A must-see for office workers! The total calories of buffet dishes are less than 600 calories

People who eat out and office workers have limited time for lunch breaks and meals, so they often have a bento meal, which is quick and convenient. However, bento boxes actually hide many health risks, such as high-oil and high-salt cooking methods, unbalanced dish combinations, and excessive calories due to large portions. A fried chicken leg bento box contains over 1,000 calories. The calories consumed in lunch alone are far more than half of the daily requirement. No wonder many office workers complain that their waistlines increase with age.

When I was still an office worker, I often ate bento for lunch, but rarely had take-out bento. Instead, I was very careful to choose the dishes myself, with the aim of increasing the amount of vegetables and reducing the chance of consuming fried food. The whole meal was not only nutritionally balanced, but also had a total calorie content of less than 600 calories. The greasy buffet immediately became a great thing for weight loss! If you want to eat buffet without gaining weight, you must be careful about the choice of dishes. The following are instructions on side dishes, main dishes, staple foods, and drinks:

Side dishes

Generally speaking, you can choose three side dishes for a buffet. When choosing side dishes, choose two or more pure vegetables, such as: various leafy vegetables, peppers, mushrooms, kelp, etc., to supplement enough dietary fiber; some side dishes are semi-vegetarian, such as: scrambled eggs with carrots, fried cabbage with tofu, etc., you can choose one to match. The serving of one vegetable is about 0.5 servings of vegetable food. If you choose three vegetables, you can reach 1.5 servings of vegetables, which is about half of the daily requirement. Vegetables are low in calories. The same pure vegetable dish has about 30 to 50 calories, and semi-vegetarian dishes have about 60 to 100 calories.

But it is worth noting that some vegetable dishes are prepared by "frying first and then stir-frying" to maintain their bright color or enhance their taste, such as stir-fried eggplant or dry-fried green beans. These dishes often absorb a lot of oil and should be avoided as much as possible during weight loss.

In addition, vegetarians, in addition to vegetables, can also choose eggs and tofu dishes to supplement the protein needed by the body, such as: scallion eggs, steamed eggs, braised tofu, century egg and tofu... etc., and avoid processed foods with high salt and additives content such as bean curd, vegetarian meat, and vegetarian ingredients.

main course

Fish and meat that are cooked by steaming, boiling, braising, stewing, or mixing them cold, such as braised chicken legs, garlic pork, steamed cod, etc., are the first choice for those who want to lose weight, as they can supplement protein without being too greasy ; the next choice is fried or stir-fried dishes, such as fried chicken thighs, fried milkfish, stir-fried chicken cubes, etc.; if there is really no other choice and only deep-fried main dishes can be chosen, such as fried chicken legs, fried spareribs, fried shrimp rolls, etc., you can choose "easy to peel" meat such as fried chicken legs, because the flour-coated skin of fried food absorbs the highest oil!

The calories of non-fried main dishes will vary depending on the cooking method and the part of the meat. Choose parts with less fat and lean meat, and follow the principle of cooking with less oil and peeling the skin. The calories of the main dish can be controlled at around 150~200 calories.

Staple Food

The amount of rice in buffet bento is often too much, with one bento containing about 1.5 bowls or more. People who want to lose weight or maintain their figure are advised to reduce the amount of rice, by 1/3 for boys and 1/2 for girls, or measure it by bowl, controlling the amount of rice to between 1/2 bowl and 1 bowl, which is about 140 to 280 calories.

When it comes to choosing rice, brown rice, purple rice, and sweet potato rice are the best, as they not only give you a long-lasting feeling of fullness but can also promote gastrointestinal motility. Sometimes, if there are root vegetables such as pumpkin, taro, and yam in the dishes, I will directly choose them as the staple food. They have a soft and glutinous texture, are very chewy, and are also very healthy ingredients.

Drinks and Soups

Buffet restaurants usually provide free black tea, winter melon tea or Yakult, which are drinks with high sugar content. In order to avoid consuming too much refined sugar, you can give up the drinks to avoid the problem of excessive sugar intake. The big pot soup in the buffet restaurant may have too much salt due to the long cooking time or the addition of unsold chicken and bones from the previous meal, so you should think twice before eating.

Grasp the above four principles, choose three kinds of vegetables, match them with a palm-sized fish, and reduce the starch by half, and you will have a lunch box with less than 600 calories . Not only is there enough vegetables, but it also has balanced nutrition. For those who are watching their weight, it is a very safe choice for eating out!

This article comes from: Nutritionist Loves to Nag – Nutritionist Sun Yuming "How to Eat at a Buffet Without Gaining Weight? Choose the right dishes, the total calories are less than 600 calories》

※For more information, please visit Nutritionist Loves to Nag – Nutritionist Sun Yuming’s blog