Chinese Food Calorie Count

geohsi
geohsi Posts: 3
edited September 21 in Food and Nutrition
Hi,

How do you guys know how many calories are in chinese food entree? For example a Hunan style chicken, shrimp, beef entree or cashew chicken entree.

Also, you know those Asian supermarkets that have the "fill as much as you can in a to-go box" kind of deals, how do you go about counting calories for that?

Thanks!

Replies

  • Steelytop
    Steelytop Posts: 145 Member
    The best way to find out what you're eating is to weigh it. But traditionally, I think chinese "fast food" is pretty high in calories and sodium. I mean off the charts. If you ask someone who was raised traditionally they will say most Americans have only ever had the fast food version of their foods.

    I do google searches after searching on this website's database for information to try and decipher what a meal is. But I've learned to avoid chinese food and pizza almost completely. I can have a huge amount of other food vs. a tiny tiny little amount of fast food. And so I pass unless I absolutely have to.
  • gussmi
    gussmi Posts: 13 Member
    Chinese carry-out food is the worst and you should avoid it at all costs. Like sdaudel said above, it is very high in calories and sodium. Very bad for you.
  • geohsi
    geohsi Posts: 3
    Yeah I agree Chinese food calorie level is pretty bad. But I was raised on this stuff so it's something that's tough for me to change.

    I'm learning portion control though but I just want to accurately understand how much calories this would be.

    "The best way to find out what you're eating is to weigh it."
    What do you mean by that? Is there a relation between weight and calorie?

    Thanks for the prompt posts guys!
  • Avalon203
    Avalon203 Posts: 78
    I love Chinese food and think its fine to try and have their healthiest options every once in a while, I find it a lot harder to stick to eating healthy if I forbid myself from eating things I really enjoy! While there is a lot of salt in most take away meals, you can chose low calorie and low fat options and encorporate them into your healthy eating...... I have chow mein which is a chicken, noodle and vegetable stir fry in a soy sauce. a standard chinese takeaway sized portion of this is approx 7 weightwatchers points. The deep fried things and food that is battered are best avoided though due to their high fat content.... I find the weightwatchers website helpful!

    http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=3&art_id=46961&sc=3030
  • weaklink109
    weaklink109 Posts: 2,831 Member
    I am fortunate to have a Chinese restaurant in my area that will cook their menu items to order, so I can ask for cashew chicken made without salt, and without any fat added to the grill, for example, same with their wonderful seafood soup.

    When I calculate calories for these, I estimate the amount of each ingredient and add each one into my diary. For things that I order regularly, I turn them into a "recipe" so I can add them quickly in the future. If you add in the total quantities and then figure how many servings you get out of the entire dish, it makes it easy to estimate the nutritional values. I usually get 2-3 servings out of a menu item.

    Darn, now I am hungry for Chinese food!!!!:laugh: :laugh: :ohwell:
  • geohsi
    geohsi Posts: 3
    The more I think about this, the more I hope restaurants will start voluntarily including calorie count amounts for entrees ordered. A bit selfish on my part but it saves a lot of guessing and headache.

    I can't tell if the chinese entree I ordered today is 800 calories or 1500?! Big difference hehe.
  • slansdown
    slansdown Posts: 94
    They give you about 2-3 cups of fried rice. 3 cups of the stuff has about 1900 calories by itself. It is depressing. My last chinese take out had about 3500 calories. I think what you should do is just to know the names of what you order, and type it into the database. Much easier if you A. go to a place that is well known and in the database already (like panda express) or B. go to a place that has a calorie count. You have to ask, but a lot of restarants know exactly how many calories they are giving to you. I have messed up a lot of days eating chinese fast food. Two days worth of calories in one sitting is depressing.
  • WestAleta
    WestAleta Posts: 2
    you can search Chinese food restaurants on a smart restaurant search to easily find out any restaurant near your place. I foundso many good restaurant.They have a good variety of chinese food. Most of it is really good. Thai tea with boba did go up in price, but it's still set at a great price for its size
  • EDesq
    EDesq Posts: 1,527 Member
    STOP eating that NASTY Crap...It's NOT even Chinese!
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