Hey everyone,

I know this is a crazy question, and I'm not really sure what I'm even asking .. but how bad is chinese take out? I'm not referring to chicken wings or fried rice, or general gau's -- b/c those are for sure the bad stuff. But I'm interested in more like those "specialty dishes" such as beef in black pepper sauce with veggies and brown rice, or like sauteed chicken and broccoli? Or, tofu/vegetable teriyaki with rice. Ok ok, I think I am digging myself into a hole .. how bad are they for you? What if I just nitch the rice and eat the protein and veggies with sauce (like 1.5 cups). Is the sauce really high in fat/calories?

What do you think?

It depends on the sauce. Check out the take out menu-lots of Chinese menus now have Diet, or Low Calorie selections, with a lighter sauce.

Oh...one safer bet is egg drop soup, if you like it. It is pretty much chicken broth, egg whites, and scallions.

I just read an article on cnn.com about how bad chinese takeout is. http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.....ap/index.html I don't know if that link will stay or not, but it is in the health section on cnn's website. I do eat at Pei Wei sometimes because I can at least go online and see exactly what I am getting (although since each dish has 2 servings I try to save half for later). I'll cut and paste in the tips they offered in that article to eat chinese a little 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.


Limit 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.

Caroline,

Thanks for the info. That Pei Wei place seems pretty good! Too bad there's none around where I live. Maybe I can take a drive to Rhode Island though in the summer.

Anyway, I'm just asking because I ordered a lot of take out this weekend (due to bad planning) .. and now I'm stuck with it .. I really don't want to waste food... but I dont' want to clog my arteries either ... or get fat! So I'm hoping if I can eat this wisely .. and not gain weight.

I suppose if you didn't want to waste any you could eat a little bit as like a side dish with a healthier meal. I figure anythings ok in moderation. At least I tell myself that when I feel the need to eat something completely horrible for me.

All those are stir-fries, which I'm guessing you already know.

The "sauce" is pretty much oil plus cornstarch. But the solids, the vegetables and proteins, are okay.

Watch your portion size.

There are about 1000 Panda Express places in the US. They are pretty popular in town ( three locations that I know of).I ate at one at a mall the other day.
They post menu and nutritional information on their website.
This might not be the same portions as your local "Shanghi Joe's", but you can atleast get an idea of what dishes are higher or lower depending on what you want to eat.
The noodles, eggrolls and fried rice are just big plates of carbs,waiting to be worn around one's hips.
I did find one place that did "Lettuce Wraps" which featured a finely minced chicken and water chestnut mixture that you wrapped in bib lettuce. The only problem is that Chang's is really far away and a bit out of my pocket book for a date with my toddler and teenage son. Plus the food is really good and I might not be able to just eat lettuce wraps.

Chinese restaurants are notorious for using a LOT of oil - even if you don't think it's there, it's there.

I don't like to waste food, either - but I'd rather throw it in the trash than treat MYSELF like a trash can, you know? If you're unsure about whether or not you can control your portions, I would play it safe and dump it - you'll know better for next time to either order differently, or not so much.

The last time I had Chinese Take-out I got sick and threw up, provided I ate pork fried rice and chicken fingers. But in my defense I ate a quarter of what I considered a serving was in the past. I think once you have been eating healthy for awhile your body just can't handle it, it's all just too greasy!

Yeah, I agree with others. Watch out for the sauce. You might want to ask the restaurant to go easy on the sauce.
I love Chinese but sometimes it can be very salty and greasy.

Mmmm, I just had Chinese on Friday! I had it delivered though, so I opened my container of tofu and vegetables and dumped the whole thing right in the collander. It got a lot of the excess sauce off and was still muy delicioso!

know what? that is a REALLY good idea! ah, draining out all the excess sauce.

Anyway, if you want to know what I did with all the chinese food .. i had a little bit of tofu and veggies along with my dinner (for two nights).. but then, i felt so fat afterwards! i said, if the scale went up, i would junk the food. the scale DID go up, soooo.. i chucked the rest!!! Three full containers, out the door! eh, whatever, it was only like $30 ...