Use Your Noodle at the Chinese Place

Fill Your Teacup

Whether the restaurant serves green or black tea, have some. Tea is one of nature’s most powerful sources of antioxidants. These free-radical scavengers help protect the body from the ravages of blood sugar, such as artery and nerve damage. Best of all, tea is calorie-free.

Eat With Chopsticks

It’s easy to shovel big mouthfuls of food in with a fork. With chopsticks, each piece of food has to be picked up carefully and delivered safely into your mouth. Because of the skill and pace involved, odds are, you’ll eat more slowly with chopsticks. And, as a bonus, you’ll eat less fat by leave some of the fatty sauce behind on the plate.

Avoid Sweet and Sour Sauces

These sauces, which often come with lemon chicken or crispy orange beef, spell double trouble. Not only are these dishes high in sugar, but they come with meats that are usually coated with batter and deep fried.

Garlic or Brown Sauce

These contain less sugar than sweet and sour sauces, and they often come with sautéed meat and vegetable dishes. They’re typically sky-high in sodium, so ask for them on the side and use sparingly.

Entrées With Greens

Order entrées that contain at least one green vegetable—or go vegetarian. Try spinach with garlic, beef and broccoli or chicken mixed with vegetables. Avoid eggplant, which soaks up oil like a sponge. One eggplant in garlic sauce dish can contain an amazing 1,000 calories.

Split Your Dishes

Order one vegetable dish and one other entrée and split them both. If you’re dining with a friend, this strategy will give you more vegetables and more variety.

Ask for Less Oil

Even a plate of stir-fried vegetables contains approximately 500 calories thanks to all the oil the restaurant uses. Ask them to use less, and they’ll usually oblige.

Separate Bowls

Keep your entrée and rice in separate bowls. Scooping rice onto your plate and dumping your sauce-laden entrée on top is the best way to get the most calories and fat out of your meal. The rice will soak up the sauce, making you want to eat every last bite of it. Instead, do as the Chinese do, and keep your rice in your rice bowl, and your meat and vegetables in the bowls in which they came. Using your chopsticks to first pick up a slice of meat, and then a few grains of rice from the other bowl, accomplishes two things: You leave the fatty sauce behind on the plate, and you eat less rice.

Steamed Tofu

Order tofu steamed, not deep fried. Tofu is a popular ingredient in many Asian cuisines. It’s an excellent protein source, packing about two grams per ounce, and contains only 183 calories. Try it instead or chicken, beef or pork. Just be sure to order it steamed or sautéed, not deep fried, or you’ll cancel out the benefits.