"Healthy" options in SGV?

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
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Yeah, yeah…I know. Please keep it snark free (lookin’ at you ipse :slight_smile: ) But does anyone have any options for low sodium, low sat fat, low cholesterol at SGV restaurants, including vegetable options that aren’t oily or topped by the little pink vegetable known as pork.

Any genuine suggestions that are snark free, would be appreciated.

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I’m not sure about the sodium content, but I think the tea leaf salad from Daw Yee Myanmar Cafe or Yoma might qualify. The nuts and seeds are packed with the right kind of cholesterol.

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Farm

And really any number of Poke places, or sushi restaurants (if you stay away from rolls and stick to nigiri or sashimi)

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Green Zone

Happy Family

Lu’s Garden

Hsi Lai Temple Buffet (depends)

Whole steam fish and veggies

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Green Zone. Good Salads, Grilled Fish.

–Dommy!

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Malady, ipse, JeetKuneBao, Dommy…thanks for the suggestions! I appreciate them.

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Canaan in West Covina has low fat, low sodium options. But otherwise don’t think much has changed since Frank Shyong wrote his 2013 Times article on organic etc. Chinese food. Jade House in Industry has closed. And just try to find diet soda in a Chinese supermarket. You’re lucky if you can find a small display of Diet Coke.

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Hell, good luck finding a ready-to-drink green or herbal tea that isn’t loaded with obscene amounts of sugar, let alone “unsweetened” :dizzy_face:

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bean sprouts cafe
103 e. huntington
arcadia

vegetarian chinese

http://www.beansproutstogo.com

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Saturated fats and cholesterol content would depend on the ingredients used, but they are not necessarily healthy. Deep fried veggies are low in saturated fats and cholesterol but won’t qualify as health foods. Would something like vegetable tempura fulfill your criteria (assuming it’s not too oily)?

Almost all restaurants serve foods high in sodium. What level of sodium would be acceptable?

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Hi Ray. Frying isn’t a good thing for overall saturated fat, so tempura would be out. As far as sodium, as low as possible to maintain (or come close to) the recommended 2300mg max in a day with 1500mg even more preferred. Yep, that little.

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Broth or Heartland Market in Walnut.

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Saturated fats are animal-based. But most restaurants use vegetable oils (unsaturated fats) for deep frying because they are easier to handle and clean. Tempura would be high in unsaturated fats but low in saturated fats, which is why I asked the question.

It’s difficult to recommend one restaurant because of the way dishes are cooked. Restaurants that serve many fresh vegetable dishes tend to be better bets, such as many types of Chinese restaurants.

Generally, I recommend the following to reduce sodium intake:

  1. Order dishes that must be made each time you order. Avoid soups and braised dishes because they are usually made in large batches. Chinese dumplings, XLB, etc. fall into this category. They already have a lot of salt.
  2. When you order dishes, ask for less salt.
  3. Avoid preserved foods (e.g. bacon, pickles), breads, and pasta dishes
  4. Plain rice or steamed buns are good sources of carbohydrates and low in sodium.

I’d recommend this to reduce the intake of saturated fats:

  1. Avoid from organ meats and animal fat.
  2. Order leaner cuts of meats (e.g. chicken breast, sirloin, flank steak).
  3. Avoid cheeses, cream-based dishes, and eggs.

Avoid shrimp and organ meats if you want to reduce the intake of cholesterol.

If you use these guidelines, it’ll be easier to identify which dishes more closely meet your criteria. For example, stir-fried flank steak with ginger and green onions (ordered with less salt) wouldn’t be a bad choice. But French-style beef wouldn’t be wise, because that cut of beef has more fat than flank steak.

A good Chinese vegetarian restaurant would easily fulfill your requirement about saturated fats. You would still need to be careful about unsaturated fats. Order steamed dishes and/or ask them to cook with less oil. However, you would still need to be careful about the sodium content of the food.

Sorry I can’t recommend a specific restaurant to meet your requirements. I can only recommend types of dishes to get or to avoid.

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Not to take away from the many good points in your post, but…

Not all of them - coconut oil is an example.

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Thanks for the clarification. This means that many curries would not meet the saturated fats requirements.

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I’m not at home so can’t check my “Asian Dumplings” cookbook but I don’t think of steamed dumplings as having too much of the ‘beware’ ingredients. ???

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Restaurants will typically add a lot of salt and/or MSG that may exceed JThur01’s sodium requirement. Also, if they use fatty meat, they would have more saturated fat.

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Here’s something from the American Heart Assn.

And here’s an article from the SF Chronicle.

For me, it’s simple choices.

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You get that much salt just by looking at the menu at most Chinese restaurants in the SGV.

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I know! Avoiding saturated fats is reasonably simple (excepting hidden ones), but that low a level of sodium is often a deal breaker for dishes that would otherwise work.

Thanks all, I appreciate the responses.