Japanese and Thai and Chinese ... Oh MY!

ThinkingskinnY

HELLLP - I'm going to dinner tonight to a Japanese/Thai/Chinese combo restaurant and I don't know what's healthy and "safe" to order. In my pre- non-caring what I ate, but more on how the food tasted days, I would order a California sushi roll, Wonton Soup and Pork Fried rice or Pad Tai as my entree. But now I don't know WHAT to do. I don't eat much seafood, I'm mainly a chicken person. Any suggestions for specific dishes that are tastey AND not going to skly rocket me over my limit? I tried looking the menu up online to see if nutritional info is listed, but its not on there. AND these plans just came up, so I couldn't allocate accordingly. Any help is appreciated!

unckat09

You could:

- Sub a cucumber roll for the california roll
- Sub miso soup for wonton
- Ask for brown rice with your entree (avoid the cream-based sauces and look for chicken entrees that are not fried)

MelissaL582

California rolls are pretty good, it's the sodium in the soy sauce that's the killer. Same goes with all Asian dishes..so get only cup size servings if you decide to eat those. Get only one plate as well.

tamheath

I just looked this up this morning, as we may go out this weekend. Was happy to see that egg drop soup and hot and sour soup would be excellent choices. No tempura and no fried rice! I'll attach the link. Maybe it'll help. Have fun, in any case! :drinker:

http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/a/aa080707a.htm

jennlee80

I always try to stick to white meat (chicken) or just veggies. Sauce on the side will help to cut calories too!

LonnaRox

How about a grilled chicken skewer ... something with lots of protein so you feel satisfied?

petithamu

Japanese would be your best bet if you're looking for healthy. Chinese and Thai tend to use too much oil and usually involves a lot of frying.

If it's a proper Japanese restaurant, any of the fried stuff would not be as unhealthy as the other two because it would be done in a hot oil and quick fry so it absorbs the least amount of oil.

If you ate seafood, I would say sashimi is your best bet. If you order any of the rolls, especially like California roll or any of the 'reversed' rolls (rice on the outside), they use appx a cup (about a fistful) of rice per roll. Unless they're using brown rice, a cup of white rice can be around 350kcal!

For Japanese - go for Chicken Teriyaki and ask if you can have the teriyaki sauce on the side. Yakitori are also good. These are meat on skewers, again ask for sauce on side if possible.
To fill yourself up, order a bowl of miso soup first and finish that before you start eating everything else so you are content and not starving. A bowl of miso is around 45kcal. Anything grilled is good and Japanese is good for that.

For Chinese - nothing fried of course. Wonton soup is okay, nothing fried there. Try not to get stirfry stuff because they tend to 'quick fry' the ingredient then toss it in a wok and cook it with sauce that includes corn starch (you know, the nice sticky consistency? All corn starch). Noodle soup is always a good option but finish the goodies and don't finish the soup. The broth is where all the calories are.

For Thai - Thai salads with grilled meat. Pad thai is not 'so' bad but the kcal in the rice sticks could add up. If you do order Pad Thai, eat 1/3 of it.

Overall - Eat 80% full and chew slowly. Don't need to finish everything in sight!

My family owns a Japanese restaurant and my mom's a chef. Hope this helps!

Other than that, have fun!!

Tiffany

ThinkingskinnY

This is fantastic - thanks so much. Chicken Teriyaki with sauce on the side it is and Miso soup! Thank you tons!

ThinkingskinnY

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!