Dangerous WOKway

...get it? Like...walk...but Wok. *giggle*. This post is intended for certain audiences who keep getting Chinese food (several times a week!) and think it's healthy just because it says no MSG. You people know who you are

The Good: Chinese food usually has lots of veggies, and is has lots of unsaturated fats and fish.

The Bad: Calories, salt, sat-fats, oil, deep fried batter, often MSG...


Even if you aren't eating Chinese food several times a week, you should be careful when choosing your meal--some of these dishes pack over 1500 calories (the same amount of calories many of us eat in one day!) and a lot of these calories are from fat. An eggroll generally has at least 50% of calories from fat...and just ONE egg roll or spring roll can have between 200 and 400 mg of sodium (the recommendation is to have below 2300/day...if you're on a 2,000 calorie diet, really you shouldn't be getting too much more than 1,500mg). Most of the meals have at least 1,000.

The popular beef and broccoli dish has over 3,000mg of sodium! While this dish does have lots of veggies, the nearly 1/2 pound of beef is enough protein for an entire day...maybe more. While some people are munching protein bars and drinking protein shakes to lose weight, most of us already get enough protein (thanks to 1/2 pound burgers and such...) and the additional protein (read: extra calories) turns into...guess! Your thighs (and blood pressure, and cholesterol level.) Much of that sodium is from the compound monosodium glutamate or MSG. There is a high concentration of MSG in seaweed extract, a flavor enhancer and popular additive (with crazy amounts of sodium). This stuff isn't just in Asian cuisine though...salad dressings and different types of chips have this stuff in them now.

Now that you know all that, if you do like Asian cuisine, there are still ways to make healthier choices off the menu...

Guidelines to dine by:
1. Choose entrees with more veggies than meat/noodles
2. If you're full, stop eating. I know this sounds dumb but we've all gone out to eat and felt like we had to be wheeled out of the restaurant on a dolly. You can usually split your food right when you get it--put half of it in a box to take home.
3. Deep Fried, read: bad. Go with the LIGHTLY stir-fried or steamed
4. Easy on the sauce, tiger. Most of the sauces have a few hundred mg of salt (soy sauce as about 1,000mg in a Tbs!) Use a fork to eat instead of a spoon to keep some of the sauce in your plate instead of your tummy.