If you love Chinese food, then this information might not be pleasing for you, but it is important that you know this truth about Chinese food. After reading this information, you might ask yourself if Chinese food is good for you – should you order Chinese again? 

Chinese food is often considered to be a healthy alternative to fast food, but Chinese food is not always good for your health. These foods contain high fat and are loaded with sodium which is not good for our health. Here are some foods which we love but need to be aware of.

Rice: We all love to have rice when we eat Chinese, but most often we do not realize that we are having ‘fried’ rice instead of the healthier brown rice or simple steamed rice. Fried rice has loads of oil and has large quantity of sodium and fat. If you wish to have rice when you are eating Chinese food, it is better to order steamed rice.

Noodles – This is a trademark of Chinese food – but have you ever wondered, how much oil is used to cook your favorite egg noodles or chicken noodles? It is oily and sometimes very spicy, depending on the variety you choose to eat.

Sauces: Restaurants tend to pour sauces on your noodles, rice, chicken or soup. You should avoid this – you should always have you sauce in a small bowl so that you have complete control on the portions of sauce, you choose to have. Chinese sauces are very rich in sodium and fats – like soy sauce. Soy sauce which is used in almost all Chinese foods has 4 times the daily allowance of salt which is recommended to us – that too in one spoon! So, now you know how healthy it is for you? 

Appetizers: Most Chinese appetizers are deep fried – such as egg rolls, fried chicken, fried golden prawn  and tofu fried – thus, making them high in fat content. If you are fond of appetizers and cannot start your meal without these, you can consider having steamed variety of vegetables, fish and chicken. Soups can be a good alternate, but say NO to fried appetizers.  

Meat: Sometimes it happens that we have to dig into a food to realize what it is and then we find its meat – have you faced such a situation before? Do you know why it happens? This happens mainly because the sauce or gravy is so thick and spicy that you are unable to recognize the food you are having. This is the problem with several Chinese meat dishes. In such a case, you have to avoid the dish because, it is not at all healthy for you. 

Thus, if you are very fond of Chinese dishes and cannot think of anything beyond them, then you have to think a little before you order the dishes. You should order vegetables dishes which do not have high amount of fat and spices which might not be good for health. Concentrate more on soups and steamed dishes which are healthier options.
Image courtesy: jacekphoto.com, newmoonrestaurants.