They're just now figuring this out? LOL
 

Chinese Restaurant Food Unhealthy

WASHINGTON (AP) - The typical Chinese restaurant menu is a sea of nutritional no-nos, a consumer group has found. A plate of General Tso's chicken, for example, is loaded with about 40 percent more sodium and more than half the calories an average adult needs for an entire day.

The battered, fried chicken dish with vegetables has 1,300 calories, 3,200 milligrams of sodium and 11 grams of saturated fat.

That's before the rice (200 calories a cup). And after the egg rolls (200 calories and 400 milligrams of sodium).

"I don't want to put all the blame on Chinese food," said Bonnie Liebman, nutrition director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which did a report released Tuesday.

"Across the board, American restaurants need to cut back on calories and salt, and in the meantime, people should think of each meal as not one, but two, and bring home half for tomorrow," Liebman said.

The average adult needs around 2,000 calories a day and 2,300 milligrams of salt, which is about one teaspoon of salt, according to government guidelines.

In some ways, Liebman said, Italian and Mexican restaurants are worse for your health, because their food is higher in saturated fat, which can increase the risk of heart disease.

While Chinese restaurant food is bad for your waistline and blood pressure - sodium contributes to hypertension - it does offer vegetable-rich dishes and the kind of fat that's not bad for the heart.

However - and this is a big however - the veggies aren't off the hook. A plate of stir-fried greens has 900 calories and 2,200 milligrams of sodium. And eggplant in garlic sauce has 1,000 calories and 2,000 milligrams of sodium.

"We were shocked. We assumed the vegetables were all low in calories," Liebman said.

Also surprising were some appetizers: An order of six steamed pork dumplings has 500 calories, and there's not much difference, about 10 calories per dumpling, if they're pan-fried.

The group found that not much has changed since it examined Chinese food 15 years ago. That's not all bad, Liebman said.

"We were glad not to find anything different," she said. "Some restaurant food has gotten a lot worse. Companies seem to pile on. Instead of just cheesecake, you get coconut chocolate chip cheesecake with a layer of chocolate cake, and lasagna with meatballs."

The group says there is no safe harbor from sodium on the Chinese restaurant menu, but it offers several tips for making a meal healthier:

_Look for dishes that feature vegetables instead of meat or noodles. Ask for extra broccoli, snow peas or other veggies.

_Steer clear of deep-fried meat, seafood or tofu. Order it stir-fried or braised.

_Hold the sauce, and eat with a fork or chopsticks to leave more sauce behind.

_Avoid salt, which means steering clear of the duck sauce, hot mustard, hoisin sauce and soy sauce.

_Share your meal or take half home for later.

_Ask for brown rice instead of white rice.

By the way, I don't know of one Chinese restaurant that serves brown rice. Do any of yours?

Actually ALL of the chinese restaurants (both take-out and upscale) in my area serve brown rice instead of white if you ask for it...but I think it's a new addition from the last year or so....and they do charge extra for brown.

The Chinese restaurants that I go to always have brown rice as an option.

I just read that article about an hour ago, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes while reading it. Yeah, Chinese food can be high in sodium and calories, but a lot of the dishes have been "Americanized" with higher calories and the likes. You would think that if the Chinese were eating food like there are in America's Chinese restaurants, they'd be the world's fattest country.

Thanks, I'll ask next time I go in. I love brown rice!

That's exactly the problem. It's been Americanized.

Most Chinese food is horrible with the fat and calories. Although there are some decent options. The lesser of the evils, so to speak. You can also ask for everything to be steamed. I frequently get steamed chicken and shrimp with vegetables and rarely eat the rice. Not that I don't like rice, but it just adds so many extra calories and I'd rather fill up on the meat and veggies.

My husband and I were recently talking about this to the owners of a local chinese restaurant. They were a really small mom and pop restaurant, and we loved some of their signature dishes. They outgrew their location and moved downtown and we noticed that in the new location, some of our favorite dishes had changed dramatically, and we asked why. When they moved and began getting a larger and more wealthy clientelle, they also got a lot more complaints about their traditional dishes (poultry cut in small chinese cuts - too many bones, stir fries not containing enough meat, spicy dishes being too spicy...).

Now when I order my favorite beef and eggplant, I ask them to make it a little extra spicy with a lot more eggplant, and a lot less beef. I also do not put the stir fry over rice, but put about 1/4 - 1/3 cup rice on my plate and touch my forkful of stir fry to the rice so a few grains stick.

If you go to a more traditional chinese restaurant, then the food will be a bit healthier. I go to one that reminds me of my visit to China and I love it.

