Is Lao Gan Ma (老乾媽) Unhealthy? (How To Lose Weight While Eating Lao Gan Ma) 

If you have been to any Asian supermarket, you have definitely come across the famous Lao Gan Ma sauce, the most popular chili sauce in China.

With the iconic Mrs. Huabi Tao on the Lao Gan Ma red label, the eye-catching sauce has become the go-to chili sauce for all your favorite Asian Meals.

However, if you are trying to lose weight, you may be wondering, is Lao Gan Ma healthy? 

Lao Gan Ma (老乾媽) is a chili oil that is not the ideal health food to eat when trying to lose weight, because the sauce is high in fat from the excess oil and other additional ingredients. Since Lao Gan Ma is high in fat, this means that the sauce is very high in calories and can make it difficult for you to reach your weight loss goals if consumed in abundance.

However, if you enjoy pairing your foods with Lao Gan Ma sauce, you can still do so by following these three simple tips: 

Tip 1: Understand How Many Calories are in Lao Gan Ma (老乾媽)

Tip 2: Learn How to Portion Size your Lao Gan Ma (老乾媽) in your Meals

Tip 3: Use Healthier Alternatives similar to Lao Gan Ma (老乾媽)

Let’s cover each of these three tips in detail to help you become successful in your weight loss journey while still enjoying your Lao Gan Ma Chili Sauce.

Tip 1: Understand How Many Calories are in Lao Gan Ma (老乾媽)

Lao Gan Ma is most famous for its Original Spicy Chili Sauce, but did you know that they have several other flavors?

This section will cover the nutritional information behind the different Lao Gan Ma sauces and what they mean.

Lao Gan Ma Original Spicy Chili Sauce

Lao Gan Ma Original Spicy Chili Sauce is the most popular chili sauce that uses soybean oil, sugar, soybeans, chili, and peanuts to make the delicious and unique LGM flavor.

Even though this is the most delicious sauce, it also happens to be the most unhealthy sauce Laoganma has. 

For every tablespoon of Lao Gan Ma, there is a total of 105 calories with 10 grams of fat, 2 grams of carbohydrates, and 1 gram of protein.

One tablespoon is very little, and just by dipping your dumplings, vegetables, or meats in this sauce, you can easily add a lot of additional calories to your meal. 

Food high in fat adds a lot of additional calories to your meal because of the particular ingredients in the chili sauce.

Made up mostly of oil, Laoganma is pretty much a sauce made up entirely of fats.

Olive oil is one of the most harmful ingredients that can deter you from your weight loss goals.

For every tablespoon of oil, there are approximately 120 calories, which can quickly put you in a calorie surplus, making it difficult for you to lose weight.

This is why when cooking your foods you do not want to use too many oily substances because it can add a lot of extra calories to your diet. 

Lao Gan Ma Chili Oil with Black Bean

Laoganma Chili Oil with Black Bean is another chili sauce that uses similar ingredients but is a healthier option than the original chili sauce.

One tablespoon of LGM Chili Oil with Black Bean has around 80 calories with 7 grams of fat, 3 grams of carbohydrates, and 1.5 grams of protein.

This has less calories than the Original Chili Oil Sauce, but is still considerably high in calories and can add a lot of extra fat to your dish.

The reason why foods high in fat add a lot of additional calories is because for every gram of fat there are a total of 9 calories, compared to protein and carbohydrates which are just 4 calories per gram.

When trying to lose weight, you want to make sure you are not overconsuming on the amount of fat that you are eating per day. 

Lao Gan Ma Chili Tomato Sauce

Finally, we have the Chili Tomato Sauce which is the best chili sauce option out of the three that we covered.

Not as popular or spicy as the other two, Laoganma Chili Tomato Sauce is just as delicious and a great alternative for someone trying to stay healthy. 

For every tablespoon of LGM Chili Tomato Sauce, there is only 45 calories with approximately 1.5 gram of fat, 3 grams of carbohydrates, and 4 grams of protein. 

This option is much lower in calories compared to the previous two sauces mentioned above and even has less fat and more protein!

The reason why the Chili Tomato sauce is so much lower in calories and fat is because tomatoes and chili make up a majority of the ingredients, and just a little bit of seasoning and sugar make up the rest. 

Now that you have a good idea of which Laoganma sauces are most healthy and which ones are not, let’s talk about how to adjust your meals to fit Laoganma into your diet!

