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---- I love Chinese food. But is it a healthy choice? ----

Chinese food is not only full of delicious flavours ¨C it
can be a healthy option too. If you're eating in a
Chinese restaurant, buying from a takeaway, or cooking at
home, remember to go for lower-fat options.

You could choose dishes such as steamed fish, chicken chop
suey and Szechwan prawns. Lower-fat options include anything
boiled or steamed, such as steamed fish and plain rather
than fried rice. And for a healthy choice, it's best to
avoid anything in batter because these foods are high in fat.

Steaming rather than deep-fat frying really cuts down on fat.
Traditionally, Chinese food was cooked in small bamboo
steamers, but it's easy to steam food if you're cooking at
home. If you haven¡¯t got a steamer, try putting the food in
a sieve over a pan of boiling water. The great thing about
steaming is that you don¡¯t need to add any fat, and steamed
vegetables keep their natural flavour and nutrients.

Stir-frying, another traditional Chinese cooking method,
can also be a healthy way to cook. Ideally you should use a
wok, but any large pan will do. You only need to use a very
small amount of oil and the food cooks quickly. This means
the food is low in added fat and it retains more nutrients
because the cooking time is shorter. So, if you're cooking
up your own stir-fry, you'll end up with a meal that's tasty,
nutritious, ready quickly, and you¡¯ll only have one pan to
wash!

Stir-fries typically contain a good selection of vegetables
and a moderate amount of lean meat or other protein, and
they're usually served with a large portion of rice or
noodles ¨C which is a great combination for a healthy diet.

A healthy balanced meal should be based around starchy foods,
so for a Chinese meal choose foods such as rice, noodles,
dumplings, plain and vegetable buns, and go for wholemeal or
wholegrain versions whenever possible. These foods are
filling, but they¡¯re not fattening unless they¡¯re cooked
with oil or you add fatty spreads and sauces to them. So
choose boiled or steamed versions instead of frying if
possible.

We should be eating lots of fruit and vegetables. The aim
is to have at least five portions of a variety of fruit and
vegetables each day. So choose from the following Chinese
delights: bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, chinese
cabbage/greens such as pak choi, water chestnuts, baby corn,
exotic varieties of mushrooms and onions, aubergine, lychees,
mandarins, melon, starfruit, and the list goes on.

We need to eat moderate amounts of protein such as duck,
chicken, squid, prawns, bean curd (tofu), eggs and nuts.
For a healthy choice, go for the lower-fat versions whenever
possible. Choose lean meat, trim off any excess fat and
skim the fat off the top of meat soups.

We should also have moderate amounts of milk and dairy foods,
but these foods don¡¯t feature heavily in traditional Chinese
cuisine, so you could choose fortified soya or rice milk,
fish where you eat the bones, green leafy vegetables and tofu
as alternative sources of calcium.

Only eat foods containing fat and/or sugar sparingly. So,
when you¡¯re cooking, use as little oil as possible. Instead
of sugary desserts or snacks try porridge, noodles, steamed
dumplings and fruit. Drink milk, water, herbal teas and fruit
juice instead of sugary drinks. And why not try a pot of
jasmine tea after your meal and some lychees for dessert?

Chinese seasonings and sauces make food tasty but they¡¯re
high in salt, so only use these in moderation:

hoisin (barbecue) sauce

plum sauce

black/yellow bean sauces

soy/oyster/fish sauces

You could try these flavourings instead: pepper, ginger,
garlic, 5-spice powder (star anise, fennel, clove, cinnamon,
peppercorns).

Also, you may have heard that some soy sauces contain
unhealthy processing chemicals. But levels of these
chemicals (called 3-MCPD) are coming down. In fact, when the
Agency checked samples of soy sauce in 2001 nearly a quarter
had ¡®higher than acceptable¡¯ levels, but only 6% did in 2002.
This is because more and more companies have recognised the
problem and are working to avoid it. Even at these higher
levels, you would need to have a lot of soy sauce with higher
than acceptable levels of these chemicals, and eat it
regularly for many years for there to be a health risk from
the chemicals.

-- Originally featured in Food Standards Agency



Nicholas Zhou - Author
"Real and Healthy Chinese Cooking" http://www.chinesefooddiy.com/
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