Your food may have hidden sins

A quick guide to restaurant grub that’s marketed as Spartan, but isn’t all that it claims to be

So you’re out at a restaurant and are scanning the menu or the glass shelves, depending on whether you’re doing fancy or coffee shop. You pick what you think is the most virtuous — diet-wise, inwardly scorning the table next door that has a double-fudge brownie topped with ice cream (gasp!). Your food may have hidden sins, as these chefs and dieticians tell us. So what are the offending items?

Salad

The health claim: It’s full of antioxidants, thanks to all those colours. We all need to increase our fruit and vegetable intake, for roughage too.

India’s Phytonutrient Report , published last year, found that we consume only 3.5 servings of the stuff, against the World Health Organization recommendation of five servings.

T he fact: Are you sure those veggies and fruits are washed, or that food handlers have washed their own hands? Bacterial infections spread and could cause anything from nausea and stomach cramps to vomiting and diarrhoea. Dressings can be full of fat or sugar, a pasta salad is simply maida, and something that claims to be loaded with vegetables may just turn out to have a lot of iceberg lettuce, which doesn’t give you that antioxidant hit you’re looking for, says Sheela Krishnaswamy, a Bengaluru-based dietician. Also, people with GI trouble or older folk may find them difficult to digest.

Health ful advice: Ask what veggies will go in, what the dressing is and tell the chef to avoid any kind of added sugar. Ask if he can put in some fresh fruit or dry fruit instead. Avoid a pasta salad. If salad is a side, choose a French vinaigrette dressing, made with olive oil and a souring agent, rather than a honey-mustard that is often loaded with a sweetener, or mayonnaise.

Soup

The health claim: It’s veggies in puree form, so easy to feed veg-resisting kids. Plus, chicken soup is a good source of protein, along with the other nutrients that the veggies you dunk in give.

Th e fact: If you’ve just ordered beetroot-carrot soup and sit back with a smug grin, know that all those nutrients may not be absorbed by the gut, because it goes through so quickly, says Manjari Chandra, Senior Consultant, Nutrition, Max Healthcare, Delhi. A lot of the goodness may be lost with improper storage and overcooking. “You’ll always have a red tomato soup, and that’s probably added artificial colour, which has shown to cause respiratory problems,” she says. Basic restaurants use dehydrated soup cubes as base for soups, and creamy soups may be full of corn starch. Chicken broth is full of fats, so high in calories. As a meal it’s okay, but as an in-between snack, it may just be too much. It’s tempting to add flavouring agents, like soya sauce which has a high salt content, and tomato ketchup which may have high fructose corn syrup.

Healthfu l advice: Try a shorba , says Chandra. This is usually a thin soup that doesn’t use a base stock, but is light with just water, vegetable and seasoning. Or eat at a health café, where you can ask upfront what’s going in.

SMOOTHIES

The hea lth claim: It’s got good stuff like milk and yoghurt, fruit, honey, nuts, seeds and nut butters.

The fa ct: “Anything in moderation is all right,” says Sood. The problem is an overload: full-fat milk, high-sugar fruit, nuts or nut butters, all in one glass. A fully-loaded smoothie could end up with the same number of calories as a full meal.

Healthful ad vice: Ask the chef to throw in some vegetables too (beetroot, baby spinach). The fruit will mask the taste of vegetables, and you’ll get a hearty dose of antioxidants and fibre. Also ask for semi-skimmed milk or yoghurt. For nuts and nut butters, watch your portions. Always.

Dimsums

The health claim: They’re steamed, and mostly, what’s in them is good: vegetables or chicken.

The fact : Do remember that the outside is usually made of refined flour or maida. A better option would be one made of rice flour but, “honestly, the quantum of maida used is too small to make much of a difference.” The real problem, is the stuffing. “Since it is steamed, people add a lot of sauces like soy and ketchup to make it more flavourful,” says Bengaluru-based nutritionist Anju Sood. These are very high in sodium, sugar and preservatives. “Also, while the outside is steamed, there is often a lot of fat added to the stuffing.”

Healthfu l advice: Portion control is key; don’t overdo them. Or avoid them, opting instead for, “salad sticks with hummus dip or vegetable tikki or grilled paneer /tofu or boiled egg masala or roasted nuts or masala peanuts or any other snack which is not deep-fried or is loaded with salt,” as Krishnaswamy says.