“The idea that sushi is a healthy food is pervasive but can a food high in white rice and which contains sugar and quite often mayonnaise and other sauces ever be healthy? And if not how can we make it healthier? Full analysis below.”
Sushi, sashimi, tempura and cellulite
Sushi, carbs, protein, glycaemic index, overall health and cellulite
Sushi rice contains about 7% sugar
Sushi, western-style, can be pure junk
How to avoid the western food pitfalls and have a healthy sushi meal
You can have an anti-cellulite, superfood sushi meal
Black rice sushi: the ultimate anti-cellulite food
Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment in London with the experts
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening
Sushi, carbs, protein, glycaemic index, overall health and cellulite
Sushi is generally considered a healthy food, but is it?
Sushi is made up of sticky white rice, fish, vegetable and added sauces at varying proportions, depending on the type of sushi.
As an example, a california roll will contain 3% protein, 18.5% high-glycaemic index carbs (rice), 1% fat and 1% fibre. Hardly healthy.
A prawn tempura roll contains 4% protein, 28% high-glycaemic index carbs, 6% fried fat and 2% fibre. Again, refined carb overload, with the added luxury of oxidised fatty acids, courtesy of frying.
A piece of nigiri sushi, which is plain fish added to sushi rice and probably the “healthiest” sushi option, contains 7% protein, 22% high-glycaemic index carbs, 2% fat and 1% fibre.
All in all, sushi is a high-carb, low-protein food, with the occasional fried fat or other fat element (e.g. tempura or fried soft shell crab) or other elements (sauces heavy in sugar, mayo, other oil/fat and ultra-processed ingredients).
Sushi contains about 7% sugar
The high glycaemic index of sushi rice is party due to white sushi rice itself (GI of 89) and partly due to the sugar it contains.
What, you didn’t know that sushi typically contains 7% of added sugar, i.e. 1.5 teaspoonfuls of added sugar per 100g? That’s definitely not good for your thighs…
Then you have soy sauce, which typically contains 1g of salt per tablespoon - also not good for your thighs.
Sure, the overall glycaemic index of sushi itself (rice plus toppings) is around the GI 45-55 mark. However, a type of food high in pure sugar and quite often laden with mayo and other questionable sauces, is not that healthy and definitely not good for cellulite - the subject of this blog.
Sushi, western-style, can be pure junk
Of course, sushi made in different ways will have more or less sugar, fat, fibre and protein, but the above data are typical.
Once I had some sushi which could easily be described as junk food (much worse than a McD sandwich) due to it being overloaded with sugary / mayo-rich / processed cr*p sauces. Needless to say I never went back there and if I was one of those demanding customers I should return the food and leave the restaurant…
Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more common these days, in order to please western people’s palates, which are severely addicted to sugar, fried fat and junk food components in general - even in refined and expensive sushi establishments.
For example, tempura at a high-end restaurant is equally unhealthy to tempura at the corner sushi restaurant - they are both heavily fried in vegetable oil, which is used to fry food 20 times over before being recycled. There is literally no difference.
How to avoid the western food pitfalls and have a healthy sushi meal
Overall, sushi is not the health food is supposed to be, at least not outside Japan.
However, not all is lost.
You can make your sushi meal healthier by:
Adding more sashimi to your sushi meal (which contains zero carbs and plenty of protein)
Adding wakame seaweed (a superfood packed with fibre and carotenoids)
Avoiding anything with mayo and similar sauces in it or on it
Eliminating tempura or anything fried from your sushi meal
Limiting soy sauce or using low sodium soy sauce
Adding edamame beans, picked ginger and wasabi to your meal
Having a side of miso soup
Choosing brown rice for your sushi pieces, if available
If you make your own sushi rolls, you can decrease the amount of rice, make sure you use brown rice and pack your rolls with vegetables and fish
Having some green tea with it - green tea is a super-drink
You can have an anti-cellulite, superfood sushi meal
In fact, a meal comprising mainly sashimi, edamame, ginger, wakame, wasabi and vegetables (carrots, spring onions, avocado, herbs etc), with some brown rice sushi added, some miso soup on the side and some green tea to drink, is a superfood anti-cellulite meal, higher in fibre, protein, carotenoids and polyphenols and lower in carbs than your typical sushi.
Such a meal is good for your whole body and specifically good for your thighs too - including cellulite prevention.
What makes sushi unhealthy is the high proportion of high-GI white rice, low proportion of fish and the western-style sugary/fatty/processed sauces added on it.
Black rice sushi: the ultimate anti-cellulite food
Will we ever see black rice sushi becoming popular?
Black rice itself is a superfood, with an average GI 42 (and as low as GI 31) and packed with fibre and polyphenols - a far cry from the typical white sushi rice with a GI of 89, little fibre and no polyphenols.
So I hope in the next decade back sushi rice becomes prominent and cooked without any sugar either, as in this recipe (many recipes use honey or maple syrup - basically sugar).
What a beautiful mix would sashimi, sushi made with black rice, wakame, edamame and ginger would make - with some sencha green tea on the side!
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