Can I eat sushi for lunch every day? This is the most common question from #sushilovers, and the answer can be found in this blog.
Sushi is considered a healthy food, as it contains all the macronutrients we need to thrive such as fruits, fish, vegetables, seaweed and rice. It fullfills the magic formula for any dish: Vegetables, carbohydrates, protein, and good fats.
Is Sushi a Healthy Lunch? let's look at the properties of the most common ingredients of sushi:
- Fish: source of protein, iodine and vitamin D.
- Avocado: Rich in vitamin E and monounsaturated fatty acids, effective against cardiovascular diseases.
- Rice: Rich in protein and carbohydrates, low in fat and easy to digest.
- Fresh fruits and vegetables: High in fiber, minerals and vitamins.
- Nori seaweed: This contains a high concentration of proteins, which can represent up to 44% of the dry matter.
- Soy sauce: A source of vegetable protein, its fat and caloric property is very low. It also contains calcium. However, its excess should be avoided.
Most rolls contain these ingredients and are very nutritious. It should be noted that throughout history, sushi chefs have been inspired by the traditional sushi culture, however, they have also added many ingredients from their respective countries, as well as flavors and fried products.
Although sushi is often considered a healthy lunch, it could be potentially dangerous due to the exposure to parasites, bacteria and heavy metals that stem from the use of raw fish and seafood. The most important concern is to be mindful of the restaurant or supermarket where one buys the ingredients and of the chef who handles them before consumption.
With that said, sushi can fit almost any diet as part of a healthy lifestyle. However, if you choose tempura rolls with excessive sauces every day, it will no longer be a healthy choice. For example, it is estimated that the caloric intake of a healthy sushi is 280-350 kilocalories per roll. But if consumed in tempura, battered with flour and fried, the amount could be as high as 632-700.
To avoid that, it is recommended to only add a small amount of sauces and enjoy the flavor, rather than dipping each piece generously.
Recommendations to choose the healthiest sushi for your daily lunch:
- Be very careful where you eat or order sushi. The excess of sauces or tempura and fried sushi is not healthy.
- Choose a variety of sushi, with and without rice to avoid excess carbohydrates.
- Combine your sushi rolls with salad, sashimi or non rice rolls.
- Ask for sake or hot tea for better digestion.
- For a pregnant woman it is not recommended to eat sushi every day.
- Don’t eat dessert every day, choose one or two days per week.
Is Sushi a Healthy Lunch? Can you eat sushi for lunch every day? It depends on the sushi, its ingredients and the sauces you put on it. If you choose high protein, low rice, raw and low sauce rolls, you can definitely eat sushi every day. Balance is very important in a healthy lifestyle.
