Chinese Take Away - Best Options?

[Neens]

Hi, I looked up a lot of the menu over Christmas when we treated ourselves to a take away. We had another one for Valentine's. It isn't something we have all that often but it has always been my favourite choice.

Now I have to leave the luscious sweet and sour & noodle options out though. So in case I am lucky enough to have another one later in the year it would be helpful to know what are the best choices for low carb?

So far on the good /better choice list are:
Dry spare ribs
Chicken & Cashew
Chicken Yuk Sung
crispy seaweed

 

[Toucan]

Hi @Neens, that's making me feel very hungry! Sounds delicious.
I usually avoiding Chinese and Thai as well, as they tend to be a bit heavy handed with the sugar, but I think your selection might be worth a try.
We usually go for Indian, as by choosing Tandoori, I can avoid the sauces. Usually chicken, but sometimes as a special treat the Tandoori King prawns - usually the most expensive thing on the menu! but delicious with an onion raita and a side salad.
Main thing is to enjoy a special treat though.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hope you find some choices that work for you @Neens.

If it’s only an occasional treat, don’t beat yourself up about some slightly out of range BG checks... You will know what caused them, and will have gone into it intentionally. You could always try some of the main dishes and cook your own ‘cauli rice’ at home to have with them. As long as you don’t choose the very sweet ones, it might give you some other options?

Anyway... it sounds like a jolly good excuse to try a few experiments

 

[Tee G]

Ooooh i miss a good Chinese take away - I make my own usually, but theres nothing like an authentic one. It was our one regular take out meal we enjoyed (maybe once every 3 months) But i cant eat it too often, theres soooo much salt in it that it send my blood pressure sky high within hours and last 2 days with the wobbles. Now im scared over the carbs and sugar!!! 😱 eeek.

 

[Neens]

@Toucan - Sorry for making you feel hungry and thanks for the advice, Kay! I have avoided several meals out as I know they all come in carb heavy even with healthy choices - one meal out could easily equal a days worth of carbs for me. I have made my own healthy Chinese and Indian food at home and know that the non-sauce options are best, Tandoori and chicken/prawns probably best options etc.
We were guilty of too many take aways last year - but generally since dx I don't bother. I had 2 in 3 months. Which is still 1 too many but I know I won't have another one until much later in the year.
I was worried about Mr G's bday and Valentine's coming before my 2nd HbA1c test as there will be an impact I am sure. Having said that my fasting BG after this take away was 5.2 (ironic because I can't order the actual House Specials anymore)!

@everydayupsanddowns thanks Mike - don't feel any guilt for the treat and BG was fine (HS) but obviously higher cals/fats than my normal food diary entries. It shows - I haven't done so well weightwise this week. I avoid the rice and don't miss it. Had some cauliflower rice with my home-made version. I had some beansprouts instead.
I also made the portions last several meals and used starter/sides.

@Tee G I am sure your version is just as delicious! If it effects your BP that much it probably isn't worth the few mins of pleasure! Thanks for pointing out the salt too - I thought about carbs and sugar and wanted to ask about content of some of the dishes but it was the weekend and they were busy. Like I have said this is a rare treat - after not being able to work for a year I don't have enough cash for coffees out let alone meals! So back to my own kitchen for the next 10 months! 😉

 

[zoombapup]

Funny enough I went with some workmates to the Chinese just recently. I decided to use it as one of my "experimenting with food" nights, i.e. one night every 2-3 weeks I'll eat something I've not tried before and see what it does to my BG. So I had a House special fried rice and some mixed vegetables. After 2.5 hours my BG was 5.6, although the day after I registered a 6.4 on waking, so I guess the 2.5 hours wasn't enough, but it really wasn't so high considering I usually am higher first thing in the morning, this was maybe 0.6 higher than usual.

Another person at the meal had Ho Fun, which looked like it might be low-ish carbs, although it did have wide noodles it was mostly seafood.

I think you've got this under control really. I don't think if you're generally in the 4-6 then an occasional foray higher isn't going to be a problem as long as you don't start trending upwards. I don't think the body would be able to start relying on the higher BG it has in its system for that short a time.

 

[Neens]

@zoombapup it is great that you were able to enjoy the meal out. This sort of thing is not something we do often enough for it to make a big impact - but like you, I try to minimise the damage with 'good' choices.

It is important to experiment with food as we all tolerate ingredients differently and also this is for life - so it would be totally unrealistic for me to say I am never having my favourite style of food again...

Mr G used to a lot of the cooking at home and he misses that - me cooking my own meal or eating at an earlier time has taken that shared time away. So once a week or fortnight he cooks something we can both have from my old life - I try to limit the 'treat choice' to 15g carbs and swap any rice or potatoes for veg. I actually think when you are losing weight having a slightly higher carb day once/wk/fortnight helps spur the weightloss.



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I posted this originally because I spent a good few hours researching menu contents (and finding mostly it was focused on the cals rather than carbs) I just wondered what other people have had so I can build up a list - one thing I am not good at is ordering/eating the same dishes over and over. I like variety and choice. 🙂
My list in now a little longer, so thank you!

 

[Felinia]

My local takeaway has just introduced a new dish: 8 stir fry veggies in green pepper and black bean sauce. Difficult to judge but based on the carbs in half a sachet of black bean sauce, I reckoned half a container would be around 10gm carbs. Had with cauliflower "rice" or bare naked noodles not too bad at all. Just add some chopped chicken for OH and 2 happy bunnies!