Pad Thai gets a bad rating for fats

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http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25 ... 98,00.html

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Thai tops pizza as fattiest takeaway

The Sunday Telegraph

June 14, 2009 12:00am



Pad Thai
Tasty ... but not so healthy, Pad Thai.

* Consumer group compares take away foods
* Finds pizza has less fat than Pad Thai
* Chinese a "more healthy option"

IT'S cheap and tasty but full of fat: Pad Thai has beaten pizza to be rated one of our unhealthiest takeaway dishes.

Australians spend on average 10 per cent of their food budget on takeaway dishes that are mostly too high in kilojoules and drowning in fat and salt.

A survey by consumer group Choice compared popular Thai, Chinese, Italian and Indian dishes with pizzas, chicken and fish and chips, and found some Asian specialties were laden with nasties.

Beef in black bean sauce with a serve of boiled rice, and aloo matar (potato and pea curry) were among the better options, while butter chicken contained 12g of fat per 100g, 5.1g of them saturated.

Thai fish cakes had excessive amounts of salt, while Pad Thai contained 11.3g of fat per 100g and beef penang contained 8.8g, including 6.1g of saturated fat.

Pasta napolitana was the healthiest Italian dish, while chicken cacciatore was among the worst.

KFC chicken and chips had more than double the fat of Nando's and more than triple the saturated fat.

Supreme pizzas from both Dominos and Pizza Hut were worse than vegetarian and Hawaiian toppings, but contained less fat per 100g than Chinese omelette with chicken, Pad Thai, palak paneer (spinach and cheese curry) and butter chicken, and the same amount of fat as Thai basil chicken.

"Pad Thai, which is probably one of Australia's favourite takeaway meals, tops the list of all the Thai dishes both because of the fat content - it's a noodle dish so it's energy dense - and also the sodium involved," Choice spokeswoman Elise Davidson said.

"Chinese was such a healthy option, it came out better than most of the other cuisines in terms of overall fat energy and salt content."

Takeaway lovers should steer clear of coconut milk and creamy sauces, fried rice and satay dishes at Thai and Chinese, and order stir-fries and braised meat instead.

At Indian restaurants, tandoori chicken and dhaals are healthier meals.

If the temptation to indulge is too strong, you can exercise your fast food meal away.

But, be warned: It will take plenty of effort.

Be prepared to do up to 161 minutes of hard cycling to work off a lamb korma, 172 minutes to burn off a sweet and sour pork, and an astonishing 192 minutes to work off a supreme pizza.

[Aardvark]

Now I'd swear this was posted a few days ago

[seymourbutts]

Are they red or yellow shirts the Pad Thai???

[beer monkey]

Now I'd swear this was posted a few days ago

La posted it.