The best rule of thumb to apply when eating Chinese food is to avoid foods that have been deep-fried. This includes dumplings, spring rolls, fried rice and chicken or pork that has been deep fried. Steamed foods are a great choice, including steamed vegetables and steamed brown rice.

A regular-portioned Chinese meal including fried rice, orange chicken, sweet and sour pork, and a spring roll will add up to 900 calories with 40 grams of fat. If, by comparison, you choose regular portions of steamed rice, steamed vegetables, almond chicken and beef in black bean sauce instead, it will total around 550 calories and 27 grams of fat.