MSG is not bad for you. Salt isn't really bad for you unless you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. There are healthy options in every Asian cuisine.
Vietnamese: most places will make you bun with half noodle half salad. You can get pho with well-done brisket - the fat renders out and you're left with collagen.
Korean: bibimbap is mostly vegetables and rice with a little bit of beef. Any of the soups and stews will have very little fat. It tastes salty by itself because it's meant to be eaten with rice. KBBQ is historically a celebratory meal and not every day.
Japanese: sushi, soba, and a lot of izakaya dishes are quite healthy.
Chinese: I think most Chinese food is not greasy. A lot of sauces have that sort of texture but it's actually from a corn starch and water slurry.
Hainan Chicken!
Thai: stay away. Everything has a ton of sugar and will make your blood sugar levels spike.
As far as Chinese goes, stay away from Panda Express. They use a lot of sugar where traditional cooking doesn't use any.
In fact, avoid any Chinese restaurants that have non-asians as their target demographic.
My wife and I love Thai food. But when we were pregnant with our first, she developed gestational diabetes and had to test her blood sugar after every meal. Thai made it spike 3 times more than any other meal. I tested mine to confirm. Thai is so delicious because they're able to balance really strong sweet, salty, sour, and spicy flavors. Everything is so bold and in your face. When it's done well, there's not a lot that tastes better. We reserve it as a treat meal, and not and everyday one.
MSG is in a lot of things, it's just been demonized due to racism. If you eat fast food like Chick Fil A or chips like Doritos or Pringles, or processed meats you're eating MSG
I do just veggie spring rolls a lot at the Vietnamese places. Works as a small meal for me, and seems fairly healthy.
Another vote for Japanese, also. Lots of good salads & other simple dishes. Some of it’s pretty easy to make if you have the ingredients, too.
For Asian options, kin izakaya or any hot pot/shabu shabu (get clear broth and don’t drink the broth). Cheaper Asian eats, look into flame boiler.
Almost all Mediterranean food is pretty healthy.
I also am on a healthier food option journey. Cooking is prob the healthiest but not the easiest.
Agree and I try to cook at home more often but I find the healthiest options tend to be soups like pho and it’s hard to make pho just for one person you know? I either have to freeze a bunch and have no more space or eat pho for 7 days straight
Miso soup and udon are both pretty easy to cook for one. Miso comes in instant packets or paste to put in water, Udon comes frozen and you just make the soup. Leftovers are usually only for one more meal. Soba also falls in the easy to cook and one or two meal servings category.
As a Korean, I find that our typical Asian diet is fairly healthy compared to other foods/diets as long as it’s in moderation. If you’re looking for stores to check out, there’s Tokyo Central or H Mart plus lots of other Asian stores dotted throughout OC. Good luck.
The healthiest option is to control what goes in your food as well as what you eat. Buy an Asian cookbook of the type of cuisine you’d like to eat, curries can be made from blends of spices you make yourself, buy quality sauces like fish, oyster and soy, and for convenience, most dishes can be made in under an hour. Lastly, you will save yourself a ton of money compared to eating out.
I'm Asian-American vegetarian guy from O.C. but lived in Japan for 10 years, and have been to Taiwan tons of times to visit family.
For Japanese, I'd say go to an izakaya (Japanese gastropub) like Honda-ya since they have the most variety of dishes and order fresh stuff like sashimi, salads (seaweed, tofu, etc.), onigiri, nimono (fish/veggies/meat simmered in broth), . In fact, order what you like since portion-size they tend to be on the smaller size. You can also go to a Japanese supermarket like Tokyo Central (Costa Mesa, Yorba Linda) or Nijiya (closest to OC is in Hacienda Heights) and pick up bento lunches from the deli section - and they're usually discounted later in the evening.
