what foods to get at a chinese restaurant??

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  • HurricaneElaine
    HurricaneElaine Posts: 984 Member
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    Kung pao chicken - lots of veggies, the chicken's 'naked' and the sauce isn't thickened with cornstarch. It's peppery too - spice is supposed to speed up your digestion, I've heard. Steamed brown rice on the side. :wink:

    edited to add: Drink TONS of water afterward!!!!
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    I eat Chinese all the time! Anything non breaded in a light sauce is generally OK. Only eat half. Only eat a quarter of the rice they give you. Beef with broccoli, chicken & snow peas, pepper steak, are all OK.

    What I do when I really want to go low calorie is just get egg drop soup and a vegetarian egg roll. Some restaurants have an awesome soup called Sizzling Rice Soup that I love. More calories than egg drop, but more filling too.
  • deeh4286
    deeh4286 Posts: 2
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    Chicken and Brocolli with sauce on the side and brown rice if you need the rice. I get egg drop soup too, high in sodium but low in calories. Enjoy!
  • kyle4jem
    kyle4jem Posts: 1,400 Member
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    If you like and enjoy Chinese food, then have one of your favourite dishes, eat half and ask for a doggy-bag for the leftovers. if you're not that fond of or are unfamiliar with Chinese dishes, there is usually some basic dishes offered such as grilled fish or chicken which can be prepared without any of the amazing sauces that make Oriental cuisine so delicious.:tongue:

    I know you're on a calorie-restricted plan, but this is real life - it throws you curve-balls when you least expect them and you have to learn to deal with them. You cannot go through life denying yourself everything all the time. It's the little things that make living worthwhile.Please go out and enjoy yourself and try not to worry too much about the calories. :happy:

    And if you feel you've over-eaten tonight, then do some extra exercise over the weekend to compensate. :wink:
  • Dunkelheit666
    Dunkelheit666 Posts: 223 Member
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    Chineese food is horrible for you! Tons of salt and calories...I don't know how Asian people stay so thin eating that stuff!

    they don't...
    what we know as "chinese" food is not what they eat on a daily basis.
    They don't have deep fried chicken fingers, deep fried egg rolls, deep fried crab rangoons, stuff on a stick..pork fried rice with tons of stuff in it....

    they have steamed rice and veggies, etc.
    much healthier.

    I gotcha, they basically feed the bad stuff to those silly fat americans :)
  • gimpygramma
    gimpygramma Posts: 383 Member
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    See if they have a war wonton. This is my favourite. You get a generous sized bowl of broth with usually about 8 wontons, a pile of veggies and a couple of prawns and maybe a few slivers of barbecued pork. I find they will often accommodate a request for more veggies and fewer wontons. This fits in easily with my 1200 calorie limitations. Only concern would be salt content from the broth. I generally find I can't eat all of that anyway.
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,721 Member
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    The chinese workers at the restaurant near me do not eat any of their fried food. I always see them eating white rice, vegetables, and chicken on their break.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Chineese food is horrible for you! Tons of salt and calories...I don't know how Asian people stay so thin eating that stuff!

    :laugh:

    You're funny!
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    By us here, the Beef and Broccoli is quit reasonable in calories. MFP helped me make that detemination. If you like veggies, try something that features those....

    ^^^ This

    The beef used is normally top round or sirloin, very lean. And of course broccoli.... The sauce is pretty much beef broth (very low cal) and a bit of soy sauce, oyster sauce and thickener. Eat half of what you are served and skip the rice, and you'll only have about 300 calories or so.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Grilled something if you have to get Chinese. Chicken and Broccoli is my favorite. But Lemon Pepper chicken is great too. Stay away from fried or sauce covered anything, or at least have minimal. Chinese is survivable, however, you will be hungry in an hour.

    And stay away from rice. It's a waste, imo.

    The rice is *NOT* a waste! But it's *not* low-cal either. :wink:
  • cdmalmrose
    cdmalmrose Posts: 29 Member
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    If you like and enjoy Chinese food, then have one of your favourite dishes, eat half and ask for a doggy-bag for the leftovers. if you're not that fond of or are unfamiliar with Chinese dishes, there is usually some basic dishes offered such as grilled fish or chicken which can be prepared without any of the amazing sauces that make Oriental cuisine so delicious.:tongue:

    I know you're on a calorie-restricted plan, but this is real life - it throws you curve-balls when you least expect them and you have to learn to deal with them. You cannot go through life denying yourself everything all the time. It's the little things that make living worthwhile.Please go out and enjoy yourself and try not to worry too much about the calories. :happy:

    And if you feel you've over-eaten tonight, then do some extra exercise over the weekend to compensate. :wink:

    I agree
  • sweetd_cali
    sweetd_cali Posts: 323 Member
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    I'm not Chinese, but grew up eating a lot of Chinese food since I live in the diverse San Francisco Bay Area. I grew up eating rice every day at home and didn't gain weight until I was older, eating "American" food. We ate a lot of fish and vegetables, sometimes chicken or pork and very little red meat.

    The positive posters on here are right, lots of stir fried or steamed veggies with chicken or prawns or lean beef. I love chinese cabbage, bok choy and water chestnuts. "Dry braised" meat is another good option. A lot of places have brown rice now. I feel like you can talk to the staff and ask for specific things if you're nice.

    Packing half in a doggy bag before eating is definitely something that has helped me.
  • Motleybird
    Motleybird Posts: 119 Member
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    The last time I went out for Chinese for lunch, I ended up dividing what they gave me into three meals. That was just the lunch portions!

    A cup of soup isn't bad. A spring roll isn't bad. Add it together with rice and entree and it adds up to something huge!

    The rice is a big calorie hog. I limit my serving to a half a cup at a time, and I keep an eye out for too many add-ons.

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