Chinese Food - Healthy? Ha!

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The Center for Science in the Public Interest has released a study decrying the nutritional content and calories in Chinese restaurant food.

Maybe we just run in different circles, but I don’t know anyone whose line of thought goes: “We should eat out, but we need something healthy. I know - Chinese!” All you have to do is look at the sodium content of soy sauce, and you should get an inkling that maybe this isn’t sin-free food you’re about to eat.

A lot of the articles about this report, though, do include some tips on healthier choices to make at Chinese restaurants. Interestingly, not one of the “tips” sections I saw mentioned that the most common fare at Chinese places tend to be Americanized food. Their suggestions are good, but I have one more: go to a good Chinese restaurant (if it’s frequented by actual Chinese people, all the better!), and watch what the staff are eating, if you can catch them at mealtime. We stepped into a restaurant here in Winnipeg just as the family who runs it was setting down for dinner. They had a lot of steamed and poached dishes, and not a single thing was deep-fried except the wontons. (Oh yeah - don’t pass up war wonton soup if you can find it. It’s sometimes called deluxe wonton soup. Using that as a starter means you’ll eat less when the meal comes = more leftovers!)

I should file this under “News? Duh.”

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