lobos (R.I.P.). It wasn’t AS bad as I was thinking, but definitely not Coco Bongo level. Also, let me just say my $0.99 taco was WAY better than that gooey (are tacos even allowed to be gooey?) taco that I spent a WHOLE meal credit on. For dinner, I decided that I would attempt a bean and cheese taco in my room, and I gotta say, it wasn’t half bad. I warmed up beans from a can then warmed up a tortilla. I put my beans on my tortilla and sprinkled cheese, salsa and sour cream on it, and it was pretty good. Note: I definitely would have tried to cook more if I wasn’t in a dorm room.

Thursday: I woke up hungry – which normally doesn’t happen, but I had an 8:30 which means I woke up at 8:20. So breakfast got put on the back burner until after class. After class, I skipped my usual Chick-fil-A breakfast (egg and cheese biscuit, fruit and hash browns every time) and went for a Nutella and Banana breakfast taco. Contrary to belief – it wasn’t that bad. Lunch was a thing that didn’t really happen because I just wasn’t hungry after my later breakfast. When I found myself hungry at 5 pm I had an early dinner of homemade bean and cheese tacos and called it a day.

Friday I’m almost done with this diet and I couldn’t be happier. I miss the days of having a smoothie. Or having fries. Or having anything that isn’t in a tortilla. Since I don’t have class until 12:50 I didn’t wake up until noon. So breakfast didn’t happen. But after my class I decided to treat myself to some fancy food truck tacos and they were SO good. The salsa was incredibly fresh and it definitely made me okay with being on a taco diet for another 27 hours or so. For dinner, I ventured home to Chapel Hill (gross, I know) for some Bartaco. I love Bartaco and my parents agreed that we should all get Bartaco to go for an impromptu family dinner. I got a fish taco and a fried shrimp taco and they were  amazing. Being on this taco diet isn’t that bad, and eating good tacos is definitely helping my will to push through the final days of the diet.

Saturday I woke up late for work, so a quick Nutella taco was the move. I skipped out on the banana this time for an easier-to-eat-taco because I was eating in the car. For lunch, I grabbed some Taco Bell because I felt the need to continue eating at every single taco joint around (didn’t happen but oh well) and it was alright. Way better than Los Lobos but nowhere near as good as Bartaco, Coco Bongo or that food truck. For dinner, I convinced my friends we should ditch our sushi plans for Gonza, since it was my last taco meal. I couldn’t end this journey on Taco Bell (that was the original plan). I got the Shrimp Tacos, and they were very filling, the shrimp was nice and juicy, and well marinated. I would definitely get them again, of course, after I’m ready to eat a taco again.

Afterthoughts: I learned a lot about myself and my eating habits on this Taco Diet. As cheesy (ha) as it sounds, I felt healthier. I wasn’t eating junky snacks, and I wasn’t really eating extras because the tacos were relatively filling. Also, I realized that eating should be fun, and once you’re tired of the food, stop eating. I used to be so against food waste, and I would always try to finish my food, despite being very full at times. After this diet, and seeing the compost bins around campus, I didn’t feel bad about not finishing my food, and I didn’t feel bad about eating until I was full, not till my plate was cleared. This is something that I know will be beneficial in the future, and will help me with future dieting and in general.

Overall, I enjoyed this diet. I lost a few pounds, but that was probably from not eating as much which proves that weight loss is truly caused by diet changes. I definitely need to cleanse my body of all the tacos before I take on another diet like this, but I’m definitely not opposed to another diet similar to this one. This diet this helped me figure out how eating off campus can be more affordable, how dorm cooking isn’t that bad, and how there is truly a correlation between what you eat and how you feel/look. You truly are what you eat.  (so I guess…I’m a taco…)

p.s. yes, those were actual tacos that I ate!

cncliffo