Which Japanese food is more healthy? Rate popular dishes like sushi, ramen and katsu
Japanese food is usually considered healthy but be careful. I am noticing that the “Japanese food” served in other countries tend to add extra unhealthy ingredients for stronger tastes or to increase the amount without adding too much costs. You should especially watch carbohydrate (sweetness) and salt. Let’s rate popular Japanese dishes – sushi, ramen, teriyaki chicken, tempura, shabu shabu, sukiyaki, tonkatsu or katsu curry.
Things to watch in Japanese dishes
How much rice per serving?
If you noticed that short-grain (or sushi) rice is sweet, it’s because it contains quite a bit of carbohydrate. For example, 100 grams of rice (which is about one serving) contains about 30 grams of carb. While it’s never a good idea to eat too much rice, I observe that typical Japanese dish outsides Japan are served with 150 grams to 200 grams of rice. Maybe they want to you to eat more of it rather than the main protein or other ingredients from cost perspective.
How sweet is the sauce and glaze?
Do you like teriyaki sauce because it’s got good sweetness? Teriyaki sauce, tonkatsu sauce, all kinds of Japanese sauces and glazes that have good sweetness contain a lot of carb: mirin (rice wine) and sake, popular Japanese ingredients for cooking are made of rice (carbohydrate-rich). Teriyaki sauce add sugar on top of them, and other kinds of glazes could add honey and/or other sweeteners.
How fat is your tempura?
Batter used for deep frying use flour or starches, which are also carbohydrates. I am observing that tempura and tonkatsu served outside Japan got very thick batter. You end up eating more batter than the actual ingredients like shrimps. If you dip the fat batter into salt-rich dipping tempura sauce, you are basically just ingesting empty calories.
How much soy sauce does it use?
This one is straightforward. Soy sauce contains a lot of salt. One table spoon of soy sauce could include as much as 900 mg of sodium, so be careful. As soy sauce is used in almost all Japanese food, and you can add extra when you eat it, you can easily overdo it.
Does it use MSG?
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer, and Japan has a popular MSG called Aji no Moto. While it’s still debated if MSG could affect your health, we are a family that is sensitive to MSG – some of us get sick when we eat food that contain a lot of MSG. So I personally try to avoid it as much as I can. Also, the “unnatural” taste of MSG often bothers me. It feels like the aftertaste stays on your tongue for a long time.
My Ratings
★ Unhealthy
☆ Healthy
SUSHI
Rice ★★★
Sauce and glaze ★☆☆
Batter ★☆☆
Soy Sauce ★★★
MSG
Sushi can be healthy and unhealthy, depending on how it’s served. Traditionally, it has never been something you eat a lot; you eat sushi course slowly, and each sushi is carefully made of small portion of rice and least amount of condiments so that you can enjoy subtle, natural flavors of seafood and other main protein or vegetables. But for the sake of costs, modern sushi became large and use extra amount of condiments. Especially if you like rolls with lots of white or orange sauce, you are eating something full of carb and salt.
If you want to eat sushi healthy, try “roll-yourself” sushi at home. Here’s how.
Ramen
Rice (flour noodle) ★★★
Soup ★★☆
Batter ☆☆☆
Soy Sauce ★★★
MSG ★★★
Ramen doesn’t use rice, but it easily uses more than 150 grams of flour noodle, so it’s a carb bomb. Plus, it could contain about 2000 ~4000 mgs of sodium, and most likely MSG. (You could ask your restaurant) Although I know that the ramen soup is addictive, Japanese generally say “resist the urge to drink up the soup.” It’s a little too much to take in all the sodium and other ingredients at once. Ramen is usually a guilt food you allow yourself once in a while. It may not be a good idea to eat it everyday. Instant ramen could be even more unhealthy although it’s also addictive.
Teriyaki Chicken
Rice ★★★
Glaze ★★☆
Batter ☆☆☆
Soy Sauce ★★☆
MSG ★★☆
Teriyaki chicken may sound like a healthy choice, but again, it depends. If you end up eating too much rice with it or if the chicken was completely covered with sweet, MSG-rich sauce and glazes, it’s not a healthy choice. Affordable teriyaki chicken may be using quite some MSG.
Tempura
Rice ★☆☆
Sauce and glaze ★☆☆
Batter ★★☆
Soy Sauce ★★☆
MSG
The ingredients of tempura are usually healthy: seafood and vegetables. But when small portions of them are covered with excessive amount of batter, and if you dip them in sodium-rich dipping sauce, it’s no longer healthy. Tempura and sushi are typical dishes where price matters: it costs a lot to offer fresh, naturally flavorful ingredients. You may want to try a really good tempura restaurant to experience that it is all about. I think it’s worth.
Shabu Shabu
Rice ★☆☆
Sauce and glaze ☆☆☆
Batter ☆☆☆
Soy Sauce ★★☆
MSG
Shabu shabu is by far the healthiest and safest choice in my opinion. You can order extra vegetables to go with meat which are sliced very thinly. The only problem is that your restaurant may serve a mound of rice with shabu shabu because meat is more expensive. Also the broth may be seasoned with excessive salt. But if you watch those two, shabu shabu could be your healthy choice.
Sukiyaki
Rice ★☆☆
Sauce ★★☆
Batter ☆☆☆
Soy Sauce ★★☆
MSG
Similar to shabu shabu, sukiyaki could be a healthier choice if you decide to add extra vegetables instead of meat and watch the sukiyaki sauce, which is called warishita. Warishita can contain quite a bit of sugar and other sweeteners.
Tonkatsu or katsu curry
Rice ★★★
Sauce ★★★
Batter ★★★
Sodium ★★★
MSG
Tonkatsu could be a dangerous food if you eat batter-fat one with lots of rice and dipping sauce. It’s a carb and fat bomb. Curry contains flour and lots of sodium, so the combo of katsu and curry is even more dangerous even though it’s really addictive. As katsu is usually served with lots of shredded cabbage, resist the urge to eat too much rice by munching on crunch cabbage.