Dining Out: Japanese Cuisine
Restaurant-Specific Strategies
-- By SparkPeople
Characteristics:This cuisine features smaller portions that are lower calories and lower fat (IF you avoid fried options) and emphasizes rice and soybean products. Sometimes features tabletop stir-fry cooking, some foods are fried, but most are grilled, broiled, braised, simmered or steamed.
Common Ingredients:
Generally meat, fish or chicken combine with fresh veggies. Dishes contain lots of rice, noodles, tofu, and seafood, a limited amount of additional oils and fat, and are usually accompanied by edible garnishes, such as vegetables or seaweed.
Hidden Dangers:
- Ask that your dish not be prepared with soy sauce, fish sauce or MSG, all of which are high in sodium.
- If you're watching your sodium, also go light on miso and teriyaki sauces.
- “Tempura” dishes are batter-coated and fried. Just 3 large tempura prawns with veggies will cost you 320 calories and 18 grams of fat.
- Watch for these words:
- Tempura (battered and fried)
- Agemono (breaded and fried)
- Katsu (breaded and fried)
- Breaded and fried dishes like Tonkatsu (pork) or Torikatsu (chicken)
- Rainbow Roll: 480 calories, 10g fat
- Beef Teriyaki with sauce with rice: 1,110 calories and 37g fat
- 10-ounces of Teppanyaki (steak, seafood and veggies): 470 calories, 30g fat
Healthy Finds:
- Udon (wheat noodles) or Soba (buckwheat noodles) are both healthy alternatives to rice.
- Chawanmushi (chicken and shrimp baked with egg)
- Sushi and sashimi (raw fish) are low in fat and high in protein. Just stay away from specialty rolls that are fried or topped with heavy sauces.
- Look for these words:
- Nimono (simmered)
- Yaki (grilled)
- Yosenabe (seafood and veggies)
- Shabu Shabu (meat, veggies and seafood in boiling broth)
- Yakitori (broiled chicken)
- Domburi (rice covered in vegetables, meat, poultry, and egg)
- Nigiri (slices of raw fish atop rice): 35 calories, 1g fat.
- Norimaki (seaweed-wrapped sushi)
- Tamagoyaki (sweet egg omelet): 70 calories, 1g fat
- Tofu Dengaku (grilled tofu with miso): 140 calories and 5g fat
- California Roll: 180 calories, 6g fat
- Clear soups like Miso (50 calories, 1g fat) or dashi (fish-based stock)
The Big Tip:
Steaming vegetables not only locks in valuable antioxidants, but cuts down on fats and calories.
Substitution Ideas:
| Try This |
Skip That |
| Steamed rice |
Fried rice |
| Lemon slice |
Miso dressing on salad |
| Stir-fried dishes |
Deep-fried dishes |
| Stir-fried tofu |
Fried tofu |
| Edamame (soybean pods) |
Vegetable Tempura |
| Sashimi |
Shrimp Tempura |
| Vegetable roll (180 calories) |
Eel Avocado roll (372 calories) |
| Tuna Sashimi (164 calories) |
Spicy Tuna roll (290 calories) |
| Salmon Cucumber roll (231 calories, 4g fat) |
Salmon, Cream cheese, Cucumber roll (379 calories, 19g fat) |
| Chicken or Beef Teriyaki |
Tonkatsu (breaded pork) |
| Hot mustard |
Soy or Teriyaki sauce |
Back to Main Menu
