Hi so I live in the States and I’m trying to maintain a very low weight (not unhealthy, just lean-ish) and im having trouble with food. For starters I only eat breakfast and dinner for digestive reasons. I ask for diet advice from the Japanese perspective because portions seem really balanced and I very frequently cook Japanese food. If I am female and wanted to stay fairly thin and healthy, what would my portions for breakfast and dinner look like if I was in Japan?
If there is a better sub for this sort of question please direct me !
by bellzies
1 comment
A normal “Japanese” breakfast might be a bowl (chawan) of rice and a bowl of miso soup and a fried egg, or possibly natto. But many if not most people in my region (Kansai) have bread. That could mean toast, a roll, or some kind of okashipan (often stick bread) straight out of the bag.
You said you don’t eat lunch, but a common lunch in Japan is an onigiri. I also don’t eat lunch (or breakfast) for digestive reasons, but a small onigiri usually doesn’t trigger my acid too badly.
Dinner will usually be rice, protein, and some okazu. Protein can often be grilled fish. Japanese stoves usually have a built in fish grill. But other protein based recipes include subuta, nikujaga, steak (which is usually thin and fatty and seasoned with shiokosho), katsu, fried shrimp (which can also be made into chili shrimp or mayo shrimp), fried fish… However, there are many other dishes that don’t fit this traditional pattern. Curry and stew made from roux blocks, pasta, and fried rice are popular home dishes.
Okazu might include kimchi, tsukemono, tsukudani, konbu (sometimes seasoned with sansho), beans…
In the winter, it’s common to have nabe for dinner. It’s a pot of boiled vegetables, tofu, and konjac. The vegetables can vary, but it usually always includes hakusai. It can be seasoned by packet or by adding ponzu to your bowl after serving. The pot is sometimes placed on a portable gas canister range to keep it hot. People will sometimes have thinly sliced protein (often pork or beef) served raw that they dip into the hot pot to flash boil it. That’s called shabushabu.
There’s a lot more things but maybe that’s enough from me for now.