The time I brought a food scale to a sushi restaurant
Deconstructing sushi... blasphemous?
Counting calories isn’t rocket science. Add everything together and you have your total. Despite knowing that, why do so many of us struggle with eating the right amount?
*We don’t know how food translates into calories.*
Unlike in video games, food doesn’t come with a stat window telling us exactly what it replenishes. How much was that in grams? What else went into the dish? What did I even eat?
It’s hard enough counting your macronutrients when you cook for yourself – when you’re aware of what you added. Try figuring out how many calories and how much protein you consumed at a family dinner with a dozen dishes sprawled out on the table. I don’t have the data, but I’m going to assume most people lose motivation to continue tracking after a night out like that.
But Freeman, we’re bound to eat out at some point. What are some things we can try doing to avoid jeopardizing our hard earned gains?
Great question. A recurring theme here is balance and consistency. Instead of trying to cut every potentially harmful thing out of our routine, I think it’s more important to learn how to set boundaries, play within those confines and achieve our goals while still enjoying that craving-satiating, not-the-healthiest option on the menu. Because that’s what’s sustainable.
Food Type: limit yourself to healthier choices
This sounds like an obvious approach. If we can’t accurately gauge the calories we consume, pick the best option within our knowledge. If you eat at a restaurant serving healthy options, temptations are less likely to strike. But we don’t have to stop there. Dive deeper!
Can’t decide what to eat?
What’s the most protein-rich option on the menu?
Is it a protein I want at the moment?
Is there a less-fried version of what I want?
If not, could I order the fried dish as a side instead? Or a snack we can all share?
What about drinks?
Indifferent between pop or juice? Pick juice!
Do I need this sugary drink, or could I get something healthier?
If I’m absolutely craving it, could I get it with reduced sugar?
These are just some of my considerations when eating out, but they’re specific to me! Play around with your own checklist, so you can catch yourself before making a decision you might regret.
Food Amount: bring a food scale with you
We may limit ourselves to healthy options, but we still wouldn’t know how many calories we consumed throughout the meal. We can estimate, but we’re usually not very good at it. As observed in an experiment published in the journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, less than a quarter of participants were able to accurately estimate the calories in food with an error of less than 15%. Extrapolate this to most of our meals, and we would be consistently overshooting/undershooting our calorie consumption.
Even if we know in numbers that 100 grams of chicken thigh equates to ~26 grams of protein and ~210 calories, it doesn’t really help us determine how much we consume.
First, how much does 100 grams of chicken look like?
Would we be able to tell if the chicken was finely shredded in fried rice?
Does the sauce account for more calories?
How much oil was used for cooking? That could add a LOT of calories.
We can’t answer all of these questions unless we work in the kitchen, but we CAN determine how much meat we consume. And that’s with a food scale.
Weighing my sushi
Sounds a little blasphemous deconstructing my sushi, but I had to do it. For science! (Plus, it’s a lot more fun than picking out all the bits of shredded chicken in fried rice.)
Sushi’s one of my favorite choices when I’m eating out, but I always stuff myself without any idea how much fish and rice I’ve consumed. (Who can relate, WOO!)
So I packed a handy food scale, and headed out for battle. I got seated, ordered, took out my food scale, shouldered the embarrassing glances, and went to work.
Here’s a table of my observations from two separate sushi chains along with their value in calories (information I found by doing a quick Google search):
Takeaways from the data:
The rice in a standard piece of sushi almost always weighs 16 grams, especially if machine pressed
Let’s say a piece of sushi is approximately 50 kcal (it’s an easy number to work with)
Calorie density goes from lean fish → shellfish → fatty fish
What would that look like compared to a normal meal? On average, a bowl of rice generally weighs 150 to 200 grams. That equates to a range of 9 to 12 pieces of sushi.
What about the fish? A general serving of fish is about 80g, which is about 5 to 6 pieces of sushi. Of course, if we’re looking to eat sufficient protein (which is 30 to 40 grams per meal), we’re looking at about 10 to 12 pieces.
All together, this would be our optimal sushi meal:
12 pieces of sushi
Around 160 grams of fish (30 to 40 grams of protein)
192 grams of rice (54 grams of carbs)
A healthy dose of omega-3s and unsaturated fats
An approximately 600 kcal meal
It’s still a rough estimate, but it’s a much better estimate for how the food we eat translates to the calories we consume. By shouldering the embarrassment of deconstructing and weighing my food once, I’ve equipped myself with the knowledge to handle my future sushi meals to come. And I’ll be honest - bring a friend along for the laughs at the silliness of the whole ordeal, and it’s actually pretty fun!
The best way to take control of your calories and nutrition is not to avoid, but to understand.
Learn more about your favorite meals. Experiment with ways to make them healthier. Learn how to fit your go-to dishes into your diet in a sustainable manner. Try adding more variety to your meals. And most importantly, enjoy your food!
That being said, if you're feeling the love and would like to make a kind donation to fuel my rather large amount of caffeine intake, you can buy me a coffee here.
My content here is free, so a donation of any amount would mean the world to me as it gives me the confidence that what I’m doing is making a difference!