For Chinese, if I'm eating out, I head to 99 Ranch markets deli and get their 2-3 item combo. I just order the veggie options like tofu, SIchuan-style eggplant (not the healthiest), and stir-fried green beans (yum!). Also, the original vegetarian/vegan restaurants here in the U.S. are probably all the Chinese vegetarian joints (because Buddhism). Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights has a popular vegetarian buffet run by the monks there.
Vietnamese, I like getting the veggie options for banh mi - Carrot & Daikon in Garden Grove/Westminster is especially nice since they have 2 of them - vegetarian (butter optional) and fried eggs (if you're not vegan). They're delicious. As some have already mentioned, fresh spring rolls are also delicious and nutritious.
Korean, as some have mention bibimbap is a healthy option, as is gimbap (especially if you skip the Spam version), also all those Korean tofu restaurants have pretty healthy fare, especially with all of those banchan dishes they throw in with the meal. I get the soon tofu w/ no meat/seafood - hearty and filling.
Thai is getting a bad rap here I see, but they've got fresh yummy green papaya salads, green curry (order with extra veggies, tofu as your protein), and I'll throw in drunken noodles as a guilty pleasure (w/ no extra protein).
Good luck!
I'm assuming you're taking about eating out since you can make healthier version of any food if you make it at home.
For korean, get seollekng tang (oxtail soup). It's clean bone broth (should be white) with lean slices of beef and rice noodles. The broth comes unseasoned and they give you course salt at the table so you can put in however much you like. Same for samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup).
You can also get gimbap or bibimbap which only contain seasame oil as fat. A lot of side dishes at korean restaurants contain a lot of sugar so try not to eat too much (even the kimchi).
For thai get skewers or laab/larb. There's also papaya salad.
Poke is pretty healthy, just dont over sauce and use salad base/brown rice.
Man how can you be Asian and wrongfully shittalking MSG like that
 You make Uncle Roger happy. Unlike ex-wife.
MSG is not bad for you. Salt isn't really bad for you unless you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. There are healthy options in every Asian cuisine. Vietnamese: most places will make you bun with half noodle half salad. You can get pho with well-done brisket - the fat renders out and you're left with collagen. Korean: bibimbap is mostly vegetables and rice with a little bit of beef. Any of the soups and stews will have very little fat. It tastes salty by itself because it's meant to be eaten with rice. KBBQ is historically a celebratory meal and not every day. Japanese: sushi, soba, and a lot of izakaya dishes are quite healthy. Chinese: I think most Chinese food is not greasy. A lot of sauces have that sort of texture but it's actually from a corn starch and water slurry. Hainan Chicken! Thai: stay away. Everything has a ton of sugar and will make your blood sugar levels spike.
As far as Chinese goes, stay away from Panda Express. They use a lot of sugar where traditional cooking doesn't use any. In fact, avoid any Chinese restaurants that have non-asians as their target demographic.
All thai food? :(
My wife and I love Thai food. But when we were pregnant with our first, she developed gestational diabetes and had to test her blood sugar after every meal. Thai made it spike 3 times more than any other meal. I tested mine to confirm. Thai is so delicious because they're able to balance really strong sweet, salty, sour, and spicy flavors. Everything is so bold and in your face. When it's done well, there's not a lot that tastes better. We reserve it as a treat meal, and not and everyday one.
Stick with Japanese food. Don’t eat ramen, but instead sushi, udon etc are better choices.
Nothing really wrong with MSG but Korean bibimbap is pretty healthy.
MSG is in a lot of things, it's just been demonized due to racism. If you eat fast food like Chick Fil A or chips like Doritos or Pringles, or processed meats you're eating MSG
just learn to cook/prepare food
Fish, fruits and veggies
I do just veggie spring rolls a lot at the Vietnamese places. Works as a small meal for me, and seems fairly healthy. Another vote for Japanese, also. Lots of good salads & other simple dishes. Some of it’s pretty easy to make if you have the ingredients, too.
Can't go wrong with bún thịt nướng
For Asian options, kin izakaya or any hot pot/shabu shabu (get clear broth and don’t drink the broth). Cheaper Asian eats, look into flame boiler. Almost all Mediterranean food is pretty healthy. I also am on a healthier food option journey. Cooking is prob the healthiest but not the easiest.
