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ATLANTA — Whether it's the adventure of learning to eat with chopsticks, the freedom of choosing one food from Column A and one from Column B or the promise of good things to come tucked inside a fortune cookie, Chinese restaurants are among our top three ethnic choices, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Chinese food at its healthiest features vegetables, rice and noodles as the main players, with meats and fried foods in supporting roles. And while we may have been introduced to Far Eastern fare by way of mild Cantonese and spicy Szechwan-Hunan Chinese dishes, Asian-inspired menus today offer a gourmet tour of Pacific Rim cuisines.

At Doc Chey's Asian Kitchen in Atlanta, for instance, you can find Japanese miso soup and edamame living in harmony with spicy Thai noodles and Mongolian beef. This fusion of all things Asian can be a plus for diners looking for healthy menu choices because it offers a greater selection of cooking styles and flavors.

Thai basil rolls, which wrap vegetables, vermicelli and sometimes shrimp into rice paper, are much lower in calories than Chinese fried egg rolls. And restaurants that allow you to customize your stir-fry creation make it easy to add more broccoli, bok choy and bean sprouts and limit the amount of oil used in the wok. Some Chinese restaurants use as much as 4 tablespoons of oil per stir-fry; each tablespoon contains 120 calories and 14 grams of fat.

● Start off with won-ton, hot and sour, or egg drop soup to curb your appetite.

● Enjoy the green tea. It's calming, and research links it to appetite control.

● Use chopsticks. They will slow you down.

● Ask that your dish be stir-fried using less oil. Each dish is usually made to order.

● Share entrees. In a group, order one less than the number of people.

● Have a little duck sauce, plum sauce or hoisin to pack more flavor punch. Think of them as Chinese jams and jellies. They are low- or no-fat.

● Choose steamed rice or boiled noodles, not fried.

● Read your fortune cookie for dessert. It adds fun, and the cookie is only 30 calories.