Characterized By:

Reflects many different cooking styles, traditions, customs, ingredients and flavors from the many different regions of China. Cantonese, the most popular form in the U.S. features grilled meat, steaming and stir-frying, and flavors are not as intense as other regions, like Szechuan or Hunan.


Common Ingredients:

High emphasis on a very wide variety of vegetables and complex carbohydrates like rice and noodles. Meat, poultry and seafood are served in smaller portions and usually sliced. Tofu is a popular ingredient in many dishes.


Hidden Dangers:

• Avoid anything fried, including spring rolls, dumplings, fried rice, crispy beef, egg foo yung and battered pork
• One spare rib can contain 1-3 tablespoons of fat
• Avoid crispy noodles served with soups
• Soy sauce is very high in sodium
• Sweet and sour dishes are usually fried and/or high in fat and calories.
• Beef Chow Mein. 940 cals and 60g fat
• Sweet and Sour Fish. 1160 cals and 58g fat
• Chicken/Shrimp Omelet. 990 cals and 82g fat
• Stir fried dishes can be oily and fatty, but can be prepared with smaller amounts of oil.
• Lemon Chicken. 1,350 cals and 88g fat
• Tangerine or orange beef. Not as healthy as it sounds. Simply fried peel with breaded and fried beef.
• Walnuts can be healthy, but are often carmelized (sugared and fried) in Chinese dishes
• Eggplant can soak up a lot of oil during preparation.

Healthy Finds:

• Fortune Cookies: only 20 calories each!
• Marinated spinach salad is only about 100 calories
• Egg Drop Soup. 93 cals, 5g fat.
• Steamed Veggie Dumplings. Three dumplings are only 115 cals, 2.5g fat.
• Steamed Tofu and Veggies. 293 cals and 9g fat
• Steamed Veggies and Chicken. 490 cals and 12g fat
• Chicken Chop Suey. 600 cals and 20g fat
• Moo Goo Gai Pan
• Try a one-pot soup. Usually a large portion that can fill you up.
• Order a side of steamed veggies to mix into your dish.
• Look for dishes that are braised, roasted, simmered or steamed