Chinese cuisine is globally celebrated for its exquisite flavors, diverse ingredients, and unique cooking methods. This rich culinary tradition offers more than just a satisfying meal; it can also provide various health benefits. However, navigating the menu to make informed choices is essential to ensure a balanced and nutritious dining experience.
Nutritional Benefits of Chinese Cuisine
One of the primary advantages of Chinese food is its emphasis on balanced nutrition. Traditional Chinese cuisine adheres to the principles of Yin and Yang, striving for a harmonious blend of flavors, textures, and nutrients in each dish. This often translates to incorporating a variety of ingredients, such as vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains, which provide essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Cooking Methods and Ingredients
Traditional Chinese cooking methods, such as steaming, stir-frying, and braising, generally use minimal oil. This results in dishes with less saturated fat and cholesterol. Moreover, Chinese cuisine frequently includes lean protein sources like fish, tofu, and poultry, which are both delicious and heart-healthy.
Chinese cuisine is also known for its generous use of vegetables and herbs, which are not only flavorful but also packed with antioxidants. The emphasis on fresh ingredients and flavorful herbs and spices can also benefit digestive health. For example, ginger, a common ingredient, has been found to alleviate nausea and indigestion.
Digestive Health and Immune Support
Traditional Chinese medicine believes a well-balanced diet is essential for maintaining optimal digestion and overall health. In addition, many Chinese dishes feature ingredients believed to support immune system health. Shiitake mushrooms, often used in Chinese cooking, contain beta-glucans, compounds that have been shown to stimulate immune system function.
Read also: Exploring Chinese Dishes
Weight Management
Chinese cuisine, with its emphasis on whole foods, vegetables, and lean proteins, can be a great option for those looking to maintain a healthy weight or lose weight. Traditional cooking methods like steaming and stir-frying often use minimal oil, resulting in lower-calorie dishes than deep-frying or other high-fat techniques.
Mindful Eating
The Chinese culinary tradition encompasses the food and the entire dining experience. Incorporating Chinese food into your meal rotation can provide a variety of flavors and nutrients and encourage a more mindful approach to eating.
Healthiest Chinese Food Options
The healthiest Chinese food options often depend on where you are eating. However, many ingredients in traditional dishes are abundant in nutrients, which work to keep your health in good shape.
Vegetables
- Broccoli and Bok Choy: These cabbage family vegetables contain sulforaphane, a substance believed to prevent cancer, and vitamin C, which enhances immunity, reduces cholesterol, helps prevent heart disease, and aids in preventing gum recession.
- Green Onions (Scallions): These reduce cholesterol, blood pressure, and the chance of developing heart disease. The flavonoids contained in green onions lower heart attack risk, and the quercetin lowers colon cancer risk. Quercetin has also proven to lower the risk for blood clots.
- Red and Green Bell Peppers: These contain impressive amounts of vitamin C. One pepper of average size offers 150 percent of your daily value of this essential vitamin.
Protein Sources
- Tofu: As soybean curd, tofu is an excellent source of protein, calcium, and iron. It has been known to lower cholesterol and blood pressure and may help lower the chance of developing cancer. It is also low in calories, which may result in weight loss.
Grains
- Rice: Rice contains iron, which is superb for strong bones. Studies performed on animals indicated mammals deficient in iron had lower bone density.
What to Avoid
To maximize the health benefits of Chinese food, avoid consuming foods that are deep-fried, as the fat content is extremely high, and the oil becomes carcinogenic when heated to extreme temperatures. Also, choose low-sodium soy sauce instead of the regular kind.
Healthy Chinese Food Dishes
When craving takeout, there are plenty of healthier options to order. According to Laura Iu, RD, a certified intuitive eating counselor, the issue often isn’t that the food itself is unhealthy, but that the ratio of carbs to protein and veggies isn't the most balanced. Eating too many refined carbohydrates in proportion to protein and vegetables may lead to a blood sugar crash.
Read also: Healthy Chinese Options for Diabetics
Recommended Dishes
- Moo Goo Gai Pan: This Cantonese dish includes mushrooms, sliced chicken, water chestnuts, snow peas, and bamboo shoots. The sauce is lighter than many others, made from chicken broth, a little soy sauce, garlic, and ginger.
