Mexican Food Is Healthy. The Taco Took the Blame.

Why Traditional Mexican Food Is Healthy — and How America Got It Wrong

Every time someone says Mexican food is unhealthy, I know exactly what they’re picturing.

They aren’t picturing Mexico.

They’re picturing an American taco: a hard shell or a fluffy white flour tortilla, fatty hamburger, sour cream, a thin smear of salsa that contributes almost nothing except salt, and a yellow substance legally allowed to be called cheese.

After eating that, they naturally conclude Mexican food is the problem.

That conclusion doesn’t come from biology. It comes from branding.

Traditional Mexican food looks nothing like that. More importantly, it behaves nothing like that once it hits your body.

So let’s slow down, take a breath, and do what we always do here—follow the evidence, not the vibes.

First, Let’s Talk About the Taco America Put on Trial

The American taco stacks the deck against itself.

It leads with saturated fat, piles on refined carbohydrates, and adds dairy on top of dairy. Meanwhile, it offers almost no fermentable fiber. The gut gets nothing to work with. Blood sugar spikes. Inflammation follows.

That taco doesn’t help anyone.

But here’s the key point: it isn’t Mexican food.

It’s ultra-processed American convenience food wearing cultural drag.

Now Let’s Look at a Real Taco

By contrast, a traditional taco starts very differently.

It starts with a corn tortilla, not refined flour. Then it adds beans. After that, it layers vegetables, real salsa, and often cabbage. Finally, it finishes with avocado. Sometimes it includes fish. Sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, the structure holds.

And structure matters.

Because when you look at how that meal behaves biologically, it stops looking indulgent and starts looking smart.

Corn Tortillas Aren’t the Villain — They’re the Foundation

First of all, traditional corn tortillas come from nixtamalized corn. That process treats corn with lime, and no, that isn’t trivia.

Instead, nixtamalization improves mineral absorption, improves protein quality, and preserves resistant starch.

As a result, resistant starch passes through the small intestine untouched. Then it reaches the colon, where gut bacteria ferment it. Consequently, those bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate.

And here’s the important part: butyrate fuels the cells lining your colon. In addition it strengthens the gut barrier. It reduces inflammation. Finally, it improves metabolic signaling.

So no, this isn’t a carb disaster. On the contrary, it’s colon nutrition.

Beans Do the Heavy Lifting — And They Always Have

Next, add beans.

At that point, the conversation usually derails, so let’s keep it grounded.

A serving of beans delivers roughly ten grams of fiber. Not one kind — several kinds. Soluble fiber. Insoluble fiber. Resistant starch. Plus protein.

Because of that, beans slow digestion. They flatten glucose curves. They improve satiety. Most importantly, they feed gut bacteria that matter.

Specifically, bean fiber supports Akkermansia, a gut bacterium associated with better insulin sensitivity and a stronger gut barrier.

In other words, beans don’t fill space. Instead, they build infrastructure.

And yes, when you pair beans with rice, you get a complete amino acid profile. Humans figured that out centuries ago, long before protein powders and “ancestral” snack companies tried to monetize it.

Now Let’s Deal With Refried Beans — Because This Is Where People Panic

At this point, someone