don't wok this way!
Most people believe that Chinese food is healthier than other types of food. This may be true if you order steamed veggies & rice, but there are some dishes that are fattier than a quarter pounder with cheese or a personal pan pizza. Here's a list of the fat content of popular dishes, as compiled by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Keep in mind that the statistics are for just one typical order at a Chinese restaurant.1. Moo Shu Pork: 69 grams of fat (which equals 15 teaspoons of fat). Try ordering Moo Shu Vegetable without egg for a healthier substitute.
2. Kung Pao Chicken: 76 grams of fat. Run away, run away!
3. Sweet & Sour Pork: 71 grams of fat. Tons of salt, sugar and fat. If you must order this, take off that nasty fat-laden breading.
4. Beef with Broccoli: 46 grams of fat. Comes with 3,000 milligrams of sodium (more than your total daily recommended max), at no extra charge.
5. General Tso's Chicken: 59 grams of fat. Try taking the breading off of this beast, or better yet, is there chicken on the menu that hasn't had a deep-fried oil bath?
6. Orange (crispy) Beef: 66 grams of fat. Tons of meat, very little veggies, more than a day's worth of sodium, fat & cholesterol. Just looking at this dish may make your arteries quiver.
7. House Lo Mein: 36 grams of fat. This was lower in fat than the others, though still ridiculously high. It is included in this list because it was consistently the saltiest dish they found.
Kind of makes me want to go out for Japanese tonight! (But no tempura, of course)...
2 Comments:
dr. friedman,
are there any chinese dishes that you *do* recommend? any that are not so high in fat?
but i wonder... all that chinese food doesn't seem to hurt the chinese any -- i see hundreds of old people doing tai chi every morning on my way to work. why haven't they dropped dead from coronary heart disease years ago?
jonathan mutu
16/6/06 6:00 AM
Hi Jonathan,
I recommend sticking to the veggie dishes that lack anything deep fried. Also, eating more rice (or adding more rice to your dish) is a good way to go.
The Chinese food people eat at home is usually quite different from that at restaurants; the extra salt, fat, and MSG are usually excluded. Also, you make a good point, which is that you see these people EXERCISING! Regular exercise over decades does certainly help with overall health, regardless of one's diet.
16/6/06 3:30 PM
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