From the perspective of nutrition and food safety, how should one choose and pair takeout food?
1. Order lighter dishes. A major nutritional issue with takeout food is the high use of seasonings like oil, salt, MSG, and chicken powder, which is detrimental to health. If you order heavily flavored dishes, you can rinse them with water before eating.
2. Order dishes that do not require deep processing. Dishes like Braised Eggplant, Yu-Shiang Shredded Pork, and Dry-fried Green Beans are relatively complex to prepare. On one hand, prolonged high-temperature cooking can destroy certain nutrients. On the other hand, these complexly processed dishes are heavily flavored, which can easily mask the fact that the ingredients themselves are not fresh. Light stir-fries and cold dishes are relatively better options.
3. Do not drink the dish broth, and it is also not recommended to pour it over your rice to eat.
4. It is best to avoid fried foods for staples and meat products. Many people like to order fried items like youtiao, huoshao, fried chicken chunks, or fried chicken cutlets as staples. Frying not only increases calories and causes nutrient loss, but the high temperatures of frying can easily produce carcinogens such as benzopyrene and acrylamide. Rice, pizza, and vegetarian steamed buns are relatively healthier staple choices.
5. Additionally, you can bring your own food to help compensate for the lack of variety in meals eaten out. Convenient-to-carry foods with high nutritional value include yogurt, nuts, and raw vegetables and fruits, such as cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and apples.