The perfect solution is to know what you put in your mouth. You can have a six pack and still enjoy sugars and fats. But you have to be aware of how much carbs, fats and proteins your body needs and how much you actually get. Then adjust your diet to that on the fly.

Ate a bunch of fries (fat and carbs) for lunch? Eat a stake and veggies for dinner (protein and fiber).

My observation is that unhealthy people are the ones who usually end up at “healthy diet” salad bars, trying to compensate for sugar addictions. The really fit people I usually find at buffets - Asian, etc., which many people in my social circle consider to be “unhealthy diets”. There they can put together their own dish by themselves, depending on how much carbs, fats and proteins they roughly estimate that they need right at that moment.

The founders of Chipotle started Shophouse which they describe as "the bold flavors of Southeast Asia," so you're on to something.

Takeout food is generally unhealthy, though. The pho I've eaten has off the charts amounts of sodium, but it does have plenty of vegetables.

> Takeout food is generally unhealthy, though. The pho I've eaten has off the charts amounts of sodium

Is there something takeout places usually put in it that people who make it at home don't?

You can mask poor ingredients by dumping salt and sugar into dishes. Sugar actually stops you from tasting all the salt.

Most people have trouble adding MSG directly to their food, restaurants have no such qualms.

MSG is not unhealthy AFAIK. Wikipedia covers that for one. For anecdata see Japan. Highest life expectancy, most msg usage. And it's commonly used in home cooking

Arguably, MSG itself isn't unhealthy (in limited doses), but it enhances taste so much, that it's often used to cover up for poor quality or even expired products. For example, lower quality hot dogs without MSG and other additives are basically inedible, for the same reason junk food is tasty as well.

It's just salt and glutamic acid (naturally occurring in mushrooms, tomatoes, etc), and it immediately dissolves to each of those components in water. Usually the problem isn't with MSG but with too much salt at places that also add MSG.

I spent almost two months in Vietnam and ate tons of pho (the easiest thing to order since most restaurants have no menus and spoke no English). The amount of vegetables, if any, was very small.

I'm not sure where you were, but my wife and I just returned from 14 days in Vietnam. There was so much diversity in the food: Lemon grass, garlic, ginger, morning glory, two types of basil, onions, two types of cilantro, carrots, three types of peppers, lettuce, green onion, peanuts, sesame, shallots, cucumber, tomato, mint, banana flower, cabbage, papaya, mango, dragon fruit, breast fruit, lime. I'm sure I'm still missing a dozen.

I was referring to pho specifically. But in general, vegetables are harder to find if you are away from the tourist areas. I traveled the entire length of the country, over 2000 miles on a motorcycle, from the Cambodian border to the south, to the "North Pole" (border with China). If you saw a menu, then you ate at touristy places.

At one point, while in the extreme north, I might have eaten dog once or twice. Who knows? No one spoke English and Vietnamese is a very difficult language. Of course, no menus.

I've never seen pho with any appreciable vegetables.

My memories of authentic Vietnamese restaurants and home-cooked Vietnamese food involve very significant amounts of tripe, ligament, collagen, tendon, cartilage, and so forth. Those were in fact my close friend's favorite parts of every dish.

I realize that was only one perspective on authentic Vietnamese food, but those things are not popular in the American diet. So I imagine the only form it can take off is as the Vietnamese equivalent of Panda Express.

> tripe, ligament, collagen, tendon, cartilage

As someone who's never had it before, what does it taste like?

I eat pho fairly often, but I usually just chicken out and get flank and brisket. I keep telling myself that one day I'll try tendon and tripe out of sheer curiosity, but I'm too nervous.

It's been years (except for the cartilage), but I don't remember it tasting particularly weird. I just couldn't handle the textures. Crunchy, chewy, springy, spongey...

The cartilage, in particular, was like chewing carrots crossed with chewing gum, it took forever to break down enough to swallow.

If you relish beef or chicken gristle, you will probably love tendon, tripe, etc.

Also, it's cheap. I regularly get an enormous sandwich and shrimp rolls from this awesome place in Sunnyvale:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/cam-hung-sunnyvale

It's almost SUSPICIOUSLY cheap! But sooo good! .. it's like $7 for the giant meal which could feed me for two meals. I always amazed at the quality you get for the price.

Vietnamese are probably bored with their stuff and longing for a burger and fries.

Footscray?