Make Sushi Healthy

I am here at Banzai Sushi for a quick lunch on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

After reviewing the menu, I realized many rolls are not very good for a fitness diets so I decided to write this to tell you how you can eat at your favorite sushi joint and still confirm to your mealtime macros.

First off, understand the terminology. "Sushi" has been adopted by mainstream America as the part of Japanese cuisine focused on raw fish. Sushi is directly translated as "flavored rice" in Japanese. The Asian diet is centered around rice, not the meat as it is here in the US and most western cultures. Much of sushi is cooked, especially in many hand cut and tempura rolls.

"Nigiri" is Sushi that is typically made with raw fish and consists of a small portion of rice and a thin slice of fish laid on top, served in portions of 2-5.

"Sashimi" is true raw fish, sliced and served to you by itself, or on a bed if something artistically constructed but not necessarily meant to eat. Make sure your sushi joint is reputable and not in trouble with the Health Dept. I was a victim once of Sashimi at a joint that was close to it's death for serving old fish; the food poisoning was horrendous!!! They were shut down less than a month later!

"Maki" is the Japanese word for "rolls". There are "classic rolls" which tend to be the same from restaurant to restaurant. They tend to be very simple consisting of one particular meat or fish, rolled up in a log of rice, then cut in to inch thick slices. Alaska roll, California roll, Philadelphia roll... These are all traditional Classic rolls and are less expensive than the "Special rolls" and this is where sushi chefs start to get fancy and original. And these are also the rolls you need to be careful of because the fat and carb counts can skyrocket per roll!

As I go over the menu, I notice a real tasty roll... BUT... I can tell I'm looking at 500 calories+ just for one roll. It consists of rice, avocado, crab salad, cream cheese and it's tempura deep fried. That is 4 strikes out of 5, right there. Those are 4 ingredients to avoid;

Sushi NoNo's

- Cream cheese
- Avocado
- Crab salad ( mayo keeps it together)
- Yum Yum sauce (this is a mayo based sauce)
- anything fried (deep or tempura)

If your sushi chef is cool (most are, politeness is an Asian virtue) he/she will be absolutely ok wirh excluding any of these ingredients from the roll. And if he/she is really cool, you can special order your roll with exactly what you want.

Another thing to consider, unless you are a bodybuilder in bulking phase or a large built guy, avoid All-You-can-Eat specials. The temptation can be too great and most joints won't be very accommodating to your special needs.

So next time you hit up your favorite sushi joint, you'll be educated in the art of sushi, you now know the 5 enemy ingredients and you know that although sushi is relatively healthy, it doesn't mean you are immune to weight gain! And you ladies know to avoid the All-U-Can-Eat specials.

Trainer Jo's recommendations
- anything on the Nigiri menu
- ladies limit yourself to 4-6 pieces
- gents limit yourself to 6-8 pieces
- 1-1.5 classic rolls for ladies
- 1.5 to 3 classic rolls for gents, depending on your lean body mass
- rolls with cucumber instead of rice as the log.... Here you can eat more depending on size of roll. This varies from joint to joint
-Sashimi..... FRESH