chinese food ????? healthy options.....
Shrimp in lobster sauce. The lobster sauce is very similar to egg drop soup. They throw in some peas and carrots. Yes, there is some cornstrach but for the portion you are geting (and it will take several meals to finish) the cornstrach is negligible.
I also recently got some egg drop soup and cubed some of my own tofu into it. A shot of hot sauce and delish. I'm not ready to eat anything more creative.
Vietnamese food and Thai often have lighter options.
I also recently got some egg drop soup and cubed some of my own tofu into it. A shot of hot sauce and delish. I'm not ready to eat anything more creative.
Vietnamese food and Thai often have lighter options.
Umm.... there's not much in Americanized chinese food that is worth the calories, sugar or processing. Honestly, it's mostly pretty horrible for you even without VSG. Having said that, most American's gag on 'real' Chinese food which is not as processed, full of sugar, etc. Just as an aside, my company advises us to take protein bars with us when we travel to China as our plants there are not in major metro areas where 'americanized' food is readily available.
There are a lot better choices in Vietnamese and Thai, generally. 'Authentic' vietnamese and thai tend to be pretty palatable for Americans, as well.
There are a lot better choices in Vietnamese and Thai, generally. 'Authentic' vietnamese and thai tend to be pretty palatable for Americans, as well.
Carolyn (32 lbs lost Pre-op) HW: 291, SW: 259, GW: 129.5, CW: 126.4
Age: 45, Height: 5'2 1/4" , Stretch Goal: 122 
(deactivated member)
on 1/31/12 2:09 am
on 1/31/12 2:09 am
This is one I've go to work out too.
We have three preferred Chinese restaurants, one that is cheap and Americanized, one that is more authentic Chinese (almost all Asian clientel and lots of exotic stuff on the menu), and then Pei Wei, the PF Chang spin off. Hoping that I can tolerate lettuce at some point since I really like the lettuce wraps and the chopped chicken salad at Pei Wei.
Anybody want to chime in on edamame? It seems like an okay choice...
And suggestions for healthier Vietnamese would be good too. My husband love to go all the time to get pho, but no noodles for me. I used to get the grilled pork chop sometimes, though that didn't seem that healthy either.
We have three preferred Chinese restaurants, one that is cheap and Americanized, one that is more authentic Chinese (almost all Asian clientel and lots of exotic stuff on the menu), and then Pei Wei, the PF Chang spin off. Hoping that I can tolerate lettuce at some point since I really like the lettuce wraps and the chopped chicken salad at Pei Wei.
Anybody want to chime in on edamame? It seems like an okay choice...
And suggestions for healthier Vietnamese would be good too. My husband love to go all the time to get pho, but no noodles for me. I used to get the grilled pork chop sometimes, though that didn't seem that healthy either.
Chinese food is my absolute favorite, and I have had it a couple times despite the fact that I am in the "losing" phase. I've stuck to proteins - Kung Pao Beef, Curry Shrimp - and just ate the meat pieces, only a few of each type. It doesn't seem to have affected my weight loss at all. The great thing is that I can order one or two entrees for take out and it lasts me seven to ten days! I realize it's not the healthiest thing for me, but I think an occasional indulgence is ok.
Ready for my world to change!
HW394/SW373/GW Under 200
"Real" Chinese is almost as bad as the processed stuff back home, going against the typical stereotype of "real" Chinese food. It's all freshly made, of course, but still amazingly unhealthy.
Let me explain.
Pretty much everything here is cooked in oil. Not healthy oil and when I say cooked I mean it's soaking in it. They eat this greasy stuff with rice which the oil coats and makes it taste good. I love it so obviously it's amazingly unhealthy, amirite? One of their favorite things is what they call barbecue... it's not, really, but that's besides the point. It's where they grill nothing but meat and that is their meal, usually eaten at night with copious amounts of alcohol. If they want to be healthy they'll order vegetables... which are deep fried. I don't mean battered, they just ram veggies on sticks and let them sit in hot oil for awhile then eat them. They leave them just long enough so that all of the water in the veggies has been completely replaced with dirty oil. Yum.
Anyways, here's an interesting fact: fat and lean meat both have the same word in Chinese, "rou". They really don't make any distinction in common habit (although technically there is "fei rou" which is fatty meat and "shou rou" which is lean meat... but nobody ever calls them that). A typical serving of "meat" is a fairly considerable portion made up of slivers of "meat". These slivers contain very tiny (fingernail sized) piece of meat connected to a large triangular piece of fat (silver dollar sized) which also has a layer of skin on top. I don't eat pure fat so when my Chinese friends and soon to be realitives see that they say, "Hey, what are you doing?! That's nutrition!" Sometimes there's no meat at all, just fat and skin and they LOVE it. In my years here, I've never gotten used to eating just fat.
Next, there's the rice. Nothing particularly bad about rice when eaten in moderation. The women here are masters at that and they usually eat only a tiny bowl of rice. The men, however, are herculean athletes when it comes to eating rice. They will pick up a block of rice with their chopsticks large enough to feed a family of 8 and place the whole thing on their cafeteria tray, cover it in meat and oil, then head down to their daily feast. I don't know how they eat the whole thing, to be honest. Of course, some areas don't eat much rice at all instead preferring soups (south) or breads and noodles (north). The thing is... it's all plain, tasteless white rice and that's exactly the way they like it. Empty carbs, essentially sugar, and they love it smothered in oil.
