Chinese food is undoubtedly delicious, there's no getting away from it. It's



hard to resist and so it's real easy to pack away calories without thinking

about it.

Eating too much fatty foods high in salt and sugars can lead to many health

problems. High blood pressure, obesity, and even act as a catalyst towards

diabetes, and this is only touching the surface.

Now I know this sounds like doom and gloom but unfortunately this is the reality of it.

Now we're all scared of all these health problems but what can we do? Our

tongue demands mouth watering dishes and will not accept anything less.

Over the years I've had many customers telling me about the health problems and they know that the food they are eating may not be good for them and yet they just won't stop.

In the words of one of my regular customers, actually I've edited a few words

of profanity that was added to it. I would die happier man knowing that I have eaten the most delicious food even if it kills me, than live forever eating only rabbit food.

For some of us we eat just to live, however for many we live to eat. Our

pallet plays such a big part in our lives that it overwhelms all other

desires.

My name is Ben and I'm a Chinese Chef, I own my own little Chinese

Takeaway in the heart of Leicestershire. I was trained by my father who is a wonderful Chinese Chef.

It is through him that I have come to absolutely adore delicious food, it's really hard not to when you have a dad that is so great at cooking.

I really enjoy cooking and I regularly eat the food that I serve to all my customers.

That's always a good way to tell if the food is good or not, if the food

isn't good enough for the chef to eat then it isn't good enough for the customers either.

Well anyway, as much as I love cooking the food and enjoy the compliment the

customers give me for my cooking, but sometimes I felt bad inside.

Let me explain why. It was the thought that the very food that I enjoy preparing so much and I know my customers love could be harming them. It was at that point that I realised that if anybody could do something about it then it was me.

Being faced with this dilemma I was inspired to challenge myself; to create

delicious recipes that were healthier than your average takeaway. If I could achieve this then people could continue to enjoy our wonderful Chinese dishes whilst minimizing the detrimental side effects to their health.

I carefully analysed each dish, taking all the ingredients apart one by one and considered where the unique taste came from and what could be done to make it healthier. Many Chinese dishes are pretty healthy as they are, i.e. stir fry dishes.

Here the dishes are cooked very quickly [so retaining the essential vitamins the vegetables contain] with very little vegetable oil, which is good for you anyway.

I took it upon myself to investigate how each dish could be modified to reduce any fats, salt and sugar content and sought out possible alternatives to the ingredients if necessary, so not to compromise the unique taste of each dish.

I slowly but surely evaluated the most popular dishes on my menu. I reduced ingredients that encouraged an unhealthy lifestyle and removed ingredients that could be substituted with a much healthier alternative, without compromising the taste.

With that, the Chinese Chef book was born. Now don't get me wrong, my book

isn't only about healthy Chinese food. There are those of you out there who really don't care about healthy food, and fair enough! You've got high metabolism and can get away with eating just about anything without having to worry about your waistline!

For those of you I have left the original recipes in my book, but have pointed out in eachdishes what can be done to make it healthier without compromising the taste.

And just to confirm that the taste has not been compromised in the healthier dishes, I'vetested them on my customers. In the majority of the cases they couldn't tell any difference between the healthier dish and the not so healthy dish. The thing that I found most interesting was that in the cases that they could tell the difference, customers actually preferred the

healthier option. They said it tasted better, fresher and the flavours were more vibrant.

Well that is that. This is how the Chinese Chef book was born. For those of you that love Chinese food and want to watch your waist line and live a healthier lifestyle visit my website and enjoy healthy Chinese food for years to come.

www.chinese-foodrecipes.com

Best Wishes

Ben Luong [Chinese Chef]