6 Healthy Tips to Enjoy Sushi in Lebanon or Japan

6 Tips for Eating Sushi in Lebanon or Japan

In the last years, sushi restaurants in Lebanon have mushroomed everywhere. Scattered at every corner you look, there's one to please every taste: some of them serve sushi, while others, you guessed it, serve sushi too. Japan invades our national heritage? No need to feel threatened. Soon enough someone is going to start serving hummus makis. 

It's widely thought that sushi is truly healthy, but that's not entirely true. Not if 80% of the pieces we order are makis rolled with white rice and the famed crispy that is fried in more oil than a woman tanning under the summer sun. I looked around a lot trying to find a sushi restaurant that serves makis rolled with brown rice and, till the time of writing this article, I did not succeed. But if anyone has any information that could help me in my quest, please leave a comment below.

So, here I came up with some tips to enjoy sushi blissfully in Lebanon without adding pounds of fat to our belly:

Tip # 1:

• Always start with a green salad. I Enjoy Sushi Bento's Fibrous green salad. It contains broccoli and green peppers which not only are a vitamin powerhouse, but their fiber content also signals to the brain to start the satiation process. 

The salad helps prepare us for the sushi by appeasing the hunger and preventing us from overeating

Tip # 2:

• Careful with the salad dressings. They often include a lot of empty calories and unnecessary fats. I usually order mustard sauce mixed with lemon juice. Very low on calories and adds a flavor to the salad while eliminating all those empty calories. Remember no need for oil because you'll be getting plenty of healthy omega-3 fats from the salmon.

Salad dressings often hide a large amount of unnecessary empty calories

Tip # 3:

• Try to eat more Sashimi than makis. Salmon sashimi contains plenty of healthy omega3 fats while packing zero carbs.

Sashimi is always a better option than makis

Tip # 4:

• Order makis that include mostly real fresh fish and not crazy makis with fake crab.

Crazy and California makis contain what is known as imitation crab, which is a highly processed seafood that is in reality a finely pulverized white fish flesh (surimi) mixed with differing proportions of additives such as starch, egg white, salt, vegetable oil, humectants, sorbitol, sugar,soy protein, seasonings, and enhancers such as transglutaminases and monosodium glutamate (MSG).

I don't know about you, but I'd rather stick to real fish.

This is not really fish or crab but a fiesta of industrial highly-processed surimi

Tip # 5:

• Easy on the soy sauce (even the low sodium variety) as it's still relatively high in sodium and known to cause water retention. A trick I do is slightly dipping my sushis in one tablespoon of soy sauce.

The less the soy sauce, the more you'll taste the fish anyway.

The Less Sodium Soy Sauce variety contains as much as 600 mg of sodium per Tbsp

Tip #6:

• Everyone loves salmon temakis. But normally they're loaded with rice. A trick that I do is always ask to replace the rice with avocado. That way, I turn the temaki into a carb-free protein powerhouse.

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