Indian Takeaway advice please!!!

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My son's birthday is this weekend and we are having an Indian takeaway-his choice. As there is only the 2 of us at home I want to join in his birthday whole heartedly but also not go over my calorie allowance. I can fit some exercise into the day to earn extra calories but does anyone have advice about what to eat? I imagine everything being high in calories and fat!!

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  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    No expert but I hear curry and cream based dishes are high calories.
  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
    edited October 2015
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    forruths wrote: »
    My son's birthday is this weekend and we are having an Indian takeaway-his choice. As there is only the 2 of us at home I want to join in his birthday whole heartedly but also not go over my calorie allowance. I can fit some exercise into the day to earn extra calories but does anyone have advice about what to eat? I imagine everything being high in calories and fat!!

    So you are going to kidnap an Indian?
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    See if you can get the menu beforehand so you have time to plan what you will have and how much of it.

    If the restaurant doesn't have nutritional information available, try to get an estimate from looking at MFP food entries to gauge how much of each dish you can afford to eat.

    Or, just do lots of exercise and eat what you want. :)
  • IconStillFree
    IconStillFree Posts: 262 Member
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    Get Kebabs, they're around 200 calories, fill you up, taste good and a good source of protein.
  • SLLeask
    SLLeask Posts: 489 Member
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    If I'm trying to be good I always have chicken tikka (so no sauce to worry about), raita and either a small portion of plain boiled rice or a couple of popadoms. Failing that, I have chicken tikka masala or dopiaza, raita, just because I love it, and a mountain of paratha and popadoms with the pickle tray. And then gulab jaman to finish off! And then I exercise a lot on the days either side of the meal! ;) Yum yum, you've made me hungry now!
  • mthakkar2014
    mthakkar2014 Posts: 8 Member
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    Hi there, lovely idea to celebrate together with his fav meal. When my son chooses indian, i normally go for the dry tikka or kebab type dishes - chicken/ paneer and a thin roti- no butter nan and no curry! Have that with lots of fresh salad ( make a wrap!) but stay away from brown or sweet chutney too- very high cal!

    Thats IF u want to limit food calories... If u can exercise loads, go for whatever u like!!
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
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    Is it a one off? Go out and enjoy your son's birthday, eating the foods you like. Practice some moderation, finish when full, don't have seconds etc etc. If you go over your calorie allowance so what, it's one day, and it's your sons birthday. Your long term goal will not be effected.

    If you are dead set on it being 'healthy' then try to avoid any creamy curries, such as korma, passanda or masala with pilau rice, naan, bhajis, pakoras and poppadoms. Instead choose tandoori or madras with chicken, prawns or vegetables, plain rice and chapatti.

    Personally, if this isn't a weekly thing, I'd be doing option 1.
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
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    Curry's are notoriously high in EVERY THING.

    My advice, enjoy your son's birthday - forget the 'counting' and have fun. It's ONE DAY out of many, many 'good days'. It's not going to affect your goals in the long-run. You're a human being, not a robot. I agree with the above poster - finish eating when you are a full and just have fun with it. It's a one off.
  • crazyjerseygirl
    crazyjerseygirl Posts: 1,252 Member
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    Tandoori is your friend. My place does an amazing tandoori salmon.

    Take out is always gonna be high in kcal but that doesn't mean you can't make a good choice!
  • Aani15
    Aani15 Posts: 172 Member
    edited October 2015
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    I love to see whites talking about Indian food. Made my day, because to remember a foreign cuisine name is an achievement in itself. Irrespective of the nationality, one rule apply to every take out menu.
    Taste gets preference over nutrition. Take outs are meant to be a treat (once in a while), so indulge without guilt.
    Work on your weekly calories allowance from the next day.
  • crazyjerseygirl
    crazyjerseygirl Posts: 1,252 Member
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    Aani15 wrote: »
    I love to see whites talking about Indian food. Made my day, because to remember a foreign cuisine name is an achievement in itself. Irrespective of the nationality, one rule apply to every take out menu.
    Taste gets preference over nutrition. Take outs are meant to be a treat (once in a while), so indulge without guilt.
    Work on your weekly calories allowance from the next day.

    What, you got trouble remembering spaghetti? :P
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    It's one day. Use moderation and be conscientious, log and move on.
  • Aani15
    Aani15 Posts: 172 Member
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    Aani15 wrote: »
    I love to see whites talking about Indian food. Made my day, because to remember a foreign cuisine name is an achievement in itself. Irrespective of the nationality, one rule apply to every take out menu.
    Taste gets preference over nutrition. Take outs are meant to be a treat (once in a while), so indulge without guilt.
    Work on your weekly calories allowance from the next day.

    What, you got trouble remembering spaghetti? :P

    I struggle to pronounce most Italian, Greek and Mexican (etc.) delicacies (forget about remembering them).
    So I can empathise with others. Haha!
  • mthakkar2014
    mthakkar2014 Posts: 8 Member
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    Aadni15...
  • mthakkar2014
    mthakkar2014 Posts: 8 Member
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    Sorry couldnt remember ur name! Thank gosh i remembered indian food names... But wait! Am indian!
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,949 Member
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    This is something I can't figure out either. I get Samosa Chaat and then log it as 1200 calories and move on... Butter chicken would be higher. Skip the naan if you can.
  • forruths
    forruths Posts: 196 Member
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    Thanks for all the advice. I think I'm going to go for enjoying what I want and and skip the naan!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I used to eat lots of Indian takeout (and I love naan). What I did when I was counting calories more rigidly is get the tandoori options and no naan (and quite restrained amounts of rice). Now what I do, since I tend to go out to eat at an Indian restaurant once every couple of months, rather than get take out once a week, is eat what I want and just make sure I made some extra room in my day or time it with some extra exercise calories. I don't eat things I don't care about so much (so I still take it easy on the rice, since I don't care that much about rice and love naan, and don't get samosas before or tea), but I have some naan and the curry I want. I am sure I go over my standard calorie goal those days, but since it's rare enough I don't worry about it -- it's something that will be part of my overall lifestyle, so I need to learn to fit it in.