It’s late and you are heading home from work or the gym. You aren’t really sure what to do about dinner. You forgot to thaw the chicken and haven’t been grocery shopping in ages. You are almost home, but trouble is looming ahead. All of a sudden you are starving. You see the neon lights of a pizza shop, Chinese restaurant and McDonalds calling your name.  Suddenly you go into autopilot mode and walk into the one of these not-so-healthy restaurants and place your order. Of course you order more food than you need because you are starving. 1000 calories later, you are upset and somewhat disgusted with yourself for once again giving into temptation. (no - that pic is not of me!)

Does this sound familiar? To me it does! I tend to work late and then go to the gym until nearly 10 pm. On my way home, I tell myself that I’ll just have a light dinner like yogurt and fruit because it is so late (and I have minimal food in my apartment!). But all of a sudden the hunger kicks in and I find myself in the pizza shop one block from my apartment. What is wrong with this picture? It shows that I’m human like everyone else. I work very long hours, often skip grocery shopping, wait too long before eating and then get starving, which leads me to grab what’s closest and easiest. Ok, so least I’m not getting General Tso’s chicken and fried rice! But aside from not being the most nutritious choice in the world, the slice of pizza doesn’t fill me and I end up still looking for more food in my apartment. (pics are of Famiglia Pizza shop one block from my apartment that I pass on my way home every night)

Here is the breakdown of the above scenerio with problems & solutions:

#1 Problem: Letting too much time go between meals and snacks which leads to excessive hunger and increases the chances that you will make a poor dinner choice. Going too long without eating will actually cause your body to secrete chemicals that will increase cravings for carbs and fat! You will also get low blood sugar which will make it difficult for you to get satiated when you do eat something…therefore you feel the need to eat and eat and eat!

Solution: Plan a late afternoon snack or a little snack before going to the gym. I’ve started grabbing an energy bar before hitting the gym because it’s convenient. Check out my previous post on energy bars. Other snacks include string cheese and fruit, pb on crackers, cottage cheese or light yogurt and a fruit. I would suggest about 200 calories for a snack between lunch and dinner. This way you won’t be quite as starving when dinner time comes.

#2  Problem: No food in your apartment.

Solution: Obvious - go food shopping. If you don’t have the time, order a Fresh Direct delivery to your apartment.  The key is to plan and keep ingredients available that can be used to make meals. Ideally for me, meals that take 10 minutes or less.  I will post more ideas on quick dinners in the next few weeks.

#3  Problem: Passing your favorite “not-so-healthy” store on your way home from work.

Solution: Make a detour when you are walking home. Walk (or drive if you aren’t a city girl/guy!) a few blocks out of the way to you won’t even see these problem spots.

#4  Problem: Getting take-out dinners from the same old greasy places.

Solution: FInd healthy alternatives in your neighborhood. They are out there - it just takes a little searching.

Here are some suggestions:
- Japanese (check out my post on calories in sushi and sashimi)
- Chinese steamed chicken, shrimp, scallops or tofu with sauce on the side and brown rice
- Rotissiere chicken (1/4) with baked potato and steamed veggies
- Middle eastern chicken kebob with pita bread and salad (add your own low fat dressing)
- Subway 6″ sandwich on whole wheat bread (check out my post on Subway)
- Chinese steamed seafood, veggie or chicken dumplings and a small hot n’ sour soup (no crispy noodles)
- ONE slice of pizza (add your own salad or veggies) OK - so this isn’t such a bad choice on occasion!

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I posted this article about 9 months ago. However I’ve had so many questions recently from my clients on calories in Chinese food that I wanted to repost it so everyone would see it. Many of my clients trying to lose weight eat this cuisine on a regular basis. I think most of us know it isn’t the healthiest food around, but I think a lot of people don’t realize how bad it can actually be for your waistline… 

 Chinese food tastes so good … but is so fattening! Most dishes are high in calories and fat due to the amount of oil used in cooking. In addition, many of the vegetables soak up the oil like a sponge (especially eggplant). Many of the dishes contain over 800 calories - and this is before you add the rice. And do not let the fact that a particular dish is vegetarian fool you. Some of these dishes are the highest in calories!

The Center for Science in the Public Interest decided to see how fattening Chinese food really was. They bought food from multiple Chinese restaurants and had it analyzed at a lab.

Here are the Calories in Chinese Food:
Egg drop soup (one serving in restaurant) 100 calories for each soup
Hot & sour soup
Wonton soup
Little pack of fried noodles 150 calories

These figures do not include rice. Add 200 calories for each cup of white rice

Tips for surviving Chinese food:

• Obviously steamed protein and vegetable dishes are your best bet for 325 calories. Add a few Tablespoons of sauce on the side. If you need rice, try to limit it to 1/2 cup of brown rice. All for 445 calories.

• Not a bad idea to start the meal with a soup - no crispy noodles of course. Soup helps to fill you up. One bowl is 100 calories

• Some restaurants also have special diet menus (called Revolution Diet Meals) where the dishes are prepared in a sauce with soy sauce, broth, ginger, black beans or garlic AND no added oil or cornstarch. These dishes would be substantially lower in calories than the regular dishes maybe by 200-300 calories due to the limited anount of oil used in cooking. However steamed food would still be the lowest.

• Try to eat with chopsticks. Hard to shovel in rice with chopsticks.

• Order your dishes lightly stir-fried. Avoid battered, breaded and double fried.

• How about ordering one chicken with brocoli stir-fry dish (700 calories) and one dish with steamed shrimp and veggies. (325 caloires). You can mix the two to cut calories. You should then be getting 3 meals from these orders of food for a total of 330 calories per meal. You can add 1/2 cup (100 calories ) - 1 cup of rice (200 calories) to each portion. So these meals will total 430 - 530 calories for entree and rice.

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