“Stop it” I said.
“There’s just no way”.
“How can sushi be bad for you?”
Despite my friends persistence, I refused to believe it: how could innocent, delicious sushi really be the nutritional equivalent of a cheeseburger?
Love it or hate it, sushi is one of the most popular dishes in the world. I’m a sushi fanatic myself, even though I can’t ever adequately explain how the thought of raw fish wrapped in dried seaweed makes my mouth water.
Deliciousness aside, sushi is a nutritional mystery. When I first broke sushi down part-by-part, it seems to pass the test for nutritious dishes:
Fish-Passes with flying colors
Seaweed-Basically a vegetable
Rice (brown or white)-A healthy grain
Soy Sauce-Lots of sodium, but otherwise OK
Wasabi-Hmm, what exactly is that stuff made of?
Besides wasabi, which was a question mark, sushi appeared to be what I always saw it as: a healthy and tasty meal.
After doing extensive research, I came to this conclusion: sushi is healthy after all (for the most part).
To illustrate this, let’s look at the most popular roll: The California Roll.
The USDA actually has nutrition facts available for sushi (your tax dollars at work). According to them, 1 California Roll has 255 calories, 7 grams of fat, 6 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of protein. Considering a good portion of that fat comes in the form of omega-3s, sushi is looking good.
There were similar, or even better, nutrition profiles for other popuar rolls. Spicy tuna, salmon,avacado, and cucumber rolls were all nutritionally stellar. Anything with the word “tempura”, also known as fried, was not quite as favorable to your waistline-but still better than a steak.
Oh, and the green goo called wasabi. Wasabi is a member of the family of plants that produce all sorts of pungent spreads like mustard and horseradish. In terms of nutrition, it’s very low calorie.
There you have it, sushi is officially sanctioned by me as a healthy choice for dining out.
So the next time you plop a piece of sushi into your mouth, I hope it’s guilt-free.
Brian Dean MS, RD is a registered dietitian and researcher. After years of research, Brian has set his sights on helping those with lower back pain. He serves on the Medical Nutrition Committee for The American Society for Nutrition and is a professional member of numerous research organizations including the International Association for The Study of Pain, American Chronic Pain Society, and The American Dietetic Association. He recently created a research-based lower back pain treatment program , ‘The Back Pain Diet’ which is available from his website Stop Lower Back Pain.
Brian,
I am very glad to read this post. As someone who approaches nutrition from a cultural standpoint, we have to take a moment to think of the balance and thought put into each element of foods when it comes to Japanese (and most Asian) culture.
The protein of the fish is low in fat generally, but it’s the ginger and the wasabi (a part of the ginger family) that encourages the flow of saliva and raises the body temperature to help the stomach churn through the protein and fat.
The seaweed provides crucial trace elements like iodine, iron and calcium that help to build our blood and balance our thyroids which in turn help us to feel satisfied and maintain even eating all day long.
And even the green tea you have in a sushi restaurant has elements in it that help to counter any over- abundance of mercury that may be in all that fish we’re eating.
The japanese treat is not just guilt-free and generally healthy, but a well thought out power team of nutrition in balance. Kudos on the post!
Hi Kimberly. Thanks for your insights. Too often we can get caught up into looking at food as just a vehicle for getting nutrients into our bodies. Your approach to nutrition as a cornerstone of culture is refreshing. There have been many studies that confirm what you are saying: that Japanese diets are generally very healthy. In fact, research shows that when native Japanese adults move to the US their rates of obesity and heart disease triples! They are certainly doing something right.
Uhh… eating a lot of anything will make you fat.
@B Dean, where is your statistic from (three times? why not four)? and did you know 89.43% of all internet tats are made up? in fact i just made that one up…
Is it a yes or a no? If you eat sushi, and makes you fat.