Unhealthy Chinese Food Choices

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is difficult, and this is especially true when dining out. While many Chinese restaurants offer similar menu choices, not all of them are healthy. This is a list of the most unhealthy choices that you can make in a Chinese restaurant.

1. Stay away from the buffet. Aside from the food safety dangers, an all-you-can-eat buffet encourages overeating. You may think that the price makes it a bargain, but your waistline will pay the price.

2. MSG, or mono-sodium glutamate is an addition to many Chinese dishes, and may cause gastrointestinal disturbances, headaches, or asthma-like symptoms in some people. When dining at a Chinese restaurant, ask them to leave the MSG out, or only dine at establishments that advertise an MSG free menu.

3. Avoid the barbecued spare ribs as an appetizer. These delicacies can have as much as 1/3 of your daily recommended calories in addition to fats.

4. Fried items like sweet and sour dishes, fried dumplings, and fried rice should be avoided.

5. Lo mien dishes contain so many carbohydrates and saturated fats that they are never a healthy dinner choice from the menu of a Chinese restaurant.

6. Fried egg rolls and won tons are another unhealthy Chinese food option. They are high in calories and fat and have little other nutritional value.

7. If you are allergic to peanuts, several Chinese foods are off limits to you. Make sure to ask your server if they use peanut oil for cooking the dishes, and ask about the contents of your dinner if you are unsure.

8. The use of soy, or soy products can also be unhealthy to those people with a soy allergy. Inquire about the use of soy products when ordering food from a menu in a Chinese restaurant.

9. Lemon Chicken contains as much as 1,500 calories, 3/4 of the recommended daily calorie intake. This dish also has large amounts of fats and high levels of sugar. There are not even any accompanying vegetables to stave off the effects of this unhealthy Chinese dish.

10. Orange Beef and General Tso's Chicken are two popular Chinese menu choices that are considered unhealthy. These two dishes contain staggering amounts of saturated fat.

To keep things healthy when dining at a Chinese restaurant, stick to dishes that are steamed or grilled, and never add additional salt to your menu choice.

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