PF changs offers brown rice and they don't charge extra

This happens at indian restaurants A LOT. We've noticed that the ones in upscale areas are blander. dh always orders at our favorite indian restaurant "the way the cook thinks it SHOULD be made"

Going on a tangent, I am still not quite sure why CSPI (the organization behind these "studies") are getting the media attention they do ~ most of their "what a shock at how many calories this contains!" (and they've conducted quite a few of those for various cuisines) is pretty much a no-brainer who's watchful of what they're eating.

But I guess reminding Americans of how to eat more healthfully is not THAT bad...

I'm not so sure why people/study groups are shocked either. You take a perfectly good vegetable, perfectly good chicken breasts and slather it in oil and sauces and duh - you've got high calorie/high sodium foods. What's shocking is just how ignorant people are, IMO.

I have to say just 6 months ago I had no concept of how many calories things contained. When I started to educate myself I completely understood how I got to be as heavy as I was and how I was EASILY eating 3000+ calories a day. It was a complete and total shock when I realized some of my favorite meals were 1000+ calories alone...by themselves with no friends. I could easily have gone out for Chinese ordered a chicken and vegetable dish and thought this is probably pretty healthy. I haven't had Chinese since I started losing weight.

I think people who bother to check the caloric and nutritional content of foods it is pretty obvious Chinese is pretty bad in that regard. I think for the average person who is trying to eat healthy and is assuming that the chicken and vegetable dish the ordered must be ok it is an eye opener. Also I think people assume its chinese, chinese people tend to be thinner, therefore chinese food will be better. I know it sounds silly, but I know more than a few people who make this assumption.

I also think the media group is good because it makes people think well if I thought chinese food was good what about applebees and chilis and all the other place that I haven't checked. Thats what happened with me. Now before I go anywhere I want to know what I is going in my mouth. I also make better choices since I know they are usually high calories Half a meal goes home, no dessert, no sugary soda or "juice".

I guess I have a question. I wasn't raised doing this. I decided I wanted to lose weight and be educated about what I ate to make better choices. For me the blinders about what I was eating came off about 6 months ago. When did the blinders come off for you?

Ok, Off the soapbox.

As far as blinders coming off of me ummm well I guess when I was 10 or so. I've been checking calories ever since I was being dragged from one doctor to another as a youngster trying to figure out why I was gaining weight. I always had a general idea of how many calories things going into my mouth were, even where restaurants didn't post information, I knew more or less.

The chinese food that chinese restaurants serve us, in general, isn't what they eat anyway. When I went to China, I was there for 2 weeks, eating tons of food (I know I know), even ice cream almost every day and I came back 6 lbs lighter in 2 weeks. The reason is they walk quite a bit and also because their food is quite different than ours. Not a lot of oil and such. And even then, we were being treated as guests and were told we were eating more meat and less rice than they normally would. I only saw one fried thing when I went to China and that was a fried rib (interesting concept) but that was only during 1 meal.

So I agree people should know how much calories are in things. Understand that our restaurant portions are out of control because americans like to eat big so we are being served big which makes us bigger in the long run. Portion control is something I fight with quite a bit but I understand that learning it and doing it will only help me in the end.

I have noticed that the Chinese restaurants in my neighborhood are often owned and operated by first-generation Asians, and there is often a language barrier that prevents them from understanding that I want brown rice, or that I want extra veggies in my food.

There was a place that we frequented a few years back, where the family ate together in the restaurant dining room. What they were eating was served family-style (in a large pot) and didn't look at all like the items offered on the menu.

How about Vietnamese food? I'm partial to phở ... if there ever was a comfort food, that's it!

If you can deal with the amount of salt, Korean can be really good too. I love the variety of all the little pickle/kimchi (banchan) dishes they serve and an order of bulgogi (marinated beef served with lettuce to wrap it in), skipping or going light on the rice, is one of my current favorites.

With Chinese, I almost only do steamed dim sum and watch my portions very carefully.

As far as the blinders coming off. I think I always knew how bad restaurants were. I knew they figured the more oil, the more butter, the more sodium, the better the stuff is gonna taste. I just didn't really care, sad, but true. I never stopped to figure out just how many calories were in say a General Tso's chicken (one of my favs), didn't know it was quite THAT bad, but I knew it was bad. I just chose to ignore it. I always knew brown rice was better then white, well at least for a bunch of years now, but it didn't make me switch over. My healthy was not a priority for me, pleasing my tastebuds were. Mindboggling now that I just put that in print. But unfortunately that's how it was. No wonder I was 287 lbs. I guess looking back I should be glad I wasn't 387 lbs.

I dont think I ever thought General Tso's was healthy (DUH) but some of the other stuff, why not (I used to think)? After all I can make it at home and it tastes nearly identical and it is perfectly healthy. Why wouldnt my chicken with mixed vegetables in brown sauce be just as nutritious at a restaurant as at home? I never ordered the "bad stuff"

I was probably into my late 20's before I discovered that anything you get in a restaurant has an obscene amount of oil beyond what you would cook at home. Why? Because when I was young that information simply wasnt AVAILABLE anywhere. There was no internet. CSPI hadnt done their first report. And the first time they did they picked the WORST possible dish (General Tso's) and I remember thinking YEAH DUH, but how about something not deep fried.....

