Sushi is seen as a popular choice for lunch or a light dinner; many clients we see choose sushi when they are trying to improve their eating habits or when they don’t have a lot of time for lunch. It is a quick and portable meal, which appears to be a healthy choice to many.
But is sushi a healthy choice? If you are trying to improve your eating habits should sushi feature in your eating habits regularly.
Many people associate sushi with Japanese food, however many other populations around the world have now eating sushi style foods on a regular basis.

The sushi I am referring to here are the typical ‘rolled sushi’ or hand rolls’; white rice, wrapped in seaweed with small amounts of filling, usually a source of protein such as salmon and 1-2 types of vegetables such as lettuce or cucumber.
While this may sound like a balanced lunch we must look at the amounts of each of the ingredients. Sushi is mainly made up of white rice; this is very quickly digested by the body and has minimal amounts of fibre. While there are brown rice varieties available, these contain only small amount more of fibre and brown rice is still quickly digested by the body.
There are many different choices for sushi hand rolls and these are mainly determined by the ‘fillings’ or the ‘flavours’ e.g. you can have salmon, teriyaki chicken, avocado, tuna varieties etc. However, while these sound like they contain a variety of healthy ingredients, when you look at a sushi hand roll you can see that the amount of filling is actually quite minimal- you may find 1 small slice of cucumber, 1 part of a lettuce leaf etc.
When you compare the amount of filling to what an actual serve of vegetables or protein is you will see it is only small portion of a serve e.g. 1 serve of cucumber and lettuce (vegetables) would be one full cup (and the amount in one hand roll is only a tiny fraction of that).

So, basically sushi is mainly a meal of white rice.
While rice is not necessarily ‘unhealthy’ you need to view the context of how you eat it. If you only eat sushi for say lunch and eat it often they you re basically eating a large amount of low fibre carbohydrate with only very small amounts of protein and vegetables- this is if you have only hand rolls for the meal.
High carbohydrate, low fibre and low protein meals may leave you feeling hungry quite soon after you have eaten and therefore may encourage consumption of more food than what you would have had if you had eaten a higher protein/fibre meal.
Sushi handrolls are made with seaweed which is generally a source of iodine and it can be great for people in countries outside of Japan to enjoy sushi on occasions as seaweed isn’t really eaten much in other dishes in the Western world.
If you are someone who enjoys sushi, here are some points you may like to consider:
- Choose brown rice sushi rolls
- Add a salad and/or sashimi; instead of having say 3-4 handrolls for lunch try having 1-2 handrolls and add a side salad and some sashimi. This way you are having more fibre, more lean protein and more nutrient dense foods for a more balanced meal. It will help keep you feeling fuller for longer and lower the amount of energy you are having.
- Choose sushi for lunch once per week; when you do have it ensure you have an afternoon snack higher in protein and /or fibre ready just in case you feel hungry in the afternoon.
- Use soy sauce sparingly on sushi if you choose to have it. Soy sauce is high in sodium and it can be easy to over do it and be well on the way to the daily maximum sodium recommendations if you have a lot regularly.
- Remember that each handroll has on average the same amount of carbohydrate as 1 slice of bread. And so, if you are someone that has 4 handrolls at a time (think those plastic trays fit 4 handrolls quite well) then you are having the equivalent to 4 slices of bread (which is 2 sandwiches). And when you think how full two sandwiches would leave you it is probably more full than 4 handrolls.
- Remember that many sushi roles look like they can have more vegetables in them than they do- some of the rolls have most of their toppings in one end- the other end may be mainly rice. Get to know your sushi shop well and what the quality of the sushi is like.
- Try making your own sushi at home and taking it to work for lunch. That way you can add more nutritious fillings than the ones you buy in the shops and also a little less rice.
- Sushi can be a good wholefood snack – as long as you keep your portion sizes in check and don’t eat too many handrolls. For example if I was to have sushi for a snack it would be no more than one handroll and then no other food for the snack. 1 handroll would be similar to say having 1 slice of toast as a snack.
So is sushi a healthy choice?
At the end of the day it all comes back to eating a varied and balanced diet. If you are someone who eats only sushi rolls for lunch a few times a week and doesn’t really eat many vegetables or other higher fibre foods at other meals then it could be good to consider mixing it up a bit. But if you enjoy sushi occasionally and otherwise eat a high fibre balanced diet with plenty of wholegrain and vegetables and fruits then it will be less of an issue. It really comes down to our overall diets – many popular lunch and dinner places sell foods made mainly from highly refined and low fibre carbohydrates. So just remember to always have half your plate filled with vegetables – no matter if this is a sandwich, salad, sushi meal, stirfry etc.
My little 2.5year old loves to get a sushi roll for his lunch while we are out shopping – this is great to introduce him to new flavours and he loves looking at them all lined up and choosing one. And it is also quite easy for him to eat – not much mess while out which is great! It is good for him to have a relatively minimally processed food too!
So you see there are ways of enjoying sushi in a nutritious and healthy lifestyle, however it is about being aware of exactly what is in sushi (there isn’t much filling) and how that fits into your overall eating patterns and diet.