Is Chinese Food Healthy

Chinese cuisine is popular all over the world for its rich flavor, aroma and color. As per global estimation, more than one third of the population have Chinese food on a regular basis. No wonder, it is appreciated as one of the greatest cuisines of the world. The increased interest in the Chinese style of cooking is evident from the booming Chinese restaurants in the west and many other regions. This is how the American Chinese cuisine has evolved in order to suit the taste of the western palates.

If you crave for Chinese fried rice or noodles, you are not alone. There are so many people who love Chinese food and do not get bored, even if they have it on every weekends. No doubt, Chinese food recipes enriched with sauce and flavorful culinary herbs, are delicious in a unique way. But, is Chinese food healthy? Or is Chinese food bad for you? These are some of the most common queries that linger on the minds of Chinese food lovers. Scroll down to find the answers to these questions.

Is Chinese Food Healthy for You?

In today's generation, all of us are more concern about the calorie count, rather than the delicacy of a particular dish. To be precise, most people consider the ingredients and method of cooking first, before trying out a food recipe. If taste is the first priority, green salads would have not been so popular as they are today. As far as Chinese food is concerned, the authentic or real Chinese cuisine is very healthy. In fact, it is often acknowledged as one of the healthiest food in the world.

If you go through recipes of ancient Chinese food, you will come to know about the common ingredients - vegetable oils (no cheese, cream or butter), lean meat cuts, loads of vegetables and sauce for flavoring. Thus, unlike other cuisines, vegetable oils or poly-unsaturated oils are used as a cooking medium in Chinese cuisine. And the quantity of vegetable is more than meat. So, people who are very conscious about their health can enjoy authentic Chinese food without worrying much about high animal fat content.

Coming to the answer for 'is Chinese food healthier than pizza', yes it is. According to nutritionists, approximately 20 percent of the calories in pizza are contributed by saturated fats. Whereas, in case of Chinese food, saturated fat counts to 4-7 percent of the total calories. Nevertheless, in this comparison also, the condition authentic Chinese food applies. Otherwise, stir fry recipes contain high amounts of fats, which is not healthy at all. In such a case, pizza may be a healthier option than Chinese dish.

With this, I hope you got your answers for 'is Chinese food healthy' and 'is Chinese food fattening'. On a concluding note, the deciding factor for healthiness of Chinese food depends entirely upon where you dine and the specific recipe that you have ordered. At any point, it is wise to avoid Chinese fast foods and from take-aways too. They are loaded with saturated fats and the meat used in the dishes are not of lean cuts. The best alternative is to prepare Chinese food on your own at home. That way, you can reduce the amount of soy sauce and salt, maintain the food quality and ensure a healthy meal for you and your family members.

Healthy Chinese Food Options

America is sometimes referred to as a fast food nation, which is not an exaggeration at all! Astonishingly, one out of every four Americans eat fast food on a daily basis and most of the fast food dishes that we tend to consume are Chinese! The food that we generally find at the Chinese restaurants looks tempting and it tastes delicious as well. It is commonly believed that the Chinese food recipes are unhealthy and must be avoided if one is aiming for weight loss. In my opinion, it's not fair as far as the Chinese delicacies are concerned. Read about more healthy recipes.

When thinking about the Chinese food, we tend to imagine only about the deep fried dishes, heavy meat chucks and calorie loaded sauce covered noodles! Right? Well the authentic Chinese food can give a huge blow to our this imagination. Actually, there are quite a few healthy Chinese food options, that we are clearly neglecting. As a matter of fact, you can always order many healthier recipes, without your health! Read more on the ancient Chinese food as well.

Healthy Chinese Food Options

The authentic Chinese food, which I was referring to, is actually one of the healthiest foods you can have. Chinese food is good for you, if you know what to order! Chinese cuisine employs a lot of vegetables and various types of rice, hence, you must always try to capitalize on this point. Secondly, the Chinese food comes in larger serving sizes, hence, you must order smaller meals and ask for extra vegetables (without hesitation)! Well, here are some tips for you to make healthy Chinese food choices.

