Chinese Food
 

I saw the post on post on the WW forum about Chinese food on WW and am wondering if this is at all possible on South Beach . . . I am on the the second week of Phase 2, is there any kind of Chinese food I could order without compelety throwing my diet out the window? Or does anyone have any good recipes for homemade chinese food that would curve my cravings for this?

Hey, Hcky! :D

Okay, if you're being really strict about SBD, I have to be honest, it's REALLY hard to eat at Chinese restaurants. Despite my recent dream that our local Chinese place had brown rice at the other end of the counter :cloud9: I haven't found any places IRL that have brown rice, which already kind of messes up any Chinese meal you eat out, if it's spicy or saucy. Add in the pretty common use of MSG and the way more common use of sugar in EVERYTHING, and it's pretty darn hard to find Chinese food that's OP. One thing I've found that's possible is to go to a buffet or restaurant that has a 'Mongolian wok' (at least, that's the term here in upstate NY...not sure what they're calling them elsewhere?) where you can pick your own ingredients and they saute them for you in front of you. At our local place, I can get a bunch of lean protein, tons of fresh veggies, and have them just add soy sauce and some spices so it's sugar-free and yummy. :T

Of course, you can totally make most Chinese food at home...it's pretty easy, actually! One thing I learned early on, for things I love like 'Orange chicken', etc., is to use arrowroot instead of cornstarch. It works well and doesn't have the same glycemic impact. I find that Bob's Red Mill makes a huge bag of arrowroot for a really low price--they have it in the natural foods section of Wegman's, our local supermarket. If you buy it in the spice aisle, it can get pretty pricey! :yikes:

Now, if you are far enough along into P2 that you can safely start experimenting with whether small amounts of sugar will bother you, then you can certainly try to find a local Chinese place where someone can tell you what does and doesn't have a lot of sugar. Sometimes you know just from prior experience (things that are fried and sweet like Sesame Chicken, Orange Chicken, and General Tso's Chicken are probably not a great idea...others like Beef and Broccoli might be...) what might be worth staying away from and what might work. The more veggies, the better, and spicy is better than sweet. I find that the green beans at any oriental buffet have never given me problems (and are really good!), and I can usually find some meat/veggie items that are low in sugar and don't cause cravings. The best thing, for me, is to make up a batch of brown rice at home and have the food there. That way, I don't feel like I'm wasting if I have a bite and realize it's too sweet. I can just toss it in tupperware in the fridge and DH can take care of it for me. ;) (Husbands make the best 'garbage disposals' :devil: )

Hope that helps. If you'd like some recipes, give me an idea of what you're looking for and I'll see what I can find. I have a ton of them that I've made at home. :chef:

As I'm always telling DH, what it boils down to is that if you're willing to put forth the effort, there is nothing on this diet that you can't find a way to make, unless it involves caramelizing sugar. ;)

PF Changs and PeiWei have brown rice. (I'm a W/W but just butting in here for a minute).

But you can order steamed off most Chinese menus and it should be pretty much SBD friendly cuz it is W/W Core Friendly (depends on some of the veggies though).

Also if you can find a 'Mongolian BBQ" type place where you pick your veggies, meats, etc. and have them stirfry it it should be pretty SBD Friendly (Dh does this and he does SBD).

Yes you can
 

You are better off if you go to a sit-down restaurant than a fast-food buffet style (like Mr. Chau's)

I've had some luck with the following:

Oriental Chicken salad
Chicken with Snow Peas
Cashew Chicken over steamed veggies (hold the rice)
Beef with Broccoli (hold the carrots)
String Bean Chicken
Chicken in Lettuce Cups
Tofu with steamed veggies.

Ask them to hold the MSG and stick to steamed entrees when you can. It works as long as you make sure to ask for special preparation.

Good luck.

I am not in Phase 2 yet, but because I am Insulin Resistant, I found that you can go to a Chinese restarant and ask them to make what every it is you want (I usually have the broccoli beef) with out sugars and Cornstarch. You know.. I really dont notice that much of a difference....