Many ethnic cuisines offer exciting, healthful dining. Chinese and Japanese foods are almost always low in saturated fat and total fat. The reason is that these main dishes focus on vegetables and rice, using meat and seafood only in small amounts. Good choices at Asian cuisine restaurants include soups and stir-fry dishes. High-fat main dishes to be selected only occasionally are egg rolls, duck, and tempura.
Mediterranean cooking has many delicious low-fat main dishes.
Focusing on pasta, tomato sauces, and small amounts of meat is the key. Few Italian or Greek dishes are fried, but some are prepared with high fat ingredients such as cheese, sour cream, cooking oil, and cream. Good Italian choices include pasta in tomato or clam sauce, pasta primavera, minestrone, boneless chicken breast in tomato and mushroom sauce, steamed clams, shrimp sauteed in broth, and veal sauteed in lemon juice. Many Mexican restaurants take healthful ingredients and add excessive amounts of lard and other fats. Choose soft-shell burritos and tacos.