Vietnamese Lunch TERRIFIED!

Valdus92
Valdus92 Posts: 25 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Going to a Vietnamese lunch and have NO idea how to track calories on that. Pho Ga or Brazed tofu and noodles are my favorite but dang it all seems so caloric!

Advice?

Replies

  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
    Estimating by using online resources (including MFP) is probably your best bet. If you feel comfortable enough, you can just wave it off and call it a day. (: I totally understand - I'm visiting a friend downstate next weekend, and we're totally going to go to the hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant we'd always go to while in college, but I wasn't watching my diet back then. o:
  • The_Godwin_72
    The_Godwin_72 Posts: 102 Member
    Google =)
  • Valdus92
    Valdus92 Posts: 25 Member
    I would agree if perhaps my marker was juuuuust a bit more to the right than it is
  • Witchdoctor58
    Witchdoctor58 Posts: 226 Member
    Eat half and take home the rest, skip the white rice and enjoy yourself! Unless it's a food that triggers a binge, one meal is no big deal.
  • whisperer02
    whisperer02 Posts: 52
    I ate vietnamese not long ago and just typed in the food and they actually came up. Just make sure you know about how much you ate of each thing.
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
    Eat the food and compliment it halfway through. Unless it's at a restaurant, this should result in you finding out what you need to make a close guesstimate of the calories.
  • fireflyz2
    fireflyz2 Posts: 14 Member
    Will keep my fingers crossed for you that they have some shrimp rolls that you can fill up on...
  • ctinawilson
    ctinawilson Posts: 127 Member
    I dont eat LOADS of Vietnamese food, but i eat a fair bit!

    Its similar to Thai food in the way that the starters tend to be fried (high calorie / sat fat), they do noodle dishes (high calorie / high volume) and stir fries (fairly high calorie depending on what it contains, but much better than a noodle dish as it tends to have more veggies and a bit less noodles) and then they have the sort of main that comes without a side (you order that on top) here is where you get a chance to be sort of well behaved. Something like chicken or pork or fish with lemon / lemongrass / ginger / garlic. Request it grilled or oven baked and the sauce / topping on the side. That'll give you a fighting chance ;) but if it was me i'd still clear some space in your day for a big dinner, its all pretty moreish!

    They tend to like the natural flavours of seafood/fish, so you might find that a lot of these dishes are less heavily sauced.

    If you're ordering sides like rice or noodles, share them with the table - you'll soon find you've only taken a small amount when everyone's digging in.

    Drink LOADS of water and get something spicy - like chilli flakes, on the side, that should slow you down!

    Any of this useful? All I know is I want Vietnamese now!!!!!
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
    MFP has Pho entries. While it's unlikely to be accurate, you're not gonna be off by 200 calories or some crazy amount. Just log it, add 100 calories on top for good measure, and move on.
  • stealthSLOTH
    stealthSLOTH Posts: 695 Member
    i'm craving Bo Luc Lac now! Darn you, OP!

    Have fun - enjoy your lunch! :laugh: :flowerforyou: :bigsmile:
  • DeeDel32
    DeeDel32 Posts: 542 Member
    Just enjoy it :)

    eat-all-the-pho-thumb.jpg
  • Querian
    Querian Posts: 419 Member
    I just searched MFP and both of these things are in the data base with lots of entries so you can just choose one as a guess. When I eat out I usually add it to my food notes that lunch is at a restaurant and so is an estimate.

    The other thing I do sometimes when I go out for ethnic cuisine is I google what the healthy options are. Like for Thai food you can eat papaya salad and soup and it's a lot less calories than the pad thai or pad see ew I usually order. That said sometimes I do go with whatever sounds good and just track the best I can. A lot of Vietnamese places have dishes loaded with veggies, One I used to go to I would order extra veggies in place of rice and they were happy to accommodate me. Another great option for Vietnamese is clay pot, Oh man, I miss working in Oakland, CA with all the great Vietnamese restaurants! I don't know if there are Vietnamese restaurants at all here in Billings, MT!
  • MrsDanner78
    MrsDanner78 Posts: 107
    I recently had Thai food and I had to kind of wing it. It's a small local place where you can't find the nutritional info online or anything. I skipped the fried starters, and had some gorgeous pad thai. Yes, noodles are not the lowest calorie choice, but it was fantastic, spicy, and well worth the calories. I split the serving, boxed up half, and ate the other half. MFP had all kinds of entries for Pad Thai with caloric ranges all over the board. I chose one that was about middle high so I could account for all of the calories, and just accepted that I might be off, but at least close to reality. I would assume that you will most likely find the same kind of situation with Vietnamese food - lots of entries from almost no calories to super high. Pick one in the middle high range and just be comfortable with the fact that you won't be able to be completely perfect today where logging is concerned. :)
  • stealthSLOTH
    stealthSLOTH Posts: 695 Member
    Just enjoy it :)

    eat-all-the-pho-thumb.jpg

    ^ I second this sentiment...urgentlly...
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,994 Member
    I find lots of Viet dishes in the MFP database. It won't be terribly accurate but logging conservatively on quantity should take care of that. The salads (whose dressing contain sugar but no oil), char grilled meat and poultry, grilled aubergine, and summer rolls are my go to dishes.
  • sharonfoustmills
    sharonfoustmills Posts: 519 Member
    all restaurants are required by law to be able to give you the nutritional info, so ask for it
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,994 Member
    And I can't imagine Pho Ga is all that bad. I mean it is chicken noodle soup! Just don't finish all the noodles.
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
    Just eat it, guestimate and move on.
  • lady6starlight
    lady6starlight Posts: 127 Member
    I went to a Vietnamese restaurant not too long ago and had some Pho. The bowl was so big that I couldn't finish the noodles, because the broth and veggies were so filling. Summer rolls can't hurt either.
  • Valdus92
    Valdus92 Posts: 25 Member
    I had the yellow curry tofu with salad and skipped the vegetables, interpreted it as yellow curry with tofu and vegetables 1.5 plate 432 calories and I am sure my exercise calories will cover that.
  • tlab827
    tlab827 Posts: 155 Member
    I just had Pho last week and I found a few choices in the database. It's actually not that bad (until you see how much sodium is in it).
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,994 Member
    Glad that lunch wasn't too stressful after all. Besides avoiding anything deep fried, I tend to avoid the satays (peanut sauce) and curries (because they might contain coconut cream). Though the yellow curry at your place might not have coconut, so not decadent at all.
  • cadaverousbones
    cadaverousbones Posts: 421 Member
    I would use google to try to find calorie info or just use generic stuff from MFP. They don't have the Thai restaurant I eat at in the calorie tracker so I just log "pad thai" as "pad thai" and adjust the serving size. Good luck! I am sure you can find something similar in the food logger!

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