So yeah - while CSPI is a little bit of an alarmist organization, I think the vast majority of the people out there DONT have a clue and if a little media wakes them up hooray.

Really, when you first heard about it, did you really think movie popcorn was as bad as it is? Who knew before the report that they dumped THAT much oil in it and the bad kind? I figured it was like we made at home (before microwaves and air poppers) where you popped your corn in oil and a big homemade tub of corn (about the size of a large movie tub) used about 2 Tablespoons of corn oil plus the butter we added. Not low fat but not "HOLY CRAP" either.

Ennay,

I was just discussing with DH the other day movie popcorn. I remember going to the movies and seeing them have a butter pump where people could pump extra butter onto their popcorn. It is crazy. Whenever I did get movie popcorn, I always asked for no butter.

As for General Tso's chicken, I actually never saw that on a menu until I moved to the east coast. I'm still not sure exactly what it is, other than "chicken". My bad boy growing up was sweet and sour chicken/pork. Fried chicken/pork topped with a sweet sauce, lovely. Although I never cared much for the sweet sauce so I usually went fairly light on the sauce.

I still eat it. I just do so in extreme moderation. It's a rare treat for me. But Chinese food is one of my passions and, like everything else I love, I wasn't going to give it up. This is a lifestyle change for me, not a diet. I'm in this for life. And I certainly won't go the rest of my life without pizza and Chinese food! ;)

That doesn't sound silly at all. That's the way some people think. That's the way *I* used to think. Which is how I ended up weighing 220 pounds, LOL.

Although, like some of the others have said, I'm a little shocked at the media's reaction, I think awareness is a good thing and putting that information out there is important because there are still people out there that used to think the same way I did.


When my doctor told me my cholesterol and blood pressure were both high, for one thing. That and I had frequent chest pain. I was a walking time bomb. That and I just got tired of being fat. So I had to REALLY start doing research and finding out calorie contents and nutritional value of everything I was eating.

You'd be surprised at how many people do. Like Obsidian said, many people assume that just because it's from a Chinese restaurant that's run by all "skinny" people and because many Asians are known for always staying thin, it must be healthy. Heck, I used to think french fries were healthy! They were deep-fried, sure. But it was a vegetable, right?!?!?!

:rofl:

My weakness is Indian. I could eat it all day everyday. I was going maybe 2-3 times a week. Now it is maybe once or twice a month. Just started adding it back in. Someone mentioned what happens when ethnic restaurants change. I live in NY so usually get the really good stuff.

Indian was also my weakness and I've basically given it up. Now that is a place where if you go ethnic, it is still tons o calories (unless you go for non saucy dishes). Naan is crazy and I love bread!

For Chinese though, I eat chinese about once a week. The only thing I have to ensure is that I don't get the scallion pancakes because they are oh so good but they can't be good calorie wise :)

Yeah, after I started my weight loss journey, it took me about a year before I started adding those "sinful" favorites back in. Because up until then, I didn't trust myself to make healthy choices or exercise portion control, so I stayed completely away from fast food and Chinese food and food buffets. Now I can go to a buffet and walk away not feeling guilty.

I had to learn self-discipline first because it used to be anytime I would go to a buffet, I'd go straight for the deep-fried stuff and everything in heavy sauces. Now I can trust myself to stay away from that junk or, if I have some of it, I have a very tiny amount - just enough to satisfy that craving for it but not enough to make me kick myself in the seat for 2 days after.

Is life worth living without dahl and chana saag and gobi aloo?

I look at portion sizes and try to stay away from the rice and breads. Most of the complex carb-based dishes are calorie-intense but also very filling, so that even though you can't eat all that much for a reasonable amount of calories, you also don't need to to feel satisfied.

I always order saag paneer and tandoori chicken The saag is bad but yummy, the tandoori is good, together I am happy. I skip the rice and bread and fill up on sambar if they have it.

Saag Paneer is my weakness as well :)

Also, by basically giving it up, I mean I eat indian about twice a year now. It really depends on my mood and how well I've been eating. I always portion control myself but still :) I was eating it about once a week before I started slowing down on it.

I don't know what the formal name for this dish is, but I love lentils and rice.

Lentils is usually called daal.

Pho is one of my favorite foods. Mmmmmmm.....pho.

I looooove lentils!

Thank you :)

OK, what is Pho?

