Thread: Chinese - Best Options for Calories!

Hi im new to calorie counting, im currently doing 1200 a day, i slipped up yesterday as iwent to dinner with a friend at an indian i wasnt too naughty but i had 1 and a half poppadoms, dry chicken tikka a chapatti and some mint yoghurt. But i had 2 large glasses of wine and a cocktail so yesterday was 1750.
Im now meeting another friend tonight and they want chinese so i wont slip up again with alcohol please give me suggestions and approx calories, I like everything really apart from omelettes and aubergines/courgettes

Chinese, eh? Well, so you don't slip up with alcohol, I recommend not drinking any Make sure to have plenty of water before you go out and that way you're not dehydrated. Being dehydrated can make your body ask for more food than it needs as well as wanting liquids. If it's a good Chinese place they will often offer Chinese green tea which is very good for you and as it's a herbal tea I'm guessing has 0 calories. After all, it's just herbs in water! Drink lots of that.

For food...I'd steer clear of fried anything. Spring rolls are deep fried in oil, so they're a no. Fried rice is literally, FRIED, and many of the noodles are as well. Prawn crackers are fried.

The good thing with a lot of chinese places is you can order mains and then rice or noodles separately. So I would suggest ordering a main which doesn't have anything deep fried in it (e.g. sweet and sour pork is often pork in batter, deep fried with a sauce and pineapple) - something like chicken or beef and veggies - and then just don't order the rice or noodles to go with it. You may also consider a soup of they have one as a starter which looks low calorie (so, not something with a cream or oil base). This will fill you up, then order a veggie-heavy mains, drink water and chinese herbal teas and don't get dessert - unless you have the calories left for it, in which case green tea icecream is delicious and about 150 - 250 calories for half a cup, which I'm guessing is about 1 large scoop. I know 150 - 250 is a big range but it depends on the brand they use, so I would estimate the upper limit.

Anyways, have fun!

Also, I don't know if this helps...but I've started inviting my friends over to my house for dinner instead of going out. If you 'go out' regularly with friends and it's messing up your diet, maybe consider this? I love cooking and will often make a 'mexican banquet' or a 'chinese banquet'. I ask my friends to contribute some money each, which they don't mind because it's still a lot less than what they'd pay for a meal at a restaurant and they get the benefit of sitting in a nice house instead. Plus, I am making everything so I get to look up the recipes online for 'low calorie chinese', for example, and work out exactly how much of each thing I can serve myself at dinner to stay within my range.

Generally speaking black bean sauce is a good one for low calorie option

When eating out at an indian I always ask for my meal to be cooked without ghee and 95% of the time they are more than happy to accomodate this (ghee is pure fat) x

Originally Posted by SuperGroovy

Chinese, eh? Well, so you don't slip up with alcohol, I recommend not drinking any Make sure to have plenty of water before you go out and that way you're not dehydrated. Being dehydrated can make your body ask for more food than it needs as well as wanting liquids. If it's a good Chinese place they will often offer Chinese green tea which is very good for you and as it's a herbal tea I'm guessing has 0 calories. After all, it's just herbs in water! Drink lots of that.

For food...I'd steer clear of fried anything. Spring rolls are deep fried in oil, so they're a no. Fried rice is literally, FRIED, and many of the noodles are as well. Prawn crackers are fried.

The good thing with a lot of chinese places is you can order mains and then rice or noodles separately. So I would suggest ordering a main which doesn't have anything deep fried in it (e.g. sweet and sour pork is often pork in batter, deep fried with a sauce and pineapple) - something like chicken or beef and veggies - and then just don't order the rice or noodles to go with it. You may also consider a soup of they have one as a starter which looks low calorie (so, not something with a cream or oil base). This will fill you up, then order a veggie-heavy mains, drink water and chinese herbal teas and don't get dessert - unless you have the calories left for it, in which case green tea icecream is delicious and about 150 - 250 calories for half a cup, which I'm guessing is about 1 large scoop. I know 150 - 250 is a big range but it depends on the brand they use, so I would estimate the upper limit.

Anyways, have fun!

Also, I don't know if this helps...but I've started inviting my friends over to my house for dinner instead of going out. If you 'go out' regularly with friends and it's messing up your diet, maybe consider this? I love cooking and will often make a 'mexican banquet' or a 'chinese banquet'. I ask my friends to contribute some money each, which they don't mind because it's still a lot less than what they'd pay for a meal at a restaurant and they get the benefit of sitting in a nice house instead. Plus, I am making everything so I get to look up the recipes online for 'low calorie chinese', for example, and work out exactly how much of each thing I can serve myself at dinner to stay within my range.

Those are good tips! Must remember for when eating out!

what are the calories in chicken and mushroom?

Ooooooo I love chicken and mushroom!! lol