theres a local vegetarian indian resturant here that i really like...now on a cutting diet is there anything that anyone knows of that i can eat that wouldnt be that bad ...or well just down right good for me...ive given up all of my vices..i just wanna see which ones can be re introduced

I love Indian food- ask about the ingredients. I find there is often a lot of butter, whole-fat cheese and yogurt in use.

I've found that Indian food is generally full of fat - and the Indian food that is made to cater for Scots (and thus I suppose all Western tastes) is even worse. It's one of my vices too, but stay away from it unless it's a cheat meal. But here are my tips:

Starter:
Pakora is my favourite. But it's deep fat fried and battered. It' can also be full of trans fat. I can't think of anything that'd be worse for you. Better to choose one of the tandoori starters like chicken chaat.

Spiced onions are very good too but poppadoms - stay away from them. They're as bad as crisps (chips).



Main Course:
A lot of Indian meals (massala, korma) are made with butter and cream. I find it's no less satisfying to go for a tomato based meal like rogan josh or balti. Even better are the tikka dishes which serve sauce in a separate tub. Add as much as you need. With a lot of these sauces, you will see a little grease on the top, but you can remove this with a piece of kitchen roll.

Rice - basmati rice is very good for you if you can get it. Always get boiled - not fried.

Naan - get the plain ordinary naan - not peshwari. This is about as bad as normal white bread, but watch the amount of butter they add. It can be a lot! Ask them not to butter it - you can add your own! A local Indian restaurant here has started serving a chocolate naan that packs a massive 3000 calories itself!! I doubt they serve that in India.



Sweet:
Have something else. Don't go near it :) In my experience, nearly all Indian sweets are deep fried balls of dough. Very tasty, but you can feel your arteries clogging as you eat.

However, if you get yourself a good Indian cookbook, you can make a lot of the dishes WHILE sticking to your calorie intake and macros.

thanks...i figured it all tasted way to good to be something i could have on my diet..

You could certainly do it every now and then. Allow it as a weekly treat, or monthly, etc...

And you can almost get away with it if you're sensible about what you order. As I said, the tikka is fairly lean, so here's an example of a healthy-ish order:

Starter: Chicken Chaat - lots of protein. The tandoor oven is just like roasting a piece of chicken. However, remember these are chicken legs, not breast. The seasoning can have a lot of salt, but I don't see the harm.
Main: Chicken again (lamb or beef is generally too fatty). Make it chicken TIKKA. So a chicken tikka with whatever tomato-based sauce you fancy. Have with a small amount of unbuttered naan. I don't see why you'd need to butter it with the sauce there.

Go for it. I've had 2 Indian meals and a Chinese meal since I started 3.5 weeks ago. So, what, roughly one a week? I wouldn't be shooting for more than that anyway, and I've been successfully losing. And that's without choosing something healthy.

I don't know what choice of restaurants you have either, but in my small town of 16,000 people there are eight different Indian restaurant/takeaways. That's just the Indian ones - there are more Chinese ones than that, and we have a smattering of others including Malaysian, Thai and Italian. In a 16,000 population town!!! We Scots really like our Asian food. Anyway, my point is that depending on the place I choose, the food is better or worse quality. Some have hardly seen a vegetable and use loads of butter in everything, others have more sense than that, although tend to be more expensive. I pay that little bit more to get a quality meal. Actually, the best takeaway place in terms of health seems to be the Malaysian one. Every meal is packed with veg, and they don't even sell fried rice! Really tasty.

I really don't see the problem in having an Indian meal every now and again if that's your thing. I know I'd go mad without it.


Masher

I always stick with vegetables that have been stir-fried or that are in sauces, which I remove from the veggies as much as possible, once they're in my plate.

Chicken tandoori is great, but again, try to take a lot of the sauce off. As mentionned earlier, sauces are full of fat and butter. The naan bread is alright, and a lot of vegetarian Indian restaurants serve legume such as kidney beans, chickpeas, etc. (n sauces of course) as well as fish, usually which have been fried. Not so great!

For dessert, many Indian restaurants here have fruit available. There are also small white cubes (not sugar cubes!!) that basically have no sugar in them. In fact, they are recommended for diabetics who enjoy sweets! I know this because I'm Indian myself and my grandmother has diabetes. The white is mainly milk, usually with either vinegar and lemon mixed into it, and baked. I don't know if these are in restaurants, but they are popular in India for those who have to watch what they eat (which is rare over there, from my experience).

Hope this helps!

Indian food tastes great :drool: I am sure its less fattening than the Italian style food for example, which is full of cheese in everything. Most Indian dishes do not use cheese (most do use butter and oil though).

As you all said, Tandoori dishes are the way to go. Tandoori chicken, Tandoori bread (Nan) with veggies and gravy dishes and basmati rice makes a very satisfying meal. Sweets are soo nice...but have a lot of sugar and oil. Still OK for a cheat meal!

The fullness I get from eating Indian food (in restaurants) makes me make it a cheat meal only! I still think Indian cuisine is a better choice than Chinese or Italian food (the next two most commonly available cuisines here), as long as you choose wisely.