Chinese Food

(Ashley) #1

Went out, had a nice meal with friends, decided to not eat keto because the menu was nothing to have keto. Had an egg roll and some sweet and sour chicken. Stomach ache immediately. That was a one and done cheat. Wasn’t worth it. I used to love Chinese food, but everything tasted sweet. Even the egg roll and the bit of rice I had.

#2

Asian food is a vast cuisine, and there are many regional variations in authentic Chinese food.

An authentic restaurant will offer simple roasted meats (peking duck, pig, quail - usually eaten with a variety of condiments that you can pick n choose most keto friendly ones, such as chilli and mustard), classic sides such as cabbage & pork, and other steamed dishes such as non-breaded fish or shrimp or lobster with Ginger and green onions, in which case there will be a need for extra fat, indeed. They usually have lard in their kitchens, and I suppose one could request a side of fat!

But such restaurants tend to exist only in the heart of “China Towns” in L.A., SFO, Toronto, London, and NYC with histories of serving the Asian community. The “Chinese food” menus of many eateries that cater to non-Asians tend to be a static menu of tourist fare.

Dr. Fung has pointed out that Asian culture has never been a grazing/snacking culture - and even modern Asian cuisine tends to focus on one meal a day, maybe with the addition of a little snack in the morning - and their meals include generally at least one cup of cooked, highly refined rice for each person - yet Asians aren’t known for their obesity. This is likely due to the fact of simply having a much smaller number of insulin spikes throughout the day - as well as not being soda drinkers (until industrial fast foods hook them or their kids).

(Ashley) #3

Yeah, this definetly wasn’t authentic, I figured I’ll do it for today, I decided I’ll fast after until tomorrow sometime to get going back into ketosis. Just made me realize it wasn’t really that amazing. Probably due to westernized added sugar bs.

#4

Yeah. I had a very depressing experience at a non-authentic restaurant in a town with few Asians last year. I wasn’t shocked, but I did almost cry at the table - due to having had the privilege of eating home-made south Chinese food and being able to experience some of the authentic places, I miss it.

(Ashley) #5

I’d really love try a true authentic place because I think it’s be a lot less sweet and way more to my liking. I had to ask friends if it was sweet for them and they said no which made me realize it’s Just me lol.

#6

And interestingly, the mixing of small amounts of sugar with salt in the food and rampant use of the industrially produced MSG still hasn’t been shown to be an obesity factor in north Asians, probably due to the same durability of having OMAD/TMAD built in to their culture and not having adopted the SAD in many ways. I was reading a study about that recently. However, in north Asian families that migrate to westernized urban centers or adopt the SAD or emigrate to the west itself - generally by the third generation in many urban families the kids are becoming obese.

(Ashley) #7

Oh yeah that’s not suprising. In the West, especially America, it’s a known thing that “hanging out” with people means, let’s go eat. I never hang out with friends just to hang, food always has to be involved at some point during hanging out. And we just are in a society that every few hours oh it’s food time. My normal Chinese hangout place was probably 1500-1600 calories in one sitting then you hangout so stuff and eat another meal later that night. Plus soda, and snacks, so it’s really not suprising to me. Even with portions their smaller.

(Jo O) #8

Try crispy pork belly, steamed whole fish*, Peking duck, maybe chicken feet.
Forget anything in sauce or deep fried.
Or ask them to not add the sauce. It should have a bit of flavor from the wok.

If it’s an Americanized place, go for the salads without dressing. (I bring a eye dropper bottle of MCT oil with me.)
EVERYTHING else will have cornstarch or sugar including the soups.

*The sauce should be fresh ginger, scallions, soy sauce and sesame oil. But your table mates need to be dexterous with chopsticks because it is a WHOLE fish (bones).

(Sophie) #9

There was a Korean BBQ place on the north side of Chicago that had Amazing food! Cook your own meats at a brazier on your table. Lovely!

(Jo O) #10

You might want to check Korean recipes online. There’s usually sugar in the marinades and sauces.

But many of the side dishes should be ok.
FYI traditional kimchi has rice flour and sugar. some is consumed in the fermentation process.

(Ashley) #11

I figured one time was fine. Still don’t feel well today from it. Don’t think I’ll attempt it again lol, they didn’t have a lot of things on the menu so wasn’t a huge selection and was a last minute decision so I didn’t have time to plan.