How To Dine Healthy At A Chinese Restaurant

If you’re someone who often finds yourself craving Chinese food, don’t let yourself come to believe that you have to completely abandon this favourite dish in order to stick with your diet program.
Eating healthy at a Chinese restaurant is definitely possible if you know what you should be choosing and make some smart menu selections.
With almost any restaurant you eat at, with careful planning and a few modifications to the menu, it is perfectly possible to find something that will work with your chosen diet plan.
Let’s take a quick peak at what you need to know in order to make healthy eating choices when going in for Chinese food.
Choose Steamed Vegetables
The first thing to note when dining Chinese is that you should aim to choose steamed vegetables as often as possible. Most Chinese restaurants will offer this, even if you don’t see it on the menu.
Do not be afraid to ask for it. When you do, also request that no sauce gets added as very often it’s the sauces that are adding all the fat and calories in the first place.
If you can fill your plate at least half full with vegetables, you’ll already be well on your way to creating a reduced calorie meal for yourself.
Opt For Chicken Over Beef
Second, the next thing that you should do is opt for chicken over beef. While lean beef when prepared at home can be part of a fat loss diet plan, when you’re dining out, chances are high that they aren’t exactly preparing the leanest cuts.
As such, you’ll be taking in too many calories along with saturated fat by going this route.
Chicken will be lighter and offer a high dose of protein to satisfy your hunger at the meal.
Go For Brown Rice
When it comes to your carbohydrate choice, you’ll want to avoid chow Mein noodles, or any other form of noodle as this is a fast way to dramatically boost the carb count of the meal and some will also offer a high dose of saturated fat as well.
Instead, go for brown rice. Brown rice is far better than white sticky rice, which ranks in high on the glycemic index.
Brown rice will digest more slowly quickly satisfying your hunger and keeping your energy levels on an even keel.
Ease Up On The Sauces
Finally, the last quick tip to remember as you dine in at a Chinese restaurant is to be very careful about the sauces that you’re choosing.
The sauce is where the highest amount of calories tend to lurk so if you’re not watching out for these being added to your meal, there is a good chance that you’re in for more than you bargained for.
Request a light hand with the sauce when ordering or even better yet, get it on the side.
If you can go for a soy sauce or lemon sauce rather than teriyaki or sweet and sour, this can also help to slash the calories that this sauce contains.
So there you have a few quick tips to keep in mind as you dine out at a Chinese restaurant. If you feel the need to satisfy your craving, choose smart and you won’t suffer any dietary repercussions because of it.