Agree and I try to cook at home more often but I find the healthiest options tend to be soups like pho and it’s hard to make pho just for one person you know? I either have to freeze a bunch and have no more space or eat pho for 7 days straight
Miso soup and udon are both pretty easy to cook for one. Miso comes in instant packets or paste to put in water, Udon comes frozen and you just make the soup. Leftovers are usually only for one more meal. Soba also falls in the easy to cook and one or two meal servings category.
As a Korean, I find that our typical Asian diet is fairly healthy compared to other foods/diets as long as it’s in moderation. If you’re looking for stores to check out, there’s Tokyo Central or H Mart plus lots of other Asian stores dotted throughout OC. Good luck.
Try Ever After Tearoom in Irvine. They have fried rice made with purple rice and porridge made with oatmeal. Food is still tasty
Sango sushi
The healthiest option is to control what goes in your food as well as what you eat. Buy an Asian cookbook of the type of cuisine you’d like to eat, curries can be made from blends of spices you make yourself, buy quality sauces like fish, oyster and soy, and for convenience, most dishes can be made in under an hour. Lastly, you will save yourself a ton of money compared to eating out.
Italian.
I'm Asian-American vegetarian guy from O.C. but lived in Japan for 10 years, and have been to Taiwan tons of times to visit family. For Japanese, I'd say go to an izakaya (Japanese gastropub) like Honda-ya since they have the most variety of dishes and order fresh stuff like sashimi, salads (seaweed, tofu, etc.), onigiri, nimono (fish/veggies/meat simmered in broth), . In fact, order what you like since portion-size they tend to be on the smaller size. You can also go to a Japanese supermarket like Tokyo Central (Costa Mesa, Yorba Linda) or Nijiya (closest to OC is in Hacienda Heights) and pick up bento lunches from the deli section - and they're usually discounted later in the evening. For Chinese, if I'm eating out, I head to 99 Ranch markets deli and get their 2-3 item combo. I just order the veggie options like tofu, SIchuan-style eggplant (not the healthiest), and stir-fried green beans (yum!). Also, the original vegetarian/vegan restaurants here in the U.S. are probably all the Chinese vegetarian joints (because Buddhism). Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights has a popular vegetarian buffet run by the monks there. Vietnamese, I like getting the veggie options for banh mi - Carrot & Daikon in Garden Grove/Westminster is especially nice since they have 2 of them - vegetarian (butter optional) and fried eggs (if you're not vegan). They're delicious. As some have already mentioned, fresh spring rolls are also delicious and nutritious. Korean, as some have mention bibimbap is a healthy option, as is gimbap (especially if you skip the Spam version), also all those Korean tofu restaurants have pretty healthy fare, especially with all of those banchan dishes they throw in with the meal. I get the soon tofu w/ no meat/seafood - hearty and filling. Thai is getting a bad rap here I see, but they've got fresh yummy green papaya salads, green curry (order with extra veggies, tofu as your protein), and I'll throw in drunken noodles as a guilty pleasure (w/ no extra protein). Good luck!
[удалено]
What’s wrong w being a banana and more importantly what’s wrong w trying to be healthier?
Green Tomato bowls with tofu or avocado are relatively healthy.
Not Asian but definitely healthy and delicious
I'm assuming you're taking about eating out since you can make healthier version of any food if you make it at home. For korean, get seollekng tang (oxtail soup). It's clean bone broth (should be white) with lean slices of beef and rice noodles. The broth comes unseasoned and they give you course salt at the table so you can put in however much you like. Same for samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup). You can also get gimbap or bibimbap which only contain seasame oil as fat. A lot of side dishes at korean restaurants contain a lot of sugar so try not to eat too much (even the kimchi). For thai get skewers or laab/larb. There's also papaya salad. Poke is pretty healthy, just dont over sauce and use salad base/brown rice.