Chinese food

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cgeiser1
cgeiser1 Posts: 145
in Food and Nutrition
Okay so I know Chinese food isn't the best. However there's a place down the road my boyfriend likes to order from. he would literally order their lunch specials multiple times a week if he could. I try to only do it occasionally.

If I order something simple like shrimp and vegetables with brown rice how much damage am I doing really?

Replies

  • shannon877
    shannon877 Posts: 55 Member
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    It's the amount of rice (more than 1/2 cup is damaging, and they usually put 1 to 1.5 cups in the serving) and if anything is battered or has a crust on it. If it is steamed shrimp and veggies with 1/2 cup of rice, you should be fine.
  • lotty1987
    lotty1987 Posts: 176 Member
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    i got told by my nutritionist if i was going to have chinese then to have a chicken chow mein with no sauce as chicken is only pan fried and the noodles are better carbs than rice x
  • lotty1987
    lotty1987 Posts: 176 Member
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    i got told by my nutritionist if i was going to have chinese then to have a chicken chow mein with no sauce x
  • jhardenbergh
    jhardenbergh Posts: 1,035 Member
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    I am on a very strict program and eat the steamed chicken and or shrimp with veggies all the time. Very little calories, maybe around 400, the brown rice I am not sure of, we usually just do the chicken/shrimp and veggies.
  • misskimlilac
    misskimlilac Posts: 306 Member
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    I go with the Stemmed Vegetables and White meat chicken (I would guess that I get 3-4 oz of Chicken) . I ask them for a specific amount of rice if I want some, usually 1/4 cup. This is my version of the healthier choice at Chineese.
  • poustotah
    poustotah Posts: 1,121 Member
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    I always have the szechuan chicken and no rice. High in fat though but it sure does beat a craving.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    Just be aware that whatever you order will likely have an insane amount of sodium. So don't be too surprised or worried if you see a gain, it'll just be water retention from the sodium.
  • fat_beyonce
    fat_beyonce Posts: 133 Member
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    you could just use it as your cheat meal and just have one meal a week from there or something
  • donicagalek
    donicagalek Posts: 526
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    The sauces *kill* me since having bariatric surgery. Literally I'm balled over and passing out whenever I even attempt to eat general tso's or any other kind of meat-soaked-in-orange-sticky-goo. So, watch your portions and don't eat anything that would leave a mess on your hands if you picked it up (grease or sticky goo).
  • Dtho5159
    Dtho5159 Posts: 1,054 Member
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    I loooove Chinese food, Its in fact my 2nd weakness next to cheese lol. I always use that as my "I don't care" meal. We go once or twice a month so its not extravagant or anything. I don't keep track of what I eat there. I find its good to trick your body once in a while and not keep track of what you eat for a meal. Just my opinion of course ;)
  • betterthanmama
    betterthanmama Posts: 57 Member
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    most basic dishes you can get steamed with the sauce on the side. if you are doing plain chicken with veggies, it's very low cal, and if you want the extra flavor you can add sauce to taste. Keep in mind that the sauce is where a lot of calories are, like ketchup or BBQ sauce.

    Also you can get the rice, just make sure you measure the amount out before you eat it! rice is high in calories and brown rice is the same calories by weight. If you stay away from the fried stuff (fried rice, lomain-lots of oil, general tso's chicken etc) it's not going to be an unhealthy meal.

    It just comes back to portion size :)
  • fsugirl26
    fsugirl26 Posts: 207
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    I always get potstickers...they're steamed pork (or chicken) and veggie dumplings - soo yummy!! They're approximately 60-70 calories/piece. Be sure to drink a lot of water too!!
  • rosechui
    rosechui Posts: 5
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    I am a Chinese and I think that most of the food in Chinese resturant is not suitable for a person who are in weight lost program.
    Chinese food like sour or sweet things have lots of oil and sugar. Besides, all the dumplings in Chinese resturant cannot use lean meat... They will add large amount of fat meat to it. (Even in homemade, we need to used 1/3 fat meat and 2/3 lean meat. Most resturant used 1/2 fat and 1/2 lean or even more!)
    Those fried noodle and fried rice...... Haha... you don't want to know how much oil they used.

    I cook Chinese food for myself and my family. (Of course, I am a Chinese!) and we seldom go to Chinese resturant. We will only visit Japanses or western style resturant for the sake of health!
  • Megs654321
    Megs654321 Posts: 11
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    :smile:
    I always get potstickers...they're steamed pork (or chicken) and veggie dumplings - soo yummy!! They're approximately 60-70 calories/piece. Be sure to drink a lot of water too!!

    Me too! I love potstickers..even with all the funny looks I get when thats all I order. :smile:
  • fsugirl26
    fsugirl26 Posts: 207
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    :smile:
    I always get potstickers...they're steamed pork (or chicken) and veggie dumplings - soo yummy!! They're approximately 60-70 calories/piece. Be sure to drink a lot of water too!!

    Me too! I love potstickers..even with all the funny looks I get when thats all I order. :smile:

    They are the best aren't they?? Who needs fried rice? I got my potstickers!! haha
  • cng1117
    cng1117 Posts: 225 Member
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    stay away from honey chicken. 840 calories in 1/2 a cup. :noway: i learned the hard way yesterday....:grumble:
  • nlhawthorne
    nlhawthorne Posts: 34
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    i got told by my nutritionist if i was going to have chinese then to have a chicken chow mein with no sauce as chicken is only pan fried and the noodles are better carbs than rice x

    Yeah my old Weight Watchers leader used to say the same thing. You can cut the calories down even more if you go for a mushroom / vegetable chow mein. Chicken and sweetcorn soup is pretty low in calories too by all accounts. But as someone above said, it's the sodium that's the killer really, no matter what you choose.

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