Tips for Eating Japanese Food provided by the American Heart Association
If anyone has perfected low-fat cuisine, it's the Japanese. Japanese cuisine highlights rice and vegetables and relies on food preparation methods that require little or no fat or oil. Because of this, most of the fat you eat comes directly from the food you choose, so stick with chicken, shellfish and seafood over beef. Typically portions are smaller too.
Tips: Ask the cook to prepare your food without high-sodium marinades, sauces and salt. And ask that sauces be served on the side. Avoid those foods that say they're deep-fried, battered, breaded or fried. Ask to substitute shrimp, scallops or chicken for beef dishes.
| Instead Of |
Try |
| Vegetable tempura |
Steamed vegetables |
| Shrimp tempura |
Grilled shrimp or vegetable sushi |
| Tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) or Nabemono (casseroles) |
Yosenabe (seafood and vegetables in broth) or try Shabu-Shabu (sliced beef and noodles cooked and served at the table with dipping sauce) |
| Sukiyaki (beef and vegetables cooked in sauce) |
Su udon (hot noodles and broth) |
| Oyako domburi (chicken omelet over rice) |
Sumashi wan (clear soup with tofu and shrimp) |
| Chawan mushi (chicken and shrimp in egg custard) |
Chicken or beef teriyaki (grilled) |
|
