Sushi Nutrition - Is Sushi Really That Healthy for You?

Sushi Nutrition - Is Sushi Really That Healthy for You?

The nutritional benefits of sushi are a topic that has long been debated and is a common concern among sushi lovers. It is also something that those considering sushi as an alternative food source think about, to include in their diet for better health or to offset the adverse effects of a normal Western diet, which is often high in unhealthy fats (trans and saturated), red meat, processed foods and calories.

But is sushi a better choice? Is itYes, reallyhealthy for you?

Perhaps the best way to make this decision is to take the most common ingredients used to make sushi and break them down one by one. Tear them apart and try to figure out whether or not they are actually healthy for you.

Let's start with the most obvious dominant ingredient in this arena. and the one that is the very definition of sushi… Sushi Rice.

Sushi rice

Rice is a good source of protein (1 cup provides 25% of the recommended daily intake) and carbohydrates and digests slowly, releasing its energy gradually. It is also gluten-free (making it an excellent choice for people with wheat allergies), is very low in saturated fat, contains no cholesterol or sodium, and is high in thiamine (vitamin B)1).

Thiamine is a coenzyme that helps the body convert carbohydrates into energy (glucose), causing it to be burned rather than stored.

This may partly explain why people in Japan, where rice is eaten with almost every meal, have an obesity rate of only 3.2%, which is about10 times LESSthan it is here in the United States.

rice vinegar

Rice vinegar has had many medicinal benefits in Japan for over 2,000 years. And all vinegars in general have been used in almost every country in the world for things ranging from seasoning and preserving rice to a skin conditioner to use in cancer prevention due to its anti-cancer properties. Vinegar was even praised by the Babylonians, Hippocrates and Muhammad.

Rice vinegar contains 20 different types of amino acids, 9 of which are essential because they cannot be made from other compounds in the human body.

Some of the purported health benefits of rice vinegar include:

• Stärkt das Immunsystem
• Senkt den Cholesterinspiegel
• Erhöht die Fähigkeit des Körpers, Nährstoffe aufzunehmen
• Senkt den Blutzuckerspiegel
• Tötet Bakterien bei Kontakt wie Salmonellen und Streptokokken ab
• Konserviert Essen
• Reduziert den Blutdruck
• Hilft bei der Verdauung
• Ist glutenfrei
• Hilft bei der Beseitigung von Harnwegsinfektionen
• Reduziert hohen Blutzucker
• Hilft bei der Linderung von Schmerzen und Symptomen durch Sonnenbrand, Quallenstiche, Insektenstiche und Kopfschmerzen
• Hilft, freie Radikale zu neutralisieren, die Zellen schädigen, die Alterung und Degeneration verursachen
• Reduziert die Cholesterinbildung durch Neutralisierung eines Teils des schädlichen oxidierten LDL-Cholesterins

With vinegar, the list seems to go on and on and the positive health benefits seem to have no end.

Nori

Nori is very rich in vitamins and minerals. Iodine in particular - but also contains A, B1, B2, B6, niacin and C. And compared to land plants, seaweed contains 10 to 20 times as many of these essential vitamins.

Nori is also known to curb the formation of cholesterol deposits in blood vessels and is rich in protein (up to 50% of its dry weight).

It is also a good source of glutamic acid, an amino acid and neurotransmitter, which is important for learning and memory.

Ginger

Ginger has long been believed to provide many beneficial medicinal benefits, from aiding digestion to preventing skin cancer to eliminating nausea.

In fact, the Chinese prescribed ginger as a remedy for digestive problems over 3,000 years ago. And for centuries, the Ayurvedic tradition in Tibet and India has used ginger to treat inflammatory joint diseases such as arthritis and rheumatism.

Ginger has been used to treat illness by cultures around the world for thousands of years. It is one of the few foods that has withstood the test of time and is still used today to treat the same diseases that were used to treat centuries and sometimes millennia ago.

The difference between then and now is that science and medicine are now beginning to support what some cultures have known for hundreds or even thousands of years. In fact, this ginger is as close to a cure for all super roots as we could ever discover.

Wasabi

Wasabi is known to have antibacterial properties and is also rich in vitamins C, B6, protein, fiber and the minerals calcium, potassium, manganese and magnesium.

It also stimulates saliva production and aids digestion.

Wasabi also contains compounds called glucosinolates, which are converted into ITCs (isothiocyanates) by enzymes when water is present when broken apart by chewing or grinding.

There is current research showing that wasabi may be useful in combating seasonal allergies and asthma and may also inhibit platelet aggregation (blood clotting), which may have applications in the treatment of heart attacks due to ITCs.

There is also a growing base of evidence that ITCs can act against cancer cells.

Sushi quality fish

Almost everyone has heard about the benefits of eating fish over other meats, especially red meat.

Just a small portion of fish provides up to half the protein we need every day. It is also low in calories.

White fish like sea bass and red snapper have less than 100 calories per 3 1/2 ounces. Mackerel, eel and tuna have less than 200 calories.

Oily fish such as tuna, salmon, lake trout, herring and sardines are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which can effectively prevent heart disease, stroke and arthritis.

According to the Mayo Clinic, eating just 2 servings of fish per week (about the size of a deck of cards per serving) could reduce your risk of dying from a heart attack. Especially if this fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

In Japan, fish is eaten practically every day. No wonder heart disease and stroke are almost non-existent in Japan compared to the US. In Japan, there are about 30 deaths from heart disease per 100,000. In the USA, however, it is 106 per 100,000. Over 3 times higher.

Without a doubt, fish has to be one of the most powerful ingredients that contributes to the health benefits of consuming sushi.

Vegetables

All kinds of vegetables are used to make sushi.

Vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber. Cancers are less likely to occur in populations that consume a good amount of fruits and vegetables.

Plants also contain phytochemicals that protect the body from disease.

And one of the best things about the vegetables used in sushi is that most of the time they are used in their natural raw state.

Cucumbers, avocado and carrots are usually sliced ​​and used raw. If they are cooked at all, they are usually just blanched. If spinach is used, it is usually blanched.

All of this means that the vegetables used in sushi contain as many vitamins and minerals as possible because they are not cooked to death before use.

Green tea

Although it's not officially an ingredient used in making sushi, it's typically present at the table of almost every sushi meal I've ever been served at a sushi restaurant.

For thousands of years and in almost every country in the known world, green tea has long been praised for its supposed ability to improve health.

From eradicating simple bacterial and viral infections to controlling or curing degenerative diseases such as stroke, cancer, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, the claims are numerous and some hard to believe.

In fact, the evidence is so overwhelming that the National Cancer Institute's Division of Chemoprevention has developed a plan to produce tea compounds to be used as cancer chemoprevention agents in human trials.

The evidence has to be pretty strong if the National Cancer Institute is working on plans for human trials.

Summary

Overall, sushi seems to be a very healthy food as long as you stay away from the fusion sushi that involves deep-frying, use low-sodium soy sauce, avoid or limit seafood with high cholesterol, and avoid condiments like mayonnaise.

Using or ordering brown rice instead of white rice is also a healthier choice, although white rice is still a healthy choice, just not quite as high on the health ladder as brown rice.

Finally, let's just say it like this. If every American in the United States replaced every fast food meal they would otherwise have with a sushi meal, our health care costs would likely decrease, our life expectancy would likely increase, and quality of life would likely improve dramatically.