Lean Meat
However outlandish it may sound, but avoid meats and replace them with vegetarian recipes for healthy Chinese food options. Most of us believe that the Chinese food is all about healthy lean meats, but they conveniently forget the red meats of pork, beef, lamb and chicken, which are extremely high in cholesterol and saturated fats. If you just cannot live without that Peking duck, then go for the smaller serving sizes and restrict it to 2 oz to 3 oz!

Steamed Rice
Chinese cuisine utilizes rice in its various forms and it is not difficult to find the healthier one of them all. Preferably, go for brown rice or steamed white rice. The brown rice contains more than 3.5 gm healthy dietary fibers, while the steamed white rice contains 1gm of it. The fried rice, on the other hand contains 14gm of fats in an 8 oz serving size! This means, that you will have to stop consuming fried rice, totally! What you can do is, go for the brown rice and in case the restaurant doesn't have it, then you can always settle on the steamed white rice!

Stir Fry + Noodles
Stir frying is one of the healthier Chinese cooking methods, which utilizes smaller amount of cooking oil. Basically, the noodles are loaded with refined carbohydrates, which you must always be watchful for. The stir fried recipes, which emphasize on steamed noodles (instead of fried noodles) and heaps of vegetables, is a better choice, that takes care of those additional carbs. If you are wondering whether the brown colored noodles are made of brown rice, then let me clear that those noodles are loathed with the heavy oils, which are used for cooking!

Chinese Foods to Eat

Here is a generalized list of healthy Chinese food choices for you.

    * Steamed rice
    * Vegetable spring rolls
    * Garlic shrimp
    * Mushroom chicken
    * Broccoli and beef
    * Chicken and green beans
    * Mandarin chicken
    * Shrimp chow mein
    * Moo Goo Gai Pan
    * Shrimp or chicken chop suey
    * Lettuce wraps
    * Kung Pao Chicken stir fry
    * Shrimp with lobster sauce stir fry
    * Egg drop soup
    * Wonton soup
    * Hot-and-sour soup
    * Steamed dumplings
    * Teriyaki chicken skewer
    * Shrimp platter
    * Steamed tofu with vegetables
    * Beef with Chinese mushrooms
    * Steamed whole fish
    * Chicken with walnuts
    * Sautéed spinach with garlic

Typically, the Chinese food has a high sodium content and hence, it is better to avoid any other sources of sodium like soda and salt, when you consume Chinese foods! Surprisingly, eating with chopsticks actually limits consumption of excessive oils from the foods, than forks or the spoons.

Chinese Foods NOT to Eat

Here is a generalized list of Chinese foods, which you must try to avoid.

    * General Tso's chicken
    * Battered or fried appetizers
    * Egg rolls
    * Kung Pao chicken
    * Hoisin or sweet and sour sauce
    * Crispy Veg or meats
    * Spare ribs
    * Fried rice, any kind

Go for the food recipes which have words like Chu (broiled), Jum (poached), Kow (roasted), Shu (barbecued) mentioned with them. Foods that are lightly stir fried, dry stir fried and/or braised can also be included as healthy Chinese food options. It may sound weird at a glance, but you must know what that dish means in Chinese! Anything apart from the above mentioned dishes including fried, breaded or coated must strictly be avoided.

As my last friendly advice, I would suggest you to go for the Cantonese cuisine if possible. Most of the healthy Chinese food options which I have mentioned above, actually belong to the Cantonese cuisine. It emphasizes a lot on the healthier cooking methods and also includes lots of vegetables and fresh ingredients! Well, this was all the information that I could gather for you about the healthy Chinese food options! All the best!

Chinese Food Nutrition Facts

# Spring rolls are healthier than egg rolls.
# Instead of pork, you can choose vegetable filling, so as to halve your saturated fat intake.
# Eating with chop sticks, prevents you from picking up too much of sauce.
# Avoid creamy dressings or crispy noodles in the salads.
# Avoid eating crab rangoons or barbecued spare ribs as starters.
# You can order plain steamed brown rice which is healthier.
# Chicken/shrimp/pork fried rice are worse in saturated fat, calories and sodium.
# Steamed vegetables without sauce would be a healthier option.