The Best & The Worst #1: Chinese Food

When we order out or eat out, we have multiple items and dishes to choose from. Some are better than others and some are worse than others. Today's menu of topic: the average Chinese Menu.

INTRODUCTION: Chinese food is great. It is one of my favorite types of food to eat. And of course, I eat two of the worst things that Cooking Light magazine mentions. Two of the worst things you can order off of a Chinese menu include Pork Lo Mein and Sweet & Sour Chicken when compared to four other dishes, according to an article in the November 2009 issue of Cooking Light magazine. Two of the things I usually order are Pork Lo Mein and either Orange Chicken or General Tso's Chicken (which I imagine probably aren't terribly far from Sweet & Sour Chicken nutrition facts).


BEST-

Ma Po Tofu: 650 Calories
*Probably in the vegetarian section
*If it comes with ground pork and is not in the vegetarian
section, order it without the pork to make it healthier
*The ground pork adds calories and saturated fat

Shrimp w/Garlic Sauce: 700 Calories
*Shellfish and vegetables are a good choice to go with
*Served in a low-fat sauce
*Ask them to minimize the amount of cooking oil they use
to make it extra healthy

MODERATE-

Ginger Chicken w/Broccoli: 849 Calories
*Filled with vegetables
*Usually made with white meat chicken
*If you're overly concerned about the calories, try
reducing the serving size

Mu Shu Pork: 858 Calories
*"Stick to two filled pancakes of this
vegetable-packed dish and cut calories by half." --Cooking Light (quoted directly)
*Not sure what this means exactly....

WORST-

Sweet & Sour Chicken: 1,032 Calories
*Contains batter-coated and deep-fried chicken
*Cooked in a sauce that's contains a lot of sugar
*Tastes great but side effects include seeing higher
numbers on the weight scale, among other things

Pork Lo Mein: 1,419 Calories
*Contains oily noodles and fatty meat
*Seasoned with sodium greater than 100% of
your daily value!
*Once again... delicious. But it comes at a price!


REMEMBER: Chinese food is delicious, don't get me wrong. But remember, there are good choices and not-so-good choices you can make when eating out.

THANK YOU: I would like to thank Cooking Light magazine, their researchers, writers, and publishers for such a great source of knowledge, the subscription of which is going to be on a certain blogger's Christmas list, I can assure you!!