Tip 2: Eat Foods Lower in Fat when eating Lao Gan Ma

Even though Lao Gan Ma Chili Oil is not the best sauce to use when you are trying to lose weight, this does not mean you can not eat this delicious chili oil!

This just means to adjust your meals and macronutrients throughout the day accordingly. 

For example, if you decided to use Laoganma sauce, try pairing this sauce with a leaner source of protein or some vegetables.

Stirring your green beans with Laoganma tastes absolutely delicious and green beans themselves are very low in calories.

Be careful to still not use too much Laoganma because your green bean dish can easily become a fat-dense dish. 

If you decide to eat a higher calorie meal using Laoganma sauce, like noodles or dumplings, be sure to eat lower calorie and lower fat foods for your other two meals.

Something that I do when I know that I am going to have a big dinner with high fat foods, I skip my breakfast to save up on calories for the rest of the day. 

Think about your calories like a budget.

If you only have $100 to spend throughout the day, how are you going to distribute it and what are you going to spend it on?

Making sure you don’t go over your budget is essential to helping you reach your goals. 

Tip 3: Use Alternative Chili Sauces similar to Lao Gan Ma

Although Laoganma sauce has its own unique flavor, which is why it makes it such a popular chili sauce, we can see why it’s not the ideal sauce to constantly consume when trying to lose weight.

Even though you can still eat Laoganma sauce, you may want to save up your calories to eat more food throughout the day because LGM sauce hardly makes you full.

In this section, we will be covering some healthier chili oil or sauce alternatives you can use instead of Laoganma sauce!

Chi Chi Pepper

The Chi Chi Pepper Premium Crunchy Chili Oil is made with olive oil, garlic, and peppercorns which enhances the flavor of meats and vegetables.

It’s homemade and based on a family recipe that has been passed down for generations.

For every tablespoon of Chi Chi pepper, there are 45 calories per serving, with 4.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of carbohydrates, and 0 grams of protein.

This is less than half the calories in Laoganma Original Chili Sauce and the better option to choose if you are trying to eat a lower calorie meal. 

Chi Chi Pepper Chili sauce has practically the same flavor and texture as Laoganma sauce for way less calories.

This makes it the ideal alternative sauce if you still want chili oil in your meal.

By making these types of small choices throughout your journey, this can really determine whether or not you start to see change. 

Sriracha 

Sriracha is another very famous Asian chili sauce that has made its way into the American market as one of the best chili sauces to pair with foods.

This is the by far the best chili sauce to use when you’re dieting and is a favorite often used by bodybuilders. 

For every tablespoon of Sriracha there are 5 calories, with 1 gram of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fat, and 0 grams of carbohydrates.

Sriracha has absolutely no calories making it the ideal sauce to add onto your meal for no additional calories.

Sriracha is not only super delicious, but it is one of the healthiest chili sauces to put on your meals.

That way, you can add plenty of spice and flavor to your dish while staying in a calorie deficit.

Sriracha may not have the same oily texture or flavor as Laoganma, but I believe that it is a fair trade off for how much lower it is in calories.

Dieting doesn’t have to be a painful process where you eliminate all of your favorite foods. I

nstead, it’s about making smart choices and portion sizing your meals to make sure you’re maintaining a calorie deficit. 

CONCLUSION 

Remember, although nutrition is a huge factor that influences weight loss, it is important to pair this journey with exercise as well. Especially strength training.

Several years of research on the benefits of weight training have shown that individuals that do some sort of consistent resistance training at least 3-5 times a week have shown not only a great amount of weight loss but are also able to keep the weight off! 

The secret to this phenomena is that strength training leads to a build-up of muscle.

Not only does your body recomposition into a more fitting and athletic-looking aesthetic, but having more muscle also increases your resting metabolic rate which essentially means you burn more calories at rest! 

Now that we know the importance of muscle we need to make sure we stay on track with our workouts.

Consistency and longevity are the two key factors when building muscle so there will be some commitment involved.

We understand that not everyone has access to a gym membership or feels comfortable starting off in such an intimidating environment.

Although I would strongly recommend that everyone should get a gym membership, don’t worry we got your back!

You can either go to the gym or build one for yourself.

It really just comes down to 3 pieces of equipment that you need to do most workouts. These three are the workout bench, dumbbells, and gym flooring. Check out our recommended gear page to see our best picks for these pieces of equipment here. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/home-workout-equipment

If a home gym is not for you then getting a membership somewhere works too. As long as you are starting your muscle-building journey, we’re happy! 

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