I’m headed out to lunch to bid farewell to a coworker and it seems we are going to a chinese place. Can anyone suggest a meal that isn’t hopelessly unhealthy?
I realize I’m not gonna be able to get a perfect meal, but is there something that’ll have a decent amount of protein with only moderate bad carbs and other nutritional nasties?
I’d be to help if ya’ll woudl have gone to a Thai restaurant. …sorry…
As much as I know chinese use high in sodium sauce and unhealthy oil to prepare their food, especially the ones served in a restaurant.
At least Thais have some good healthy delicious spicy salad 
Its one meal, who cares? You’re biding farewell to a co/worker. One meal isnt going to derail you if its bad.
C’mon, its VERY easy to eat healthy at a chinese restaurant. They have TONS of healthy dishes. This really isnt a difficult dilemma…
chicken or beef with broccoli with a side of white rice is pretty damned healthy
That would depend on which part of China the food is.
Cantonese: try some steamed rice with a side order of Char Sui (bbq pork) fat content maybe a tad high but if your eating clean most of the time it wont kill you.
Lohon Tsai or Buddhist Veg is mostly steamed veg but the protein is tofu.
Try a noodle soup with a side order of fish.
Szewan most of their food is hot hot hot so just remember dont inhale when you have food in your mouth, try the Chongching Chicken its really spicy chicken the ingredients seem to be chicken and half a bowl of chili’s.
Norther chinese are mainly breads and noodles try Hou Gou or steamboat meat slices that you cook in a broth at the table my advice take even thougthit cooks fast let it cook longer and save on feeling sick later.
Chinese food is not the best food for when your trying to get in or stay in shape worst than traditional Chinese food is American or australianChinese food it food the chinese have never even heard of and has so much sweet stuff you can get Diabetes just looking at it
I hope this helped maybe some of the other can give better suggestions.
Lots of Chinese places will do steamed dishes and serve brown rice, so if you go that route, boom - you’re good. Shouldn’t be too tough.
Definitely order something steamed and ask them to put the sauce on the side.
and tell them to keep the MSG out of the food. i think thats it right, MSG? been awhile since i went to eat chinese
…and then don’t use the sauce.
Thanks for the gameplan everyone.
teriyaki chicken, sauce on the side, and a side of mixed veggies. works for me evry time i go to a chinese fast food joint. be careful with the sauces, most of them contain very large amount’s of sugar. especially if the sauce’s that are made “out of house”. i will usually order a side of the noodle’s instead of the rice. i only eat a small amount of them, preferance only.
high in protein, low in sodium and sat fat. Perfect.
[quote]TheWookie wrote:
Can anyone suggest a meal that isn’t hopelessly unhealthy?
[/quote]
Asian Vulva my favorite meal ( someone was going to say it:)
The dog and cat thing funny but somewhat of a stereotype, not that they are not eaten in some Asian countries but that they are not that common.
Yes I get the humor and as a Kung Fu Man I am laugthing on the inside.
And no I have never eaten cat or dog, but have eaten Horse meat and BBQ Snake.
Fluffy
snake kicks ass. i wish i had some right now, here snakey snakey.
Brst places to eat:)
My fave is Salted Duck Eggs. I’ll eat one yolk and a couple of the whites, nothing else. Super duper salty but my favorite chinese of all time. Second is bitter melon and long eggplant sauteed in garlic and black beans until really tender. Third is a dinner of steamed mullet and a vegetable on the side called Ung Choi, which is what we call “Chinese Spinach”, sauteed lightly in soy sauce and garlic and some other chinese salty seasonings. Boy you guys are making me miss my childhood home life.
That stuff in chinese restaurants to me isn’t all that great, kinda like what Taco Bell is to authentic daily Mexican food. Blech.
If you sat at my family dinner table, you’d find true, daily, authentic chinese is extremely healthy, lowfat, high in vegetables and low in saturated fat. Small servings of a variety of things- steamed white rice, broth and vegetable soups, cabbage mixed with small amounts of meat and steamed, fish topped with pickled vegetables and broth and steamed, steamed chinese cabbage- all served family style so everyone shares. Much lighter fare than what is served in chinese (or american/mexican/etc.) restaurants. And the absence of milk products means much less fat and cholesterol. But there is much less quantities of meat served at meals than the american diet (and bodybuilding diets).
You can see the traditional food that chinese people actually eat if you go to the restaurants and observe what the workers are sitting off to the side eating with vigor- none of the rich, fattening, overly-seasoned commercialized stuff, but rather broth soups, juk (gruehl), eggs, vegetables and rice.
A michigan transplant friend and his wife have a great idea. They visit chinatown weekly. Not only do they get meat, seafood and produce that is fresher and less costly, but they find neat new things in the little chinese grocery type shops, then they hook up with a chinese friend (often me) and ask how to prepare them. I turned them on to their salted duck egg habit but I don’t think they’re yet ready for the acquired taste of black herb jello, and they crack up at chicken feet. But their chinatown trecks are a ton of fun for them and a cultural adventure. They also get fresh jumbo shrimp and lobster for a fraction of what you’d find in Costco or the grocery stores and they’re much fresher. Anyway, going to chinatown is a great way to get inexpensive protein and produce foods and as well learn about different kinds of asian foods. Also, the guys in the “Eating Organ Meats” forum would really go crazy at the chinese meat markets where organs (and whole animal heads, feet, tails, ears) cost next to nothing. Anyway, try chinatown sometime!
They have a ton of stuff that involves chicken and vegetables.
However, from my heavy eating days, find a place with authentic honey-garlic sauce.
Then get some deep fried breaded things. Make sure it is a scheduled cheat meal!
