Chinese Takeaway

[dusky]

Diagnosed Christmas Eve. Was 13st.8 now 12st 12lb. So fed up with dieting, not eating things I like. Can I have a takeaway? Will it make me unwell?

 

[Grazer]

Yes you can have a takeaway as a treat, but Chinese isn't the best to choose. Most of the dishes have loads of sugar in the sauces, the rice is white and batter, rolls and pancakes are all flour. Indian with a small amount of pilau rice and maybe a small chapatti ( not a big nan!) is better. Out of all rices, Thai sticky rice is worst. So if you eat takeaway, be careful or accept your BG will go high.

 

[xyzzy]

Chinese is a disaster area for me when I tried BS levels were more than 13 and I tried my best to do a low carb one and limited the amount.

Indian is a different matter. So long as you don't order the classic Chicken Tikka Massala which is sweet and full of sugar but instead order a dry curry I find its ok.

I get one called a Chicken Charger or another called a Chicken Achar then I add to that a plain Chicken Tikka starter, around a half of a mushroom bhaji and around half a Pilau rice (choose Pilau as its fried rice and is better for BS levels), plus a small onion bhaji. With that I can JUST keep BS levels in a safe range.

I have this as a Saturday evening treat most weekends. If you like hot curry then something like a prawn madras or a chicken madras would be even better. I've gradually tweaked what I have over the weeks to get it safer and safer for me.

On whatever main course curry I choose I never trust more than a very small amount of the sauce the first time I have it just to make sure they haven't dumped loads of sugar or cornflower in it.

Do not eat Nan bread!

 

[borofergie]

Once in a very while anything is OK (says me just about to tuck into a big trifle). Like the boys say, don't make a habit of it.

Best take away is a shish kebab. Nice quality meat, lots of salad, just don't eat the pita.

 

[Sarah69]

Why would it make you unwell?

 

[borofergie]

Why would it make you unwell?

Cos it's packed with nasty carbs and he's diabetic?

 

[angieG]

If I have Chinese (love it) I now go for...

Vegetable Soup or Chicken & Mushroom Soup for starters.
Egg Foo Yung and a portion of Chicken & Mushroom.

This usually fills me up and is a good combination without too many carbs.
I don't risk the rice at all as even a small amount spikes me of any kind. :thumbdown:

HTH
Angie

 

[xyzzy]

Well had the Saturday night curry as described in my earlier post. It was lovely... ,

Adjustments this week were to cut down to 75g of rice (about a third of a tin foil thingy rather than a half) and upped the mushroom bhaji intake to compensate.

Before curry was 4.8
At one hour was 5.8
At two hours was 6.0
At four hours was 6.1

Total carbs about 40 and around 1000 calories I would guess but can't be that accurate with a take-away.

Took me 500g of Metformin with it.

best ever result - cracked it!

 

[lovinglife]

nothing wrong in treating yourself now and again - I eat chinese a couple of times a month - it's just a matter of knowing what you can cope with and testing is the only way to do that- stay away from the obvious like sweet n sour, curries with thick sauces etc. Some of my usual choices are

yam tam soup - I love the heat from this soup and as its a clear soup with just fish lemongrass and chillis its very good for you.

I also get crispy duck but use lettuce as wraps instead of pancakes - I even use a tiny bit of the ho sin sauce! :shock:

a chow mien - either a mixed or chicken - I seem to be able to tolerate noodles very well - I don't eat them all - I eat round most of them - but I do eat them! and have it without sauce

if you want a side dish fried beansprouts are fine

check that the place you use doesn't use msg - this can push your BS up so be careful there

my BS stays under 7 at the 1,2 and 3 hr tests - don't test as much when I have it now as its a well tested meal for me

 

[Camilla]

Yes you can have a takeaway as a treat, but Chinese isn't the best to choose. Most of the dishes have loads of sugar in the sauces, the rice is white and batter, rolls and pancakes are all flour. Indian with a small amount of pilau rice and maybe a small chapatti ( not a big nan!) is better. Out of all rices, Thai sticky rice is worst. So if you eat takeaway, be careful or accept your BG will go high.

I find Chinese food far better to cope with than Indian for our once a week takeaway. I usually eat spare ribs to start and then a duck(or any meaty) curry. I choose the dry and spicy spare ribs not the ones in barbeque sauce. This is enough for me and of course no spike as it is all protein and fat. There are loads of main courses which are meat, fish or chicken with low carb vegs like bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, lovely to crunch. I just take a couple of prawn crackers, enough to taste and no more. The soups are good as starters too, especially a chicken and mushroom one.

 

[xyzzy]

low carb vegs like bamboo shoots and water chestnuts

Afraid water chestnuts are anything but low carb they are around 25g / 100g and because of their weight you can't eat that many.

http://fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/waterchestnuts?portionid=59398&portionamount=100.000

Bamboo shoots are better at around 5g / 100g so I thought I was going to be pretty safe with those but anything but. I suspect like most Chinese takeaway food they got something sweet or MSG or whatever added to them.

That's not to say that I don't eat Chinese, when I do I make it myself from stir fry veg etc.

 

[Camilla]

I might be wrong about the water chestnuts - I just mean generally I think bamboo shoots and suchlike are quite low carb. My point is that if you choose meat dishes with some light vegs, you can enjoy Chinese. However, you are correct in that we cannot tell what they really put into the sauces. So I keep it to once a week and keep the quantity moderate. Even with Indian you don't know what is really in those sauces, the nans and rice are impossible for me. So are loads of the starters like samosas or bhajis.

Overall, I agree with you - it is better to cook your own food!

 

[borofergie]

C'mon kids, what sort of Chinese Takeaway is complete without a least one tin foil carton of orange sticky stuff?

My toes are going numb just at the thought of it...

 

[xyzzy]

C'mon kids, what sort of Chinese Takeaway is complete without a least one tin foil carton of orange sticky stuff?

My toes are going numb just at the thought of it...

Correct...

...which is why I do Indian. It's taken me 8 attempts to get to the 35g to 45g carb Indian from my local. You are right it is positively futile unless you can end up with something nice and tasty that's still a treat. It's why I given up with Chinese, everything I like is far too sweet and the things I could have aren't what I would call a takeaway so I see it as pointless.

 

[Grazer]

Agree 100%. Of course you can eat chinese if all you have is dry rib meat with no sauce, no rice and no pancakes/batter. But then it's not really chinese as we know it is it? Might as well have pizza takeaway and just eat the topping........ mmmmm, not a bad idea! Could of course have fish and chips takeaway, leave the chips and peel off the batter. Fact is, we know indian pilau rice is better for us than chinese white, and we don't have to have too much.