Chinese food

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/eatingout/a/chineserest.htm

From the spicy food of Szechuan and Hunan to the more subtle flavors of Canton, Chinese food tends to present somewhat of a challenge for low-carb diners. Besides the rice and noodles, the majority of the dishes seem to have at least some sugar and starch. Although it is perfectly possible to eat a delicious controlled-carb meal in a Chinese restaurant, the diner must be careful.
Before You Go
Before heading out to the restaurant, it is important to make some decisions about how strict you’re going to be in regards to carbohydrates. If you are on a moderate-carb plan, then you probably don’t need to worry too much about a little cornstarch in a dish. On the other hand, if you are in a restrictive diet phase, such as Atkins Induction, you will want to be more “pure” in your low-carb eating. On the other hand, if low-carb eating has become a permanent way of eating for you, occasional, structured, planned deviations are probably going to be part of your life. You just have to decide when those times and places are going to be. Some people make Chinese restaurants such a planned deviation.
Variations in Chinese Food
Chinese food not only varies based on where in China the food originated, but according to where the restaurant is located. Featured dishes, levels of sweetness, and condiments on the table are different, for example, in various parts of the United States. This makes it hard to find strict rules about menu choices. Kung Pao Chicken may be relatively low-carb in one place, and loaded with sugar in another. However, some guidelines will help you in making selections. Here are the basics of eating out low-carb in Chinese restaurants:
Foods to Avoid
Rice, including fried rice and steamed rice
Noodles, including chow mein, lo mein, and chow fun
Wontons, including the deep-fried type sometimes on tables
Breaded meats, such as in General Tso’s Chicken
Egg rolls
Sweet Sauces
It’s often hard to tell by looking at the menu which sauces have sugar in them, but these sauces generally will have quite a bit. Obviously the amount you eat will govern the carb level:
Sweet and sour sauce
Duck sauce (the orangish sauce for egg rolls in some places)
Plum sauce (often served with mu shu)
Oyster sauce
Hoisin sauce
Proceed With Caution
Thick soups and sauces are thickened with cornstarch. One tablespoon of cornstarch has about 7 grams of carb. In a platter of food with a thickened sauce, there will be about 1 to 2 tablespoons of corn starch. A cup of hot and sour soup might have about a teaspoon of corn starch (2 grams of carb).
Cornstarch is also often used to “velvet” meats prior to stir frying. Meats prepared in this way don’t necessarily looked breaded, as it is a very thin coat of starch.
Some Chinese dishes are quite sweet. If it’s a dish you’ve had before, your taste buds will be your guide. If not, ask. Spicy sauces are apt to have sugar in them, so ask about this. Lemon chicken almost always has a lot of sugar.
Water chestnuts are somewhat starchy, but a few slices aren’t a big deal. 4 whole water chestnuts have about 3 grams of effective carb. ½ cup of slices has about 7 grams.
The Safest Choices
Clear thin soups like egg drop, which is usually thin
Steamed food, including whole steamed fish or steamed tofu with vegetables.
Meat and vegetable combinations with thin, savory sauces (a small amount of sugar may be added, perhaps a teaspoon (4 grams of carb) for the whole dish. Examples would be (in many places) chicken with mushrooms, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Szechuan prawns, and curry chicken. Again, use your eyes and taste buds to figure whether the sauce is sweet and/or thick.
Stir-fried dishes without sugar or starch (normally there may be a small amount, perhaps amounting to a gram or two of carb per serving)
Black bean sauce does not tend to be carby as some of the others (there is a very small amount of beans in the sauce)
Mu Shu without the wrappers
Walnut chicken is usually not made with starch or sugar
Egg Foo Yung (without gravy)
Mongolian Barbeque, while not Chinese, is near to it. It is a good choice, as you can choose your own meats and vegetables and prepare them to order
Practice saying the following sentence: “Is it possible to have this dish without sugar or starch?” Many (but not all) restaurants will do this for you. An alternative is to ask for the sauce on the side.

http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calorie-counter/calories_in_chinese_food/


this should help. just know that
fried rice and lemon chicken are killers! :grumble:

Honestly none of it. Your best bet is to make a stirfry at ohome and take away that temptaion of the "all-you-can-eat). The food is most often fried in alot of fat, uses white rice, and furthermore contains a ton of sodium. an average meal conatins sometimes upwards of two days worth of sodium according to recent reports. I like to make edamame stirfry over brown rice. I heat up edamame(soybeans) with no oil I just let the water do the work I toss in any veggies I feel like ating I use a little low-sodium soy sauce, a little splenda to sweeten the deal, some ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes(whatever spices you like works and heat till hot pour it over brown rice and YUM!!!!!!

There is a local chinese restaurant that brings your meals to your table, so no buffet. It's SO much better, hot, fresh and very good. If I didn't have my usual hunan chicken, steamed rice, and eggdrop soup once a week I think I might blow away and die. It's actually not too bad for you, about 600 calories total, and the chicken isn't as bad as general tso's (my old favorite) as it isn't deep fried. I usually have my Hunan on my workout days, and so far it hasn't even began to touch my weight loss. Guess it's all about moderation. :bigsmile:

If you have something in mind that you want to know the calories for, I like to use calorieking.com. You can choose another chinese place for a close approximation. (I don't think anyone else mentioned this site.) If it were me......I would do a little longer workout and enjoy my dinner......GL!

I just ate at a chinesse buffet. my hubsnad laughs at me cause i eat basically what i want but dont eat the rice anymore and i try and choose the things that at least have some kind of vegtable in it too. I take the breading off the chicken on the sweet and sour, and if i do venture on chicken wings there i also take the skin off before i eat it LOL, at least im enjoying what i want and taking a lil fat off it. And i didnt gain any weight and still lost my two pounds for the week.