Now we come to the worst part. Have you ever seen a Chinese person cook? Did you happen to notice the truckload of salt they used? It's mind boggling. Were I to get something to eat, perhaps a local specialty "re gan mian" as a typical example, it's simply noodles. As with much of the Chinese diet, sauce and seasonings make the meal. In this case, it's topped with a large heap of MSG; under that crystalline heap is an underground mine of salt (why do you need both?!?!). They'll also add some kumin powder... which also has either salt or msg in it. That's TOO dry, though, so they'll add some beef "broth" which seems to be half soy sauce and the other half oil. To add some spice, they add "lao gan ma" which is red pepper with seeds soaking in oil. To add some flavorings they'll add a considerable amount of pickled vegetables which they call "suan cai" which comes in many varieties and almost all amazingly salty.
The way of cooking here is to fry it. It should be their national cooking method, as far as I'm concerned. They do steam some things... jiaozi and baozi... but what do you think they're filled with? With the exception of a few un-sugar laden bean paste ones, they're filled with meat and fat (with some veggies thrown in). In the south at least, they do love boiling things and that's a step up I guess. Hotpot is most popular in the south where my fiance is from although what usually gets cooked in there is tons of meat and fat, some guts (stomach, intestines, etc), and then noodles and veggies at the end.
I don't know a single Chinese person that owns an oven or even a toaster oven. Not. One.
Until recently, stroke was the leading cause of death in China. I suspect it's easy to see why. Recently, heart disease has overtaken stroke and then cancer overtook heart disease. Hardly surprising given the amount of alcohol and cigarettes that accompany almost every meal. This is not a diet I would suggest to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. I long for chicken breasts, baked fish, steamed or raw veggies, and lean meats. I really really miss baking :(
Sorry to make this so long. I suppose I had alot of resentment built up about diet and food while living in China and this was the perfect opportunity to vent and educate! Haha
Let me explain.
Pretty much everything here is cooked in oil. Not healthy oil and when I say cooked I mean it's soaking in it. They eat this greasy stuff with rice which the oil coats and makes it taste good. I love it so obviously it's amazingly unhealthy, amirite? One of their favorite things is what they call barbecue... it's not, really, but that's besides the point. It's where they grill nothing but meat and that is their meal, usually eaten at night with copious amounts of alcohol. If they want to be healthy they'll order vegetables... which are deep fried. I don't mean battered, they just ram veggies on sticks and let them sit in hot oil for awhile then eat them. They leave them just long enough so that all of the water in the veggies has been completely replaced with dirty oil. Yum.
Anyways, here's an interesting fact: fat and lean meat both have the same word in Chinese, "rou". They really don't make any distinction in common habit (although technically there is "fei rou" which is fatty meat and "shou rou" which is lean meat... but nobody ever calls them that). A typical serving of "meat" is a fairly considerable portion made up of slivers of "meat". These slivers contain very tiny (fingernail sized) piece of meat connected to a large triangular piece of fat (silver dollar sized) which also has a layer of skin on top. I don't eat pure fat so when my Chinese friends and soon to be realitives see that they say, "Hey, what are you doing?! That's nutrition!" Sometimes there's no meat at all, just fat and skin and they LOVE it. In my years here, I've never gotten used to eating just fat.
Next, there's the rice. Nothing particularly bad about rice when eaten in moderation. The women here are masters at that and they usually eat only a tiny bowl of rice. The men, however, are herculean athletes when it comes to eating rice. They will pick up a block of rice with their chopsticks large enough to feed a family of 8 and place the whole thing on their cafeteria tray, cover it in meat and oil, then head down to their daily feast. I don't know how they eat the whole thing, to be honest. Of course, some areas don't eat much rice at all instead preferring soups (south) or breads and noodles (north). The thing is... it's all plain, tasteless white rice and that's exactly the way they like it. Empty carbs, essentially sugar, and they love it smothered in oil.
Now we come to the worst part. Have you ever seen a Chinese person cook? Did you happen to notice the truckload of salt they used? It's mind boggling. Were I to get something to eat, perhaps a local specialty "re gan mian" as a typical example, it's simply noodles. As with much of the Chinese diet, sauce and seasonings make the meal. In this case, it's topped with a large heap of MSG; under that crystalline heap is an underground mine of salt (why do you need both?!?!). They'll also add some kumin powder... which also has either salt or msg in it. That's TOO dry, though, so they'll add some beef "broth" which seems to be half soy sauce and the other half oil. To add some spice, they add "lao gan ma" which is red pepper with seeds soaking in oil. To add some flavorings they'll add a considerable amount of pickled vegetables which they call "suan cai" which comes in many varieties and almost all amazingly salty.
