healthy thai food? help!

janeanray3
janeanray3 Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm going for thai food tomorrow for the first time ever and I need helping choosing something with the lowest calories. here is the menu:
http://thaibasil.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Thai_Basil_DT_Dinner_Main_Menu_Nov2013.pdf

I can only choose one thing from the Chicken . Beef . Pork from the Wok section. long story. so please tell what my best option is!
thank you

Replies

  • msbunnie68
    msbunnie68 Posts: 1,894 Member
    If this is a one off dinner then just eat what you feel like. Don't turn what is supposed to be a nice time (eating out) into a food denial drama that makes you feel crappy because you can 'only' choose this or 'only' choose that.

    Eat it. Enjoy it. Enjoy your company and yourself. Log it and move on.

    If it is going to be a regular thing then adjust the rest of your meals for the day to accomodate it.
  • janeanray3
    janeanray3 Posts: 16 Member
    I can only choose from the specified section because of this coupon that I have. so my selection is limited. anyway, thanks for your response!
  • msbunnie68
    msbunnie68 Posts: 1,894 Member
    I can only choose from the specified section because of this coupon that I have. so my selection is limited. anyway, thanks for your response!

    ah ok then...so chose the one you feel like eating then. It can suck if you feel like you HAVE to choose one when you feel like the other option. Enjoy it. :D
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
    Aside from the sweet and sour chicken I'd say most of those dishes would have similar calories, so just choose the one you like best. Thai food is a lot lighter than Chinese, I find. It has a lot more flavour and the sauces aren't as thick and gluggy.

    It's only one night so just enjoy it.
  • RibStabsHeart
    RibStabsHeart Posts: 71 Member
    Well, I had wrote a whole bunch before re-reading your post -- out of the few things you can order in that one section, the Basil Chicken or Spinach chicken would be good choices in addition to the ones others already mentioned. Usually the Garlic chicken is sauteed in a garlic sauce (not deep fried in a sticky sauce like in some Chinese joints), so if that sounds good to you, do it! I love that one personally. The only issue with these entrees is that you'll probably want to eat it with some rice: maybe see if they have brown rice available? And if you get an appetizer, stick to the clear spring rolls instead of the fried ones (obviously).

    Now if you go get thai food again.....
    The Fresh Mango and Green Papaya salad should be relatively low in calories -- generally speaking, it's a very light and refreshing salad with a very light sauce (they say lime here, it may really just be lime). If it really is just prawns, mango, and papaya, you probably could log 300 calories for the dish and still be overestimating (depending on portion size).

    The Larb wrap would also be relatively healthy -- usually its made with some sort of ground meat on top of noodles, but this is using a lettuce wrap which would also be a healthier choice than my favorite go-to noodle dish, Pad Thai. I'm guesstimating this larb would be between 250-400 calories as wel, and would have minced chicken (which might fill you up more than the prawns and papaya.

    The curries are coconut milk and/or cream based (and should be eaten with rice anways), so I would steer clear from them if you're really trying to keep dinner under 500 cals. They're freaking delicious, though -- I love the sweet coconut/basil green curry, and my wife loves the yellow curry (which has a flavor similar to your regular yellow Indian Curry). Panang Curry is good too.

    Enjoy!
  • GreatDepression
    GreatDepression Posts: 347 Member
    Most Thai restaurant dishes are surprisingly high in calories. The most popular dishes like curry and pad thai are among the worse offenders, unfortunately. I love Thai food but there are only a few dishes that are "low" cal in most restaurants. I'm probably the Thai food expert in this forum btw. These are the dishes I recommend if you want something low cal ish and not too oily:

    Laarb/Larb - ground chicken or pork in a lime fish sauce. It's normally eaten with white rice but you can eat it with lettuce if you request

    Papaya salad - a savoury salad of unripe papaya shreds in a lime-based sauce. If you are watching sugar and/or peanuts, tell them to use less sugar in the sauce and to omit the peanuts.

    Bean thread salad or glass noodle salad - choice of ground meat or seafood served over a bed of glass noodles. The sauce is again lime-based.

    All three dishes listed above are served room-temperature. The fact that they are not stir-fried makes them much lower cal than the usual noodle dishes.
  • Brandolin11
    Brandolin11 Posts: 492 Member
    The first thing I would do is ask if they will steam any of the entrees for you as opposed to stir fry. Many thai places do this. That will curb a ton of cals. Ask for any sauces and nuts like cashews on the side and apply them sparingly yourself.

    If I had to order off this section of the menu I'd personally pick the Basil Pork, ask them to steam it, get the sliced style (as opposed to the minced), and ask for whatever sauce they put on it on the side. Or I'd ask for no sauce period and ask them if they have some kind of vinegar/soy sauce based dipping sauce for their dumplings or spring rolls or something like that. Then I'd limit the rice I ate and focus on the pork and veggies.

    And now I want Thai food for dinner. Thanks for the idea! :)

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