These suggestions will help you savor the exotic, while keeping calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium under control.
Chinese
Look for: Stir-fried (ask to have it prepared in little or no oil) or steamed dishes with lots of vegetables, steamed rice, poached fish, and hot and sour soups.
Avoid: Fatty spareribs, fried wontons, egg rolls, shrimp toast and fried rice. To limit sodium, ask that your food be prepared without salt or monosodium glutamate (MSG). Request soy sauce (high in sodium) and other sauces on the side.
French
Look for: Steamed shellfish, roasted poultry, salad with dressing on the side, and sauces with a wine or tomato base, such as bordelaise or a la Provencal.
Avoid: French onion soup (high in sodium; high in fat if it has cheese), high-fat sauces (bechamel, hollandaise and bearnaise), croissants and pate.
Greek
Look for: Plaki (fish cooked with tomatoes, onions and garlic), chicken kebabs (chicken broiled on a spit with tomatoes, onion and peppers), or a Greek salad.
Avoid: Dishes with large amounts of butter or oil, such as baba ghanouj (eggplant appetizer) and baklava (dessert made with phyllo dough, butter, nuts and honey). To limit sodium, avoid olives, anchovies and feta cheese.
Italian
Look for: Marinara (tomatoes with garlic and onions), Marsala (based in wine), clam sauce and pasta primavera with fresh vegetables and a small amount of oil. Simply prepared fish and chicken dishes also are good choices.
Avoid: Pasta stuffed with cheese or fatty meat and dishes with cream or butter sauces. Veal scaloppine and parmigiana (cooked with Parmesan cheese) contain added fat.
Japanese
Look for: Steamed rice, soba or udon noodles, yakisoba (stir-fried noodles), yakitori (chicken teriyaki), shumai (steamed dumplings), tofu, sukiyaki, kayaku gohan (vegetables and rice).
Avoid: Shrimp or vegetable tempura, chicken katsu, tonkatsu (fried pork), shrimp agemono, fried tofu (bean curd).
Mexican
Look for: Grilled fish, shrimp and chicken with salsa made of tomato, chilies and onion. Order corn tortillas (they're lower in fat and calories than are flour tortillas) as long as they aren't deep fried. For a side dish, order rice or beans (black, pinto, refried). Make sure your side dishes aren't cooked with fat or lard -- ask your server about this.
Avoid: Dishes with large amounts of cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. Chips also can add a lot of fat and calories.
Reprinted from The Mayo Clinic Diet, copyright 2010 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Good Books (www.GoodBooks.com). Used by permission. All rights reserved.
About Donald Hensrud, M.D.
Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H., is chair of the Division of Preventive, Occupational, and Aerospace Medicine and a consultant in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. He is also an associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at the College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic. A specialist in nutrition and weight management, Dr. Hensrud advises individuals on how to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. He conducts research in weight management, and he writes and lectures widely on nutrition-related topics. He helped publish two award-winning Mayo Clinic cookbooks.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy that the needs of the patient come first. Over 3,600 physicians and scientists and 50,000 allied staff work at Mayo, which has sites in Rochester, Minn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, Mayo Clinic treats more than 500,000 patients a year.
For more information, please check out Mayo Clinic Diet
Avoid: *** To limit sodium, avoid olives, anchovies and feta cheese."
A Greek salad necessarily contains both olives and feta cheese. If you want to cut your sodium intake, give a pass to Greek salad.
Sushi was not mentioned at all. Most people assume it's healthily, but depending on how it's prepared, it can pack a lot of fat and calories.
http://graciouslivingdaybyday.com/
My question is this: Most ethnic cuisines include many dishes high in calories and fat.
And yet no country in the world has an obesity problem except the U.S. Obviously, it isn't the food that's the problem, it's the fact that Americans stuff themselves with super-sized portions of food at restaurants and fast food outlets. People have to learn what a reasonable portion size looks like.
Wonder if the Mayo Clinic is aware of that?
* fatty foods
* high sugar treats
* beef and other red meats
* any meat when put in a ratio with vegetables (who came up with the pompous diminutive, "veggies", to begin with?)
* too much salt
* too much salt substitute if you have kidney problems
* no aspartame
Not a bad article, but the way food is prepared around the world, in some cases, is similar. And if we are trying other venues, the internet makes it simple enough to look up what we're thinking of ingesting.
Mind you, we only live once in our corporeal bodies (even if there is reincarnation, molecular shuffling, Heaven vs H*ll, et cetera). Why not live for the moment? Especially if there is no tomorrow?