Pho is a vietnamese beef and rice noodle soup. I always order mine with "rare steak". Basically, they have a bowl of piping hot beef or chicken broth, with some onions and sometimes other stuff as well They add in the rice noodles and some thinly sliced beef, and bring it to your table, along with a plate of condiments (cilantro, thai basil, heaping mounds of bean sprouts, jalapeno slices, and some lime wedges). They also put hot chili sauce and plum sauce on the table. The beef cooks itself to a perfect med-rare in the hot broth while they bring it to the table.

Now the fun starts - you combine the stuff on the condiment plate to get your pho just how you like it. For me, this is a heaping handful of bean sprouts, a squeeze of lime juice, just a drop of chili sauce. Sarah likes hers with so much chili sauce that the broth turns red (which is how most Vietnamese people eat it) and some cilantro.

You have to be careful with portion sizes, but if you eat a reasonable amount of the noodles, its actually pretty lean. Sodium is through the roof, though. But MAN is it good. You also have to be careful that you don't order some strange pho variety that has tons of random meats in it...like tripe. Rare steak, though, is AMAZING.

That sounds so wonderful! Thanks for explaining it to me, I'd love to try that sometime.

What restaurant do you and Sarah go to? I don't believe I've ever even seen a Vietnamese restaurant in our area.

I adore Indian food, too - what I've been doing lately to get my "fix" is picking up an order of tikka masala from my favorite place, and then chopping it up at home and making a filling for whole wheat pitas. Mix the tikka, a little chutney, some cilantro and lemon, and you're good to go - AMAZING flavor, and light on the calories. It totally satisfies my craving, and is pretty cheap, too. Yum!

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup. It's broth-based, usually has some beef (although I've seen chicken, shellfish, tofu, you name it). It's really comforting and delicious - I especially love it topped with a lot bean sprouts and lime. It can actually be a pretty healthy and light dish, depending on where you get it.

Oops...mandalinn and I were posting at the same time!

She's totally right about avoiding the mystery meats unless you're into that sort of thing - I once had some pho that had cubes of jellied pork blood in it. The pho itself was delicious, but I couldn't bring myself to eat one of those jellies!

I have taught myself to make Indian and Korean food at home. There are no restaurants for either in the town I'm in.

I love to make split pea or red lentil dahl and I serve it with long grain brown rice and a bit of plain yogurt. It's so yummy and it really isn't too heavy on the calories as long as you go easy on the rice. I also love Naan, but that is an occasional treat because it is really high on the calories.

I make my own Kim Chi about every two months (I make a big batch.) My DH loves Kim Chi soup, so I make it almost every week. It's great because a bowl of Kim Chi soup is between 75 - 150 calories depending on what you put in it.

I'm with zenor - I've started making my own Indian and Chinese food at home. It's been a lot of trial and error with spices and amounts, but I get my fix and keep things healthy!
Cindy

I've experimented with my own Indian food and I've done pretty well but still it just doesn't taste the same.

As for Pho, I really like it but I rarely go because I'm messy :) When I lived in CO, my work friends and I would go all the time, nearly every week. And I've had a Pho "with everything" which is things like tendon and tripe and what not. I don't care for tendon but I do like tripe. DH likes tendon. It is nice hearty soup and its super cheap.

Pho is definitely yummy and comparably healthy (I, too, couldn't stand the non-steak meats that is served in pho so I usually order the "pho tai" (rare steak, which gets cooked in the piping hot broth) -- though if I feel indulgent I might add some wontons).

But, to bring it back somewhat on-topic -- in any type of cuisine there are dishes that are healthful and dishes that aren't -- and seeing how it's prepared and what ingredients went in it should give anyone a pretty good idea of how nutritious it is (or not).

Gross! :eek:

I *love* Vietnamese vermicelli (can't think of the word for it). It's definitely a weakness of mine. I don't eat it often, but I'm worried about there not being a Vietnamese restaurant in the town/city I move to in the fall. I guess if there isn't one I'll have to join some Vietnamese student association so that I can befriend a member and maybe get invited over for dinner once in a while... haha. Only mostly kidding...

As for the Chinese food, P.F. Chang's, which is just about the only Chinese I eat considering I never go out for it myself (always with my parents), has excellent brown rice that they don't charge extra for. I also like that their website has the nutritional facts for every single dish they have there. A lot of it isn't that bad calorie wise as far as restaurant food goes, but it is high in sodium. I wish more chain restaurants would make their nutritional information available. For me, anyway, it puts that restaurant on my "go to" list when I eat out, because at least I'll know however many calories I'm eating, instead of just guessing.

On a funnier note, I had a friend once that said her uncle (not the nutritionally brightest crayon in the box) observed that Chinese people were skinny, so he was going on a "Chinese diet" where he'd eat nothing but Chinese for a month. This of course was filled with General Tso's Chicken, Mongolian Beef, etc. etc. He ended up gaining 20 lbs... haha.