- Steamed Fish and Vegetables: Steaming food is a primary cooking technique in Chinese cuisine. This dish is more traditional and paired with mixed vegetables, adding fiber for digestion and heart health. Chinese eggplant is a good addition, supplying fiber and antioxidants.
- Szechuan Tofu: This vegan dish features crispy tofu cubes, delivering plant-based protein, while the sauce is made from anti-inflammatory ingredients such as garlic, ginger, and chili peppers. Add a side order of steamed vegetables.
- Shrimp with Broccoli in Garlic Sauce: This dish is low in calories but high in lean protein. Shrimp supplies immune-supporting selenium, while broccoli contributes fiber and compounds that may help fight inflammation and some cancers.
- Beef and Broccoli: Steak is a good source of protein and is higher in iron than chicken. The dish is usually made with a lean cut of beef and served with an abundance of broccoli, which adds fiber. Ask if the chef can make your order using reduced-sodium soy sauce.
- Chicken with Bok Choy: Thin, tender pieces of protein-rich lean chicken breast are paired with sauteed bok choy, a green leafy veggie that delivers vitamins C and A.
- Egg Drop Soup: This soup offers protein and anti-inflammatory ingredients such as ginger, scallions, and garlic.
- Spring Rolls: These are a healthier alternative to egg rolls, usually made with a light rice paper wrapper and more veggies.
- Cucumber Salad: Sliced cucumbers tossed in a dressing made with vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and chili flakes is a refreshing and nutritious alternative to fried appetizers.
- Steamed Dumplings: Opt for steamed over fried, and go with the veggie or shrimp filling for the lightest option. If ordering a meat filling, choose ones that specify a particular protein (such as pork or chicken) versus just "meat."
- Lo Mein or Chow Fun with Veggies or Protein: These noodle dishes contain vegetables and protein. Order with a protein source and mix in an extra side of veggies, or go for veggie lo mein with a protein-based entree.
- White or Brown Rice: The nutrient density of white and brown rice is pretty similar, so it's fine to opt for either.
Sauces and Sides
- Sauces: Lighter sauces like garlic sauce, ginger scallion sauce, or white sauce tend to be lower in added sugars and fat compared to sticky sauces like sweet and sour or General Tso’s. Black bean sauce and oyster sauce are other options.
- Sides: Steamed or stir-fried vegetables like bok choy, broccoli, or snow peas are often available. Cucumber salad is another great option.
MSG
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is added to some Chinese foods to enhance the flavor. Scientific research hasn’t found consistent evidence linking MSG to serious health issues in the general population. Unless you think you are particularly sensitive to MSG, there's no reason to go out of your way to avoid it.
Dishes to Limit or Avoid
- Egg Rolls: These are wrapped in dough and deep-fried, packing more than 220 calories and 10 grams of fat in each one, not including the sweet dipping sauce.
- Crab Rangoon: Mostly cream cheese, wrapped in dough and deep-fried, these are calorie bombs.
- General Tso’s Chicken: The breaded, fried chicken is smothered in a sugary sauce, clocking in at around 1,500 calories and 88 grams of fat. Other fried dishes to watch out for include sesame, orange, and sweet and sour chicken.
- Barbecue Spare Ribs: These are a high-fat choice, coated in a salty-sweet barbecue sauce, packing in 1.5 times the sodium you should get in a day, along with 64 grams of fat.
- Fried Rice: The main ingredient is white rice, which doesn’t offer much fiber, and it is fried in oil and tossed with salty soy sauce.
- Sweet and Sour Pork: The syrupy sauce coats chunks of deep-fried pork, serving up about the same amount of sugar as 3 chocolate bars.
- Orange Beef: Fatty beef is fried in oil and doused with a sugary sauce, containing more calories than 7 fast-food hamburgers.
- Lo Mein: These noodles are made from white flour, which raises your blood sugar faster than fiber-rich whole grains, and they’re cooked with oil and soy sauce, adding extra fat and sodium.
Tips for Healthier Choices
- Start with Vegetables: Choose sides or entrees that are vegetable-dense.
- Opt for Lean Proteins: Select menu items that provide lean proteins, such as chicken, tofu, egg, and shrimp.
- Include Whole Grains: Try to include whole grains when possible, such as brown rice.
- Make Menu Modifications: Choose steamed, baked, or boiled cooking methods instead of deep-fried or stir-fried. Ask for the sauce on the side and avoid sugary sauces.
Read also: Guide to Healthy Chinese Food