Saturday, April 20, 2024

Healthy eats in East Lansing

June 10, 2016

When in a rush it's easy to pick up food that isn't healthy. In a city with more than 50 restaurants, East Lansing doesn't count healthy food out. Places like Sultan's, located in Okemos and East Lansing, and Tropical Smoothie serve quick and healthy meals for customers on the go.

"All of our food is fresh, nothing here is artificial. We do have fried foods, which is our least healthiest, but it's fried in soy bean oil," Sarah Abdmahmoud, manager of Sultan's Okemos, said.

Sultan's offers many options to customers, depending on their preference. They have a vegetarian menu and a non-vegetarian menu for customers to pick from.

"Our meat comes boneless and skinless, then we marinate it in natural spices," Abdmahmoud said.

Abdmahmoud goes on to explain how their chicken shawarma and chicken kabob's are prepared.

"Our chicken for our chicken shawarma is cooked on rotisserie then shaved. Our kabob is grilled, and from the way it is received to the way it's cooked the meat is fresh and raw," Abdmahmoud said.

Abdmahmoud said Sultan's healthiest meat is its chicken kabob.

"The meat that is served for that is chicken breast and it's leanest meat with the least fat," Abdmahmoud said.

Sultan's uses its own spices for its food, but the chefs make sure to not use a lot of sodium, to keep all foods healthy.

"None of our foods are prepared especially with low sodium, however we don't use a lot of salt in our foods," Abdmahmoud said. "High sodium foods isn't something to worry about in our restaurant."

Salads are always a good idea when trying to eat better, but choosing a fattening dressing such as ranch, can make your salad not as healthy as it should or could be. Sultan's has their own house salad dressing for its house salad or any other salad a customer may want.

"Our house dressing is something we put together, it's like an olive oil vinaigrette mixed with our own natural spices," Abdmahmoud said.

If Mediterranean cuisine isn't a favorite, Tropical Smoothie Cafe is another option for healthy eating.

"Our most popular item is our smoothies, they’re made with real fruit and they’re super healthy and fresh," Haviar Lara, manager of Tropical Smoothie, said."If i had to choose my favorite item would be the Bahama Mama. When I have to modify for our customers (help customers choose a blend/ mix recipe) that is the item I choose."

Lara speaks about the misconceptions customers have about their food items and why people should come eat healthy with them year round.

"People think that smoothies are for warm weather, but smoothies are actually life changing. Smoothies aren’t just for summertime, when you eat better you feel better," Lara said. "We also have food a lot of people don’t know about, for instance we offer vegan and vegetarian. Our flatbreads are amazing, I’ll put that against any sandwich in town.”

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Healthy eats in East Lansing ” on social media.