Family Meal Makeover Health Article

A typical Chinese takeout meal—sweet-and-sour chicken with vegetables over a plate of white rice and two fortune cookies—has well over 800 calories, at least 100 grams carbohydrate, 27 grams fat (7 grams saturated) and 2,075 mg sodium.

It's no wonder that people with diabetes or high blood pressure have trouble enjoying what we Americans call "Chinese" food. A lot of it is battered and deep-fried, adding plenty of sodium, calories, carbohydrate and fat, and most of the sauces are loaded with salt, sugar and starch. Round out the meal with a heap of white rice, and you've just gone into a calorie and carbohydrate overload. Energetic and athletic teenagers may burn the calories pretty quickly, but the whole family could benefit from more nutritious meals.

The revised EatingWell meal, which includes orange crisp cookies and a fruit salad for dessert, is a healthy meal for anyone, especially for someone who is watching his or her blood sugar level and counting carbs. It has only 593 calories, 84 grams carbohydrate, 14 grams fat (4 grams saturated) and 689 mg sodium. In addition, it provides 36 grams protein, 9 grams fiber, 78% daily value of vitamin A and 426% daily value of vitamin C.

For the cook in the family, making the meal takes a little more time than ordering takeout. But you can solve that problem by putting the other family members to work chopping and stirring.

Recipes include:

Sweet & Sour Chicken with Brown Rice

Orange Crisps with Citrus Fruit Salad

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