BODY WATCH : Mexican Food Without the Guilt : Fast food: Taco Bell is introducing light versions of its menu staples. Even the folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest approve.

Fast food and guilt might not be as inseparable as cheese and burgers after all.

Eight new, slimmed-down entrees to be introduced starting next week by Taco Bell are getting a qualified thumbs-up from nutritionists, even as business analysts debate whether the new menu will boost sales.

Even the folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest--better known as the official spoilsports of ethnic and fast fare--are applauding the lowered fat and calories in Taco Bell’s Border Lights products, although the sodium level overall is still a bit high for their taste.

“They knocked the fat back by 50%,” says Jayne Hurley, senior nutritionist for CSPI, a Washington-based consumer organization that has recently blasted Mexican, Italian and Chinese fare, along with movie-theater popcorn.

Two other nutritionists were equally impressed. “Boy, it looks too good to be true, but the calories and fat seem really good,” says Jody Lander Spector, a registered dietitian at St. Vincent Medical Center who specializes in weight management.

“This is really going to help people who are trying to reduce overall fat get to a realistic total of fat grams per day,” adds Martin Yadrick, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Assn. and training consultant for Computrition, a nutrition software firm in Chatsworth.

The new light taco products debut next week, says Jonathan Blum, a Taco Bell spokesman. Light burrito products will follow six weeks later, then the light Taco Salad “sometime later.” Taco Bell plans more products so that eventually 75% of the menu choices will have a light version.

The light taco has 140 calories and five fat grams, while the original version--which will still be available--has 180 calories and 11 fat grams, according to nutritional information supplied by the Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp.

The keys to slashing fat and calories? Low or no-fat cheese, low-fat tortillas, fat-free sour cream and lean meat. The light Burrito Supreme has 350 calories and eight fat grams; its heavier counterpart has 440 calories and 19 fat grams.

The light Taco Salad, at 680 calories and 25 fat grams (10 without the tortilla chips, Hurley notes) is a “top contender” for the “Right Stuff Award” in the upcoming April issue of the center’s Nutrition Action Health Letter, Hurley says.

Just this month, the original Taco Salad got a “Worst” award from the Center, which called it “the fattiest food you can buy at Taco Bell” because of its 870 calories and 55 fat grams. (A daily maximum of 65 to 80 fat grams is recommended for most consumers to keep fat intake at 30% or less of calories.)

But nutritionists say Taco Bell could still use a lesson in sodium. The light Taco Salad has 1,400 milligrams of sodium. (Eating less than 2,400 milligrams of sodium daily is recommended.)

“Fourteen hundred is high,” Yadrick says, “but it depends on what you’re having the rest of the day.” On most days, the sodium content of a fast-food meal will be balanced by the lower-sodium content of the other meals.

“Just because you’re having one high-sodium meal doesn’t mean you’ve blown it,” he says. Paying attention to sodium intake the rest of the day should balance things out, he adds.

Already, Taco Bell is trying to lower the sodium content of the new products, Blum says, and could have lower-salt options available by this summer.