About Hazel Ng Hazel Ng, RD is the director of DSC Weight Management Program www.dscwellness.com who has helped thousands of people to regain their shape.  DSC is located at 889 San Gabriel Blvd., Sn Gabriel, CA 91776. She enjoys dining out with family and friends and she teaches her clients how to enjoy foods in a healthy way.  She strongly believes that sensible eating, not restrictive diets, is the key to a healthy and happy life.

Most of the food on the Japanese restaurant menu is prepared by non-fat or low-fat cooking methods. If you are on a weight loss plan, you can still have plenty of low-fat and healthy choices.  For example, the restaurants usually provide you with miso soup, green salad, and a small bowl of Edamame (the green soy beans) as appetizers.  These low fat dishes are a good way to comfort your overly hungry stomach before you start your meal.  If you want more benefits from soy products, you can always order another tofu dish.  Soy protein plays a role in heart health and the phytonutrient in soy products, called isoflavone, helps to prevent calcium loss and maintain bone health.

For main course, if you are fond of sushi or sashimi, you have plenty of healthy choices.  They are all low in fat because they do not need to be prepared with oil, and they are high in omega 3 fatty acids and iodine.  However, if you concern about your cholesterol level, you might want to avoid odering eel, sea urchin, salmon or smelt roe, and sweet shrimp.

In winter season, lots of people love to enjoy Shabu Shabu, in which you cook your choice of meat (usually beef) together with veggies and noodles in either a boiling light broth or a special sweet sauce (Sukiyaki) in your own little hot pot. This is a healthy way of cooking. Keep in mind that beef with higher grade also means that its fat content is higher. The portion of beef the restaurant offers usually seems to be small to a lot of diners. I suggest eating some the veggies and tofu first before enjoying the meat, and always complete your meal with all the veggies, the yam noodles (a very low calorie food) or udon, and the bowl of rice. The Shabu Shabu meal itself is well-balanced with grains, veggies, and meat with adequate calories. If you still have room for more food, try to order extra veggies rather than beef or save some room for dessert.

The higher fat items on the Japanese restaurant menu are the deep fried dishes such as Tempura, Katsu(pork cutlet) , and Soft Shell crab (deep fried crab). When ordering these items, try to share with your friends so that you do not consume the entire portion of calories. One way to healthier restaurant dining without sacrificing your favorite-but-less-healthy dishes is to order in family style, which means to order a few dishes and then share with everybody.

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