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Are Asian foods slimming?
Asian foods are supposed to be the healthest.
So why do we feel tense and bloated after eating in Asian restaurants?
"Just drink tea. It takes away all the fat," said a waitress at a Chinese
restaurant when we asked her to go easy on the oils. If only it were that
simple! Tea does help break down oily substances but eating a healthy, low
calorie Asian meal takes more than washing down with green tea.
Rice and noodles - high in carbohydrates - and vegetables and fruits - low in
saturated fats - are the key ingredients in Asian foods. At least in theory
typical Asian meal should quickly convert to energy and are not absorbed
into fat cells. In Chinese cooking, stir frying keeps most of the vitamins and
minerals intact and sesame oil is high in monosaturated and polysaturated
fats that help lower blood cholesterol levels. Unfortunately few Americans
eat Asian food that way. Add a fried won-ton, thick hoisin sauce, deep fried
squid or too much oil and you're in trouble. Also most popular Asian
barbeques, like kalbi, are smothered in sugar and the meats are marblized
with fat. And high sodium content promotes increased rice consumption to
wash it all down with, and calorie count starts shooting up. All that carbo in
rice turns to sugar in your system. That is why, after a feast at an Asian
restaurant, you can feel bloated and sometimes wake up thirsty in the
middle of the night.
Let's start with the basics. A woman needs 1,500 to 2,500 calories a day
depending on her size and weight. For a truly healthy diet, half of those
calories should come from carbohydrates and only 20% from protein.
Rice, noodles and vegetables are mainly carbohydrates so they are safe as long as you curve the amount of intake. But the sauces and oils are laden with fat. Fried rice, for example, has about13 grams of fat while plain rice has none.
Stay away from beef, pork and ducks. If you must have char siu or beef teriyaki, use lean meat and in small portions. Substitute with tofu instead. It's really easy to produce a healthy, low-cal dish, once you've disciplined yourself.
First, avoid deep fried and battered foods like tempura, or sweet and sour meats. One tablespoon of vegetable oil has 120 calories which is pure fat and some oils are even harmful. Palm oil has 51% saturated fat and coconut oil has 92% saturated fat.
One of the bet ways to infuse taste is to use flavorful spices. Lime and lemon juice, wine, vinegar, garlic, pepper, chili, horseradish and basil are excellent taste enhancers, much better than sugar laden sweet and sour, hoisin, plum, teriyaki and oyster sauces.
Excessive sodium is also a big problem with Asian foods. USDA recommends 3,000 milligrams of sodium a day but one tablespoon of soy sauce alone has 1,000. It's easy to see how you could be well over the health limit with just one dish.
The amount of coconut milk and sugar used in Thai cooking is dangerous to waist-watchers. They're like the evil cheeses and butters in Western cooking. So go light on curries, sticky rice, coconut based soups, shrimp paste and peanut sauces. Tom Yum Gung, on the other hand, is an example of a healthy dish.
It is one of the world's healthest because it uses less sugar, coconut, and meats. Instead the light flavoring is combined with lots of fresh vegetables. Even the fish sauces and oils are lighter and lower in sodium than Northern Chinese. A serving of ga xe phay, diced chicken with mint leaves, contains only about 100 calories and 2 grams of fat. Shrimp with fish sauce contains 178 calories with 7 grams of fat. But of course, their fried foods are to be avoided.
One of the best! Raw fish and seafoods are relatively low in calories to start with and many dishes aren't even cooked, devoid of the fattening oils. Miso soup is thought to contain compounds that counter cancer cell development. Perhaps the biggest drawback to Japanese food are the toxins and microbes found in raw seafood from time to time. In the U.S. 56% of all food poisoning results from eating raw seafood. The fattier the fish the more toxins it can harbor. From calorie-control standpoint, avoid tempuras, teriyakis, ramens and agemonos.
Offers more vegetables in one sitting than any other Asian cuisine, usually flavored with light, tangy, low-calorie sauces with minimal oils, mostly sesame oils. Highly recommended is bibimbob (rice mixed with seasoned vegetables).
Unfortunately, better known Korean entrees are delicious but fattening kalbi and boolgogi. And most vegetable pickles are laden with salt and pepper that can cause sleepless nights and hypertension. Stay with lightly seasoned vegetable dishes, fish and stews.
Northern Chinese has an emphasis similar to Korean on bigger meat proportions along with many deep fried dishes. Peiking duck with plum sauce and fried bread are triple dangers, laden with fat, cholesterol, sugar and salt. Light soups and vegetables are the best bets. Chinese restaurants use liberal amounts of oil so you have to ask them to keep the oil down to reasonable levels. Shanghainese cuisine specializes in braising with wine, soy sauce and garlic -- a much healthier method. Stay away from dim sum because the dishes are often breaded, deep fried and re-fried. Worst offenders are egg rolls, fried won ton, sweet and sour pork, Peiking duck, beef fried rice, pan fried noodles and twice cooked pork.
Finally when in doubt, just wash it all down with green tea.