Food for Thought

A good choice?

Just read a blog post on one of the blogs I subscribe to that discussed what food to each for an acupuncture-approved diet.  Logically--but somewhat surprisingly--the blog recommends eating like...you're in a Chinese restaurant.  Of course!  Now, this doesn't mean the local Chinese greasy spoon.  Instead, it means a healthy Chinese restaurant, something that's not easy to find in the Brookline area.  Here are some of the specific recommendations, based on what is served at a Chinese restaurant:

1.  Lots of fresh vegetables, but all slightly cooked.  Raw vegetables are harder to digest.
2.  Variety.  In other words, eat family style, a little of this and a little of that to insure a wide range of vitamins and nutrients.
3.  No ice cold water.  This is why many Chinese restaurants serve tea rather than ice water.  Ice water halts the digestive process.  Warm water speeds it up.
4. No dairy.
5.  Very little dessert.  Who ever had cake at a Chinese restaurant? Fortune cookies only.

Of course, to suit American tastes (and speed up the cooking process to meet the demands of impatient diners), much food in American Chinese restaurants is deep fried, which negates nearly all of the benefits of this diet.  This is the problem: finding a place that doesn't Americanize the food so much as to ruin all of its benefits.  Not easy.