I was faced with a delicious Thai food takeout menu on Sunday.  It was full of salty, oily, and DELICIOUS options... Trying to stick to a healthy diet with this menu seemed nearly impossible when I had avoid Panang Curry that carries a whole days worth of fat in one 4 oz serving and my favorite, Drunken Noodle that has enough carries to count as 2 meals and contains a full days worth of sodium.  How can anyone get their Thai food fix without killing your whole week of healthy eating and fitness habits??

8 Tips to Create a Heathly Thai Food Takeout Meal:

1. Start with the summer rolls.  This unfried and fresh starter will help you from overeating on the four servings worth of a saucy entree you'll receive.  I'd love to recommend a soup to start, but with sodium levels of over 1,000mg, I just can't do it.
2. Avoid "crispy" and "fried" everything.  I'm sure most of you know this, but it just means fried with tons on un-heart healthy vegatable oil. Don't be fooled by "lightly fried" either... It's all the same!
3. Save curries for a homemade meal.  Regular coconut milk will add hundreds of calories to the dish plus over a full days' worth of fat.  Instead, make it yourself at home sometime with low fat coconut milk that you can get in specialty grocery stores or in the specialty food aisle.
4. Opt for Shrimp, tofu, or veggie options.  They'll save you over a hundred calories per serving. Usually even the seemingly lean meat options aren't as healthy as you'd hope because they aren't using the more expensive lean cuts.  Give tofu a try!  It soaks up all of the delicious sauces and tastes so much better then you would expect.
5. Give a Thai salad a shot. No one ever thinks of salad when you're thinking Thai food, but seriously, no Thai salad has ever dissapointed me.
6. Go spicy.  Many studies have shown that capsaicin, the component that gives chili peppers their heat, helps manage appetite and increases metabolism.  Whatever your heat tolerance may be, try to push it (try my quick low calorie recipe for Jalapeno Honey Popcorn)!
7. Portion your rice.  Just a half of a cup is over 100 calories, so put just a little on your plate (about the size of the palm of your hand) and put the rest in the frig for homemade fried rice in a couple of days.
8. Eat only one serving and put the rest away to save for another meal.  That doesn't mean serve yourself and let the containers sit on the counter... That means serve yourself, and portion the rest appropriately so there is one serving per container and pop them in the frig.  You can even label them for specific meals to help you stay away from nibbling on them for the rest of the evening.

So what did I choose Sunday night? I just couldn't go with a salad that night, so I went with shrimp sauteed in a spicy chili sauce with string beans and peppers.  It's one of the lowest calories sauces and I was certain to portion the ginormous portion they gave me to make for 2 more future meals.  Plus it was so spicy I drank 2 full glasses of water along with my portion so I didn't even have room to eat any more!

So go ahead, grab the takeout menu with the confidence that you won't gain the pound you lost last week or find yourself in a bloated food coma afterwards.  I promise... it is possible!  Have you order thai recently?  Comment below on what you ordered and how it left you feeling afterwards so we can all help each other make better ordering choices.

Until next time,

~E

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