Just because you're following a certain diet or trying to eat clean doesn't mean you can't enjoy the goodness (greatness) of Japanese food. It also doesn't mean to have to skip out when your friends are trying the new swanky Sushi restaurant in town. I know that I had this challenge at first when I started eating clean but I have learned how to enjoy the flavors of sushi without all the calories. Here are a few tricks on how to eat (somewhat) clean at a sushi restaurant:
1. Try it Raw. If you're one of those people who shriek at the thought of eating raw fish, you're missing out. I know up until several years ago I thought raw fish was gross but now it is literally my favorite food on earth. It's extremely clean and healthy too- a lot of protein and nutrients. My favorite dishes are tuna tartare, raw or seared salmon, yellow-tail appetizer, and sashimi. Raw "Salmon Special" from a local sushi restaurant (top) and a yellow-tail appetizer (bottom).
2. Skip the Soy. SKIP THE SOY SAUCE?! EVEN LITE?! WHAT?!!? Don't freak out because I'm recommending that you skip even Lite Kikkoman Soy Sauce when eating sushi, freak out because I just learned that one tablespoom of Lite Soy Sauce by Kikkoman has 575 milligrams of SODIUM! Which is 24% of your daily serving. That's a couple hundred milligrams of sodium everytime you dunk your piece of sushi in soy sauce. No wonder I blew up like a whale in the summer of 2009 after high school when my unemployed friends and I paid our local sushi place's rent. Also, high-end sushi chefs take it as an insult when people mask their delectable sushi in soy sauce. The flavors should be enough. If you can't skip the soy, at least try to use a minimal amount. I included the Lite Kikkoman Soy Sauce Nutrition Facts so you could see it with your own eyes and it's forever imprinted in your brain.
3. Wrap it in Cucumber. If you want the amount of sushi calories in half, order cucumber wrapped rolls. Many restaurants offer delicious cucumber wrapped rolls but you can also request a roll to be wrapped in cucumber. I actually think that it tastes fresher and more flavorful. A few rolls that I order cucumber wrapped are tuna, salmon, and crab. My favorite cucumber wrapped rolls from restaurants in my area, "Salmon Special" (top) and "Kakucumber" roll (bottom).
4. Salads, No Miso. Take advantage of the tasty salads that sushi restaurants offer. My favorites are (healthy) ginger salads, seaweed salads, cucumber salads, shrimp salads, avocado salads, etc. It might be best to avoid the miso, it may contain upwards of 600 milligrams of sodium, as many soups are high in sodium.
5. Light on the Rice. I don't know about you but I think that most sushi restaurants serve way too much rice in their sushi rolls. It takes away from the flavor when your sushi is wrapped in a snowball of rice. If I wanted a bowl of rice I would go to Panda Express in the food court. So, I request light rice and sometimes light brown rice. Next time I'm actually going to ask for EXTRA light rice because when I request light rice they still serve it with too much. I legitimately want it light. It might sound neurotic but it tastes better ;).
6. Ask. It never hurts to ask questions about your order (neurotic again). It is helpful to know how it is prepared, what sauces they use, if it's fried, etc. The more you ask, the more secrets you know about what you're consuming. One thing I strongly dislike about this country is the fact that nutrition information is not required on restaurant menus (no wonder were the fattest country, we don't know what the hell we're eating). But that's another post. Back to this post, it helps to know exactly what you're ordering at a sushi restaurant. An example that I'll never forget is when out of curiosity I asked the waitress how many calories were in the fried spicy crab roll my friends and I ordered often. Her response was about 2,000. I was in shock. We still ordered it for years to come because we were young hot chicks but now we only order fried rolls once in a while. Adulthood. Agh. Below is the evil Samurai Crunch roll that attempted to ruin my body.
7. Moderation. I could babble on and on and give tips all day on what to stay away from and what to not, but at the end of the day food should be satisfying and not depriving. Try to find things that are satisfying and somewhat healthy. It's definitely okay to consume foods that are not the most nutritious, as long as it's in moderation. Obviously I would be a hypocrite if I said to stay away from bad sushi entirely, some my favorite recipes include spicy mayo (even though I've tried creating a healthier spicy mayo). I like it to mix up my diet with some healthy and some not-so-healthy. My last advice is to reduce your intake of fried sushi, baked sushi, spicy mayo, soy sauce, oils, cream cheese, imitation crab, and unhealthy sauces. It's good to increase your consumption of cucumbers, avocados, seaweed, raw fish, edamame, healthy ginger, wasabi, and jalepenos.
Thank you for reading. Hopefully you learned something useful for the next time you order sushi. Hungry yet?
Health & Happiness,
-E.A.
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