I love Chinese food!

steffi1686
steffi1686 Posts: 119 Member
edited September 20 in Food and Nutrition
I really love Chinese food, but the places I order from do not have nutritional information available.
I used to order 4 lunch specials, split each dinner into two and refrigerate and freeze the food. This way I had 8 dinners for only around $30. But now that I started this diet and keeping my food log I am not sure if I can still do this. Anyone have any advice as to how I should alot calories? I don't really want to give up my favorite foods altogether.

My favorite dishes were:
Cashew chicken
Szechaun chicken
Chicken with mixed vegetables
Pork with black bean sauce
Chicken Lo Mein

Replies

  • dengland2332
    dengland2332 Posts: 5
    I hope someone have a answer on how to count the cal. cause this is one of my son favorite place to eat .so i need some answer also .
  • FireMonkey
    FireMonkey Posts: 500 Member
    Me too! It's my guilty pleasure because a lot of it is deep fried and full of sodium :sad: but I still love it :love:

    There is quite a bit of Chinese food in the mfp database. You might have to guesstimate your favourite dishes. Other websites like the Daily Plate also have info. Portion control is one good way to go about this - looks like you're already doing that!

    Of course the best way to be sure is to make it yourself :wink:
  • dengland2332
    dengland2332 Posts: 5
    thank you I will check that out . Have a great day tomorrow.
  • steffi1686
    steffi1686 Posts: 119 Member
    I have found info on Mu Shu pork...I shall have to check around more for the others.
    I don't really like guesstimating but if it is between making an educated guess and not having these foods I will try and guess.
    Most of them are basically composed of chicken, different kinds of veggies, and a sauce. But I have no idea how much oil is used in the wok. I try and have white rice instead of fried with it. I might have to cut my usual egg-roll though.
  • sleitner
    sleitner Posts: 33 Member
    Only thing I could think of and have done is compare it to a Chinese food chain. You probably could find PF Chang's or Panda Express nutritional info online.
  • weaklink109
    weaklink109 Posts: 2,831 Member
    I am lucky enough to have a Chinese restaurant near me that honors requests to not add salt or msg to the dishes they make for me. I estimate calories based upon the ingredients combined in the dish. Kinda eyeball about how much of each veggie and how much chicken, nuts, etc. Between this and using the info available for chain restaurants, I figure I can get fairly close.
  • steffi1686
    steffi1686 Posts: 119 Member
    Thanks for the advice everyone! I will try and eyeball ingredients and compare to PF changs...
    I wonder what portions at PF changs look like though since they consider 1 dish as a serving size. I tend to only eat half of my meal and keep the rest for dinner the next day.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    Yeah, steff, I pretty much love Chinese as well, but unfortunately, you're not going to find many "good for you" Chinese food places around, generally the sauces and the way they cook are pretty bad.

    It's ok every once in a while for a treat (I mean maybe once a month in moderation), but it just CANNOT be part of a healthy diet. At least none of the places I've ever been too. MSG and salt not withstanding. It was a sad day when I realized I really just can't eat Chinese food any more (not like I used to at least.) but it had to be done, and I'm healthier for it.
  • rtmama
    rtmama Posts: 403 Member
    We regularly get Chinese food. But instead of he bad dishes we order steamed chicken (or shrimp) with veggies. They always put the sauce on the side.

    One local place even offers brown rice! Love that!

    Soups are not too bad either. Love hot & sour soup.
  • tazlady
    tazlady Posts: 60
    do you go out to eat one of the places that mfp has is panda express and they have some awesome chinese food..
    you can also try online to see if the places you eat have website.. ya never know :tongue:
  • DeeDeeLHF
    DeeDeeLHF Posts: 2,301 Member
    Only thing I could think of and have done is compare it to a Chinese food chain. You probably could find PF Chang's or Panda Express nutritional info online.

    Also Wegmans has it posted on their website and posted on the little placards at the buffet.

    Chances are good that if your goal is to become healthier, then "no" you can't still do this. Chinese food is a treat unless you are making it at home.

    My husband is Filipino and we have a lot of Asian food but I have learned to prepare it better over the years.

    DD
  • steffi1686
    steffi1686 Posts: 119 Member
    The place I go to is locally owned and not part of a chain. It seems to use better quality ingredients and the food is less greasy that those I have been to in the past. I usually go there around twice a month.
    I guess I will have to find recipes to make it at home instead.
  • Dom_m
    Dom_m Posts: 336 Member
    unfortunately, you're not going to find many "good for you" Chinese food places around, generally the sauces and the way they cook are pretty bad.

    It's ok every once in a while for a treat (I mean maybe once a month in moderation), but it just CANNOT be part of a healthy diet.

    In defense of Chinese cuisine, I've never been healthier than when I lived in China and ate Chinese food every meal. The trouble is that its difficult to get Chinese style Chinese food in western countries. We tend to get access to a very small subset of Chinese food - mostly Cantonese, high fat, high salt stuff.

    Some of the places I lived, farmers would bring their produce in from the farms each morning and sell directly to restaurants. The produce would be in the restaurant on display, and the menu was adapted to suit what was left fresh from the day. Most of what I ate for months had been in the ground less than 24 hours before I ate it :)
    Very different to what we see in restaurants here.
  • lisam829
    lisam829 Posts: 110 Member
    What you can do is check your grocery store- I know Sweetbay sometimes has Chinese dishes in the frozen section. It't not 100% accurate, but it will at least give you a better idea.

    There is one locally owned Chinese place I go to, and I only order two things- Shrimp in Garlic Sauce and Crab Rangoon. Which apparently are the two unhealthiest things on the menu. An order of the rangoon is about 600 calories. It has definitely become a once a month treat (after I do insane amounts of exercising that day and drink 6 bottles of water).
This discussion has been closed.

Categories