17 Sushi Nutrition Facts: A Japanese Superfood That Will Heal You!

Sushi is considered to be a superfood of Japanese cuisine.

It is a food that is popular in its native country and worldwide. Eating sushi has become an adventure for many people due to the wide variety of ingredients included in the food.

Sushi can be served in several different ways. Generally, sushi is shaped in a roll with six to eight pieces depending on the ingredients and size of each sushi roll.

Apart from this, there is also nigiri sushi, also known as finger sushi. And then there is sashimi which is sushi wrapped in raw fish instead of rice. Calories in sushi can be hard to determine as each ingredient has a different calorie level.

A sushi roll is made of several pieces of various food wrapped in a layer of rice and a dry seaweed layer on the outside. This dried seaweed sheet wrapped around the sushi is known as nori.

Several types of sushi rolls are quite popular such as shrimp tempura roll, avocado roll, California roll, tuna roll, spicy tuna roll, rainbow roll, and cucumber roll. Each of these rolls has a different calorie count.

The shrimp tempura roll has the highest calories out of all the sushi rolls as the shrimp is fried to make a crunchy texture. The calories present in this roll are 508. It also contains fat, carbs, and protein.

The rainbow roll, as the name suggests, is quite colorful. It has around 476 calories along with protein, carbs, and fat. This sushi roll contains varieties of fish and thus has a high amount of protein.

As the name suggests, the spicy tuna roll is spicier than the regular tuna roll and contains 290 calories and carbs, protein, and fat. The spiciness of this roll is achieved through a mix of mayo, hot sauce, and green onions.

Meanwhile, the avocado roll is one of the most simple rolls with just a few ingredients. The avocado roll has 140 calories and fat, protein, and carbs.

Interestingly, there is also an eel avocado roll that contains 372 calories and a salmon avocado roll that contains 304 calories. The salmon roll also includes a high amount of fat, protein, and carbs.

California roll is considered to be one of the classic sushi rolls. The calories in the California roll range around 225, and it also contains protein, carbs, and fat. The California roll is an excellent choice for beginners in the sushi world.

In comparison, the cucumber roll has the least amount of calories. It has about 136 calories and has no fat.

Interestingly, pay attention to the serving sizes when ordering sushi. If the size of a single piece is too big, you can ask for the roll to be made into eight pieces instead of six. Many people enjoy eating sushi as a snack, but it can also be part of a larger meal.

Once you finish reading this amazing fun-facts article, you might also be interested in reading the articles about nutrition facts for strawberries and samosa nutrition facts here at Kidadl.

Ingredients In Sushi

Since sushi can be consumed as rolls and sashimi, the nutrients vary accordingly. Moreover, a wide range of food items can be added to sushi, making determining nutrition levels quite difficult.

One way to determine the calories in sushi is to look at the individual ingredients of the sushi. As is common knowledge, the calorie level for the rice generally used in sushi is high.

Sushi rolls consist of vegetables and different fish meat. While vegetables contain relatively fewer calories, the specific fish in the sushi roll would determine the overall calories.

Mostly, the fish used in a sushi roll are flounder, conger eel, sweet shrimp, yellowtail, squid, surf clam, salmon roe, sardine, bluefin tuna, albacore (white) tuna, mackerel, and so on. Each fish has different calories.

For instance, in a standard 3 oz (85 g) serving, salmon has calories in the range of 50-56, sweet shrimp has 60 calories, the eel has 63 calories, and albacore has 55 calories. Crab is also an ingredient of sushi.

Along with calories, crab meat also has a high amount of carbs. There are 42 calories in a 1 oz (28.34 g) portion of crab.

Moreover, the calorie levels of the sushi roll can increase if the fish is fried. The term tempura means that it is fried. Therefore tempura shrimp roll and tempura spider roll will contain more calories. The crunchiness of the ingredient denotes that it has been covered by fried bread, which further increases the number of calories, fat, and carbs.

Furthermore, spiciness for a particular sushi roll is achieved through the use of mayo, which increases the number of calories, fat, and carbs. Therefore the spicy tuna roll has more calories.

Meanwhile, sashimi calories are another matter. Sashimi is different from regular sushi as it is not wrapped in nori but is simply raw fish meat.

The sashimi calories can thus be considered lower than the calories of the sushi roll since the fish in sashimi is not cooked. And in addition to that, sashimi contains less fat and high protein. Sashimi also has low carbs as the raw fish meat is not cooked.

Sashimi is also enjoyed with hot sauce or wasabi. Many people like to add a little bit of wasabi to their sashimi to add a spicy flavor. Sashimi can also be dipped in a hot sauce to make it spicy. However, sashimi is not a dish that suits everyone's taste since it contains raw meat.

There are also various vegetables that become ingredients for sushi. Cucumber, avocado, green onions, mushrooms, carrots, and bell pepper are some of the veggies usually added to sushi. Apart from this, you can also eat sushi as a meal that various side dishes can accompany.

One of the side dishes that is quite popular is the miso soup. One average cup of miso soup contains 40-50 calories, 0.05 oz (1.3 g) fat, 0.19 oz (5.3 g) carbs, 0.03 oz (1.1 g) fiber, and around 0.14 oz (3 to 4 g) protein.

Weight Loss With Sushi

Although sushi cannot be considered a fattening food, it has some ingredients that can significantly increase the amount of fat and carbs in the body. On the other hand, there are sushi ingredients that help lose weight.

If you love sushi and want to lose weight, you might want to make some changes to the sushi you eat. First of all, instead of a roll, try to eat sashimi. Since sashimi contains raw fish, which has fewer calories, fat, and carbs, it can help to gain less weight. Moreover, sashimi has more protein too.

Instead of tempura shrimp, or spicy mayo, you can opt for other healthier options such as cucumber or avocado sushi. Cucumber is a good source of water and vitamins, improving your overall health.

Furthermore, avoid eating sushi that contains fish with high calories, carbs, and fats such as the eel, salmon, or tuna. Instead, you can try crab sushi which has less fat and carbs than the others.

Rice is one of the main ingredients in sushi rolls and has a high amount of carbs and fat. The white rice in the sushi can indeed increase your weight instead of decreasing it.

An alternative to white rice can be brown rice. Unlike the former, brown rice has relatively less fat and carbs. You can make your sushi with this rice to avoid gaining weight from the high-fat present in the white rice.

Boost Immune System

Sushi can be added to your diet as it has many health benefits. Apart from fat, carbs, and protein, sushi also contains many other nutrients thanks to its wide variety of ingredients.

Some healthy fats present in sushi can boost the immune system, unlike saturated fat, which can be harmful to your health. Ingredients such as cucumber, avocado, salmon, and so on contain vitamins and minerals that can improve the immunity system.

Vitamin D present in the salmon can aid in boosting immune function. Meanwhile, vitamin A present in avocado is also helpful in improving the immune system and improving eye health.

Benefits For Skin - Antioxidants

Antioxidants are compounds that restrict or hinder the oxidation process, a chemical reaction that produces chain reactions and free radicals which cause damage to the cells of an organism. Antioxidants can thus improve skin health.

Along with being a good source of protein, sushi also contains antioxidants which can reduce skin cell damage due to oxidation. Moreover, the antioxidants in sushi can also slow the process of aging, thereby making the skin healthy. Thus, adding sushi to your diet can be an excellent idea.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created many interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for sushi nutrition facts, then why not take a look at sandwich nutrition facts or sashimi nutrition facts.