Healthier Dining Out: Japanese
I love to cook, but my sushi-making skills aren’t exactly up to par. So when I dine out, Japanese food is a common choice. Japanese menus have many healthy options — follow these tips to keep your order light and fresh.
Order More: Veggies, Soup and Fresh Seafood
Start the meal off with some steamed edamame, steamed dumplings or miso soup. Edamame and miso are both made from protein-rich soy and steaming the dumplings keeps the calories low (but flavorful).
Fresh fish in sushi rolls or sashimi (thin slices of raw fish) are also packed with protein and healthy fats. Choose salmon or tuna for the most omega-3 fats. If you’d rather pass on the raw stuff, other options are available. Shrimp, crab and eel are most often served cooked and most restaurants offer a variety of vegetarian rolls. Heart-healthy avocado commonly comes in or top of some rolls. Unlike many restaurants, portions of sushi tend to be reasonably sized: two to three rolls (with about eight pieces each). That’s plenty for one person.
Chicken teriyaki is a good choice for those that don’t like fish, but the sauce is usually highly sweetened and too oily. To be on the safe side, ask for sauce on the side so you can control how much you have (keep it to a few tablespoons).
Rice is a staple of Japanese cuisine; whether it’s wrapped in a sushi roll or served with chicken teriyaki, it’s a good quality carbohydrate that’s low in fat. Brown rice is also available at most restaurants and adds more fiber to your meal.
Order Less: Tempura, Spring Rolls and Creamy Sauces
“Tempura” or “Crispy” attached to any menu name means it’s fried. Choose summer rolls over spring rolls — this “change in season” typically means the difference between steamed and fried. Many popular, spicy dipping sauces are made with mayonnaise — when it doubt, ask your server and keep portions to modest amounts for some light dipping.
Cocktails?
Sake is lower in calories than some other kinds of alcohol (a shot has about 60 calories). But my favorite restaurant makes “sake-tinis” — the calorie total goes up thanks to the added fruit juice and other liquors. You’re better off sipping your sake solo or choosing a glass off the wine list. If wine or sake isn’t for you, try one serving of a Japanese-style beer. For an alcohol-free (and calorie-free) beverage, opt for tea.
Get more ideas for healthier dining out »
TELL US: What’s your favorite dish to order?
i like all sushi except sea urchin.
When we go Japanese, I order miso soup, California roll or orange(California roll rolled in some kind of fich eggs). My one indulgence is noodles tossed in sauce. When we do hibachi, I do chicken or shrimp,eat the veggies and noodles, skip the rice as I am on low-sodium diet. Or course, I drink the tea if it’s oriental or caffiene-free diet coke with a twist of lemon.
Sushi can be classified as a healthy food. However, it is very high in carbohydrate (sugar), it can be totally wrong choice for people who have diabetes. You should mention that it is only good for the low-fat diet.
If you are on a low-sodium diet, miso soup is probably NOT the best choice for the person who wrote the 2nd comment…and why skip rice? You should eat it with other dishes so that they are not as salty…in Japan, it is eaten with other dishes like miso soup and sashimi, not drowned in soy sauce or butter!
I just had sushi for lunch. I love Spicy Tuna Rolls. My husband gets the California Rolls.
I love all kinds of Japanese food, especially sushi. And yes, it’s important not to drench your sushi in soy sauce because that is when it becomes unhealthy. The creamy sauces and fried pieces are also unhealthy but sometimes tasty to indulge in. But please, whatever you do, don’t drench your sushi in soy sauce. It’s considered an insult to the chef
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I like most sushi (except for sea urchin). I also like to start my meal with edamame and miso. Be cautious, some sushi can have fried fish rolled inside or is deep fried, while it tastes great…it is still fried.
I actually live in Japan (Misawa) right now and the sushi here is NOTHING like it is in the states. There is no need for soy sauce you just eat it just as the chef makes it. It all just melts in your mouth. Although I do miss some creamcheese and California rolls, the real deal is still the best!
Yes, start off with Miso soup. The dragon roll topped with eal is my favorite. Keep extra soy sauce out of the picture…too much salt.
i LOVE sushi! soy sauce causes some swelling in my hands and feet so i usually dilute low sodium soy sauce with a little water. still the same great taste but w/o all the sodium…
I have recently fallen in LOVE with sushi, thanks to my boyfriend. If any of you have a restaurant called Hyashi near you, try it out. It is the best sishi outside of Japan!!
You can also cut the soy sauce with sake, to decrease the amount of sodium you take in– a waiter told us that once. The volcano rolls are the best, but they do have the very unhealthy spicy sauce on top mixed in with all the crab
Again, authentic sushi w/ seafood is often Americanized by stuffing fried foods (shrimp, soft shell crab, for example) in the rice or topping w/ heavy cream (mayonnaise-based) sauces. Sushi purists are appalled at this practice! Americanized teriyaki sauces are often too thick & sweet, too.
Love sushi and many other Japanese foods! But have you ever seen the recipes: lots of sugar, mirin (sweet wine). Also NC's right; even in Japan there's been a fattening and caloric trend in the cheaper (more accessible) revolving-counter sushi places. Buyer Beware.