Oriental, Japanese and Mexican Food, Restaurant and Dieting

Oriental Restaurants

The worst part of an oriental meal is the MSG (monosodium glutamate). It causes some people to experience what is known as the Chinese restaurant syndrome—that empty feeling after a Chinese meal, a nagging headache, and a large percent of the bloating that follows your meal. Designed to perk up your taste buds, it can also muddle your brain and confound your nervous system. It reacts negatively against your chemical balance.

Try asking your waiter to leave out the MSG. Maybe he will. One way to tell for sure is to wait five minutes after taking your first bite. If it contains MSG and you are sensitive to it, you will feel a tingling on the tips of your fingers and the back of your neck. There is good news, however. Some of the newer and almost all of the better Chinese restaurants have stopped using MSG because there’s been such a public outcry against it.

The second killer in a Chinese restaurant is the sodium- laden soy sauce. An integral part of Chinese food, it’s hard to avoid. I, your basic bloater, avoid it. This is a choice you’ll have to make for yourself. Because there is a recoup and because Conscious Combining is never a never. If you decide to go straight without MSG and soy sauce, then ask to have your food cooked with lots of garlic and ginger. It’s marvelous!

Open Carb. Vegetables and stir-fried rice is one of my favorites. (Hold the egg please; it adds consistency and protein, making it a miscom, but no flavor^-.) Noodles, you know, originated in China, and Chinese restaurants do wonderful things with them. Chow mein and all its many variations are delicious too. just make sure there’s no protein, salt, or soy sauce included in any of the carb dishes. Be careful with soups. They’re probably made with chicken stock and thus self-defeating.

Open Protein. Most protein dishes can be adapted for Conscious Combiners. If vegetables are mixed in, just push them aside. The presence of vegetables, you’ll recall, doesn’t make the protein indigestible. It’s the protein that dramatically interferes with the digestion of the carbs. Watch the sauces.

Japanese Restaurants

Japanese food is tricky, too, because of the soy sauce and the MSG. Your Open Carb choices are far more limited than with Chinese food. Vegetable tempura is a great exception. If they leave out the egg in the batter. Obviously, rice is a mainstay. Also the stir-fried and steamed vegetables—sans protein.

Your best bet in a Japanese restaurant is Open Protein. I adore Sashimi (raw fish). Kobe beef or any of their mixed dishes can be adapted. Lots of Combiners bring along their Mazel Dressing to use as a dip. It’s much better than the house sauces and far less destructive.

Remember that the base of Japanese sauces is soy sauce, and if you’re a bloater that will translate into pounds tomorrow. Always ask yourself “Is it worth it?” and if the answer is yes, then go ahead and enjoy it because tomorrow is another day and it’s here for you to enjoy because you have the tools for eternal slimhood.

Mexican Restaurants

Cheese breathes life into a Mexican restaurant. Beware! Despite this, Mexican restaurants are easier to handle than you might at first think.

Open Carb. Try chips and salsa. You’d be surprised how few Mexican restaurants salt their chips. Check it out. Watch for sugar in the salsa. A tostado salad minus the protein_; the beans, cheese, and avocado are great. Try flour tortillas or corn tortillas with unsalted butter. If you can, talk your waiter into producing a cheeseless enchilada filled with onions and sour cream; that’s a carb and fat combo, perfectly acceptable and delicious to boot. Add some salsa, and you’ll think you’re i_n Acapulco.

Open Protein. Came asada is excellent. So is fish. O_r if you’re an avocado lover, you’re in luck: it is a mainstay of Mexican restaurants. Guacamole is a miscombination, however.

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