[shasha]

ok - im sure this has already been asked somewhere...but i cant find it!
I'm going out for chinese food tonight. I know i can get stuff steamed and have soy sauce...but is there anything else I can get that is ok for phase 1 or even phase 2 (im talking sauce). I'll probably have a drink or two...but I don't want to totally go nuts by making a really awful food choice.
thank you!!!!

[ellis]

No.
I'm not sure, Shasha... anyone else? Ruth should know. She's the freakin' queen of Chinese food.

[shasha]

excellanto! I will keep checking in. my plans just fell through...which i guess is a good thing. But hey- it wouldn't help to know in the future. I LOVE chinese food. actually I love sushi more, but it kind of freaks me out to think of eating piece after piece of raw fish w/out any rice.
on a different note -i just have to say everyone on this board is so nice and supportive.
it's really a great resource for information and support!
thanks all!

[ellis]

Oh, phew! Thank goodness your plans fell through, Shasha!
This is such a terrible thing to admit... we live in the middle of Chinatown, and there is a TON of really good Chinese restaurants, and even better, Vietnamese! I love Vietnamese food. But you know what? Every once in a while I've got to have that disgusting Chinese/Canadian/American food. With MSG. I love "red balls" (sweet and sour chicken balls), fried rice, anything battered with a sauce...

[shasha]

it's funny...i don't really eat fried food...BUT if it's chinese...all I want is the fried stuff ...sweet and sour chicken, sesame chicken...YUM!
i actually just moved recently near NYC's china town. and i havent even really explored it cause i know i'll eat it all the time!
actually thank goodness there is no sushi place near me or I'd be on a sushi diet and totally broke!
well...im going out tonight somewhere different that has amazing salads etc...so I can be good with the food and bad with a couple of drinks!

[Sweater Girl]

I had oriental cuisine last night... everything was fine for phase 1, but the soup and the sauce on my meal were full of sodium, so I am soooo bloated today...

I can't do buffets, I want everything battered and fried:P and make terrible choices.

[proudmother]

so what foods on the menu can we south beachers have. my favorite chinese place does not use MSG. (or so they claim). i have no problem avoiding the fried stuff.

[Barb0522]

I fix Chinese food at home quite a bit but try not to eat it out very often since often the sauces have sugar (Hoisin does) or too much cornstarch. When I make it at home, I can control what goes in the food. I would wait until you are in phase 2 since it is very important to do phase 1 without any accidental cheats.

Avoid the rice unless they use brown rice. Avoid the pasta since you don't know what is in it. I eat stir fried veggies and meat and try for ones with mainly soy sauce. And I know that if I eat out for Chinese then I will at least temporarily gain several pounds from all the sodium (even without MSG). I like to go to a place that has a buffet so I can eat mainly veggies. I love the stir fried green beans and the mushrooms. If you go to a place where they speak English well enough to understand special requests then you can ask that they stir fry the meat and veggies without any sauce or just with a broth.

[soon2Bfab]

Barb...I'm the same way. I eat my chinese at home. I use spaghetti squash for noodles and I use veggies (peppers, broc, etc.) and I cut up pieces of chicken. My sauce is chicken broth with some f/f plain yogurt...makes it like a "gravy" or creamy sauce. It's time consuming!!

[beachgal]

My family has a tradition of getting chinese food for New Year's Eve. This year, DH and I ordered beef and broccoli from a local place (had a little sugar, but not much, I think), made our own brown rice, and made two dishes, General Tso's Chicken and a chicken and cashew recipe at home. We were able to use arrowroot for much of the cornstarch (yes, this was expensive, but it was a once a year thing...) and we used canola oil to fry so it wasn't a bad fat. It turned out great! I'll post the recipes sometime so you guys have them, but I just found them online.

I also had "buddhist delight" a couple of times during Lent this year. It made me have a few cravings, but it wasn't terrible. Just eating OP for a day or two on P2 made the cravings go away. Unfortunately, the employees at our local Chinese places speak very little English and are not very patient, so it's hard to find out what's in the ingredients.

I've heard the best thing is to go to Mongolian stir fry where you can pick the veggies and meats and get sauces that are safe.