The way of cooking here is to fry it. It should be their national cooking method, as far as I'm concerned. They do steam some things... jiaozi and baozi... but what do you think they're filled with? With the exception of a few un-sugar laden bean paste ones, they're filled with meat and fat (with some veggies thrown in). In the south at least, they do love boiling things and that's a step up I guess. Hotpot is most popular in the south where my fiance is from although what usually gets cooked in there is tons of meat and fat, some guts (stomach, intestines, etc), and then noodles and veggies at the end.
I don't know a single Chinese person that owns an oven or even a toaster oven. Not. One.
Until recently, stroke was the leading cause of death in China. I suspect it's easy to see why. Recently, heart disease has overtaken stroke and then cancer overtook heart disease. Hardly surprising given the amount of alcohol and cigarettes that accompany almost every meal. This is not a diet I would suggest to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. I long for chicken breasts, baked fish, steamed or raw veggies, and lean meats. I really really miss baking :(
Sorry to make this so long. I suppose I had alot of resentment built up about diet and food while living in China and this was the perfect opportunity to vent and educate! Haha
D'oh, forgot to mention why I'm here in the first place! I'm looking to have a surgery in Knoxville in either May or June and was looking up information. My sister had a VSG and her success and finally convinced me I should do the same. However, there's a small problem and that is diet.
The things people in the US take for granted or starkly absent here. Protein powder? I might be able to find some at an import store, if I'm lucky and of which there are 2 or 3 in a city of 8 million. Vitamins? Sure, I can find those but the Chinese variety isn't very complete and is usually made of roots and things. Even if I can find multivitamin tablets, there's no way to know whether they're genuine and fake pharmacuticals (even from very large modern hospitals) is a real plague here. I read with envy about people easily having trustworthy vitamins, protein shakes and bars, etc etc etc.
Mostly, I'm curious about what I will be able to eat while I'm in China after my surgery. I expect to return to China 5-6 weeks after surgery so I'm not sure what I'll be able to eat. All of those nice soft things people in the US doesn't exist here. Unless I can make it myself, from fresh products, I can't get it. At 6 weeks I suppose I can eat eggs... maybe plain tofu (yuck... so bland)... I also very much worry about what effect rice would have on my stomach. Doesn't rice expand when you eat it? Will it pop a staple? I really don't know what I'm going to do when I get back
The things people in the US take for granted or starkly absent here. Protein powder? I might be able to find some at an import store, if I'm lucky and of which there are 2 or 3 in a city of 8 million. Vitamins? Sure, I can find those but the Chinese variety isn't very complete and is usually made of roots and things. Even if I can find multivitamin tablets, there's no way to know whether they're genuine and fake pharmacuticals (even from very large modern hospitals) is a real plague here. I read with envy about people easily having trustworthy vitamins, protein shakes and bars, etc etc etc.
Mostly, I'm curious about what I will be able to eat while I'm in China after my surgery. I expect to return to China 5-6 weeks after surgery so I'm not sure what I'll be able to eat. All of those nice soft things people in the US doesn't exist here. Unless I can make it myself, from fresh products, I can't get it. At 6 weeks I suppose I can eat eggs... maybe plain tofu (yuck... so bland)... I also very much worry about what effect rice would have on my stomach. Doesn't rice expand when you eat it? Will it pop a staple? I really don't know what I'm going to do when I get back
In small amounts it's possible. If I have them send a years supply, customs may confiscate it assuming I intend to resell it (this actually happens alot in China, especially with milk powder and condensed milk). More importantly, though, I have a track record thus far of 50% of all shipments to me being "lost".
I think I can bring maybe a week or two worth of powders and whatnot back with me. I hope that's enough as once I run out I have no choice but to switch to "real" foods. It's starting to look like half of my suitcase (which is huge) will be full of vitamins, more vitamins, and powders.
The high protein low carb (well.. Atkins diet) it seems everyone is put on after VSG may be difficult for me here. It's very hard to find those types of foods unless you cook and eat just meat yourself. We do have eggs, of course, but variety is the spice of life ;) Almost everything here is eaten on noodles or rice, which make up the bulk of the meal. At home this isn't so bad... I mean, I can turn my stove on and shove a spatula so I'm guessing I can at least cook meat. Work is different and bagging it presents its own problems such as there not being a refridgerator, microwave, etc.
I really miss the convenience of the US especially when it comes to specialty things like this. I also miss food labels, haha.
I think I can bring maybe a week or two worth of powders and whatnot back with me. I hope that's enough as once I run out I have no choice but to switch to "real" foods. It's starting to look like half of my suitcase (which is huge) will be full of vitamins, more vitamins, and powders.
The high protein low carb (well.. Atkins diet) it seems everyone is put on after VSG may be difficult for me here. It's very hard to find those types of foods unless you cook and eat just meat yourself. We do have eggs, of course, but variety is the spice of life ;) Almost everything here is eaten on noodles or rice, which make up the bulk of the meal. At home this isn't so bad... I mean, I can turn my stove on and shove a spatula so I'm guessing I can at least cook meat. Work is different and bagging it presents its own problems such as there not being a refridgerator, microwave, etc.
I really miss the convenience of the US especially when it comes to specialty things like this. I also miss food labels, haha.
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