Is Yakitori Healthy? (3 Tips For Weight Loss) 

Whenever I go to any night market or boardwalks, I am always on the lookout for a place that sells a delicious kabob.

Not only are they super yummy and flavorful, they are an extremely convenient snack that you can always eat when you’re on the go. 

My favorite type of kabob has to be the Japanese Yakitori.

With several different kinds, you are sure to get a different type of Yakitori depending on which booth or restaurant you go to!

Yakitori refers specifically to chicken meat, but vendors and cooks love to experiment with several different parts of the chicken like the breast meat, thighs, skin, and even the heart! Is Yakitori an ideal and healthy food though?

Yakitori is a Japanese dish that features pieces of fresh meat grilled over charcoals which makes for both a delicious meal and a healthy alternative to other meat dishes you can find. Yakitori focuses on the quality of meat with the use of minimal oil so you can expect Yakitori to be leaner and healthier than traditional BBQ.

Here are some tips that will help you eat Yakitori while still staying in shape: 

1. Understanding Which Yakitori is Best To Eat

2. Watch Your Portion Sizes

3. How to Make Your Own Healthy Yakitori

Now that we know the three steps to eat Yakitori while staying healthy, let’s take a deeper look into what we can do to enjoy our favorite meal responsibly.

Tip 1: Which Yakitori is Best To Eat?

In this section I’ll be discussing some popular types of Yakitori, what it consists of, and which type is the most healthiest!

Kawa Yakitori

Kawa Yakitori is a type of Japanese skewer that uses grilled chicken skin as the main meat.

With a super crispy and fatty  texture, Kawa Yakitori is popularly paired with cold beer or wine as an overall refreshing party snack.

Wow, this sounds super good, but let us take a look at the nutrition facts.

One skewer (maybe 2 if they are smaller in size) has around 180 calories with 13 grams of fat, 5 grams of carbohydrates, and 7 grams of protein.

Kawa Yakitori is an extremely high fat food that does not make it the ideal healthy food.

This does not mean you can not eat it when losing weight!

Just make sure that the rest of your meals are lower in fat and make sure you moderate and only eat one skewer. 

It is so easy to eat multiple skewers when you are not paying attention, but just eating two Kawa Yakitoris can total up to 26 grams of fat!

Depending on your height and weight, this on average is more than half the amount of fat you should be consuming daily when you are trying to be in a calorie deficit.

Kawa Yakitori is not the healthiest food but does at 180 calories, it is a good snack to eat, as long as you are not drinking beer with it. 

Negima Yakitori

Negima Yakitori is the most popular type of Yakitori out there and is definitely my favorite one.

This type of skewer uses chicken thighs as the main meat so it tastes super juicy with a tangy and smoky flavor from the special sauces.

This skewer often contains other vegetables paired with the chicken thighs such as zucchini, onions, orother grilled vegetables!

So how is Negima Yakitori compared to other skewers?

One skewer of Negima Yakitori is 250 calories and contains 13 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbohydrates, and finally 23 grams of protein.

Negima Yakitori is actually not that bad! With 23 grams of protein, this skewer is a great source of protein with very little carbohydrates and not too much fat.

You might be wondering why I would say that Negima Yakitori is healthier than Kawa Yakitori when Kawa Yakitori has a lot less calories.

The reason why Negima Yakitori may be preferable is because of the macronutrient ratio. 

Ideally, when you are trying to look for a balanced meal, you want your fat to protein ratio to be 1:3 and your carbohydrates to protein ratio to be around 1:1.

If you look at Kawa Yakitori it has a 2:1 fat to protein ratio making it not an ideal food.

On the other hand, Negima Yakitori has a 1:2 fat to protein ratio which is completely flipped to Kawa Yakitori.

Although it is a bit high in calories for a snack, it is still a good quick food that also needs to be eaten in moderation. 

Tsukune Yakitori 

Finally, we have Tsukune Yakitori, which is a very popular Japanese chicken meatball skewer that if you haven’t eaten before, you have probably seen in some of your favorite Japanese animes.

Made by rolling ground chicken breast into symmetrical spheres these bite sized meat circles are super juicy and flavorful. 

One skewer is 170 calories and contains 9 grams of fat, 6 grams of carbohydrates, and 14 grams of protein.

That is not bad at all! With a low carbohydrate count and a good amount of protein, this is a great low-calorie option for someone trying to lose weight. 

The reason why Tsukune Yakitori is much lower in fat compared to the other two dishes is because it uses ground chicken breast, which is one of the leanest sources of protein existing.

This makes it a pretty low calorie snack that can satiate your hunger if you’re looking to fit a quick bite into your day. 

Tip 2: Make Sure to Portion Control 

This in my opinion, is one of the most important things to consider when you are trying to lose weight.

If you know anything about eating these meat skewers, one skewer can quickly turn into three or four.

Since they are made for people to conveniently eat, a whole plate of Yakitori can be devoured in 10 minutes!

To prevent yourself from overeating, I recommend that if this is your midday snack, to stick to eating only one or two skewers.

These small skewers are definitely leaning more to the higher calorie side so they can tally up if you are not being careful or aware of how much you are eating.

Besides the Kawa Yakitori, the Yakitoris using chicken breast and thighs are a good source of protein, but at the end of the day, a calorie deficit is the king of weight loss regardless of what type of macronutrients you are eating. 

If Yakitori is being served as a dish during lunch or dinner, try stocking up on vegetables and greens on your plate first.

I find that when I first drink a cup of water and eat vegetables on my plate, I end up feeling more full without eating as much.

Quite often, we mistake cravings for hunger, so if you satiate yourself with fibrous foods before jumping into high fat and carbohydrate dishes, you’ll find your weight loss process to be a lot more successful and a lot less painful. 

Tip 3: How to Make Your Own Healthy Yakitori 

One of the best ways to accurately track your food intake is to cook your own meals!

Not only can you save some money, but cooking is one of the best ways to become more educated and in tune with ways to stay fit and healthy. 

The handiest tool I picked up on my diet journey was learning how to cook my own food which not only taught me how to track my food, but now I know how to cook a bunch of dishes that I enjoy.

The benefits of creating lower calorie meals is that you can eat more food to keep you full so this will prevent you from overeating.

If you are craving some Yakitori, here are some ingredient swaps and quick choices you can make to make your Yakitori a higher protein, low-calorie snack. 

Instead of using chicken thighs, livers, or skin, swap this out with chicken breast so that you have a leaner source of protein with little to no fat.

Although it may not taste as juicy as the chicken thighs, Tsukune Yakitori uses ground chicken breast as the main meat source and it tastes just as delicious!

Don’t be afraid to add some vegetables onto your Yakitori as well!

Grilled onions and zucchinis are great low calorie vegetables that will keep you more full, and in my opinion it makes the skewer taste so much better!

The more flavors and textures, the more delicious!

For your Yakitori sauce, be aware of how much sugar you are putting into your final mix.

Try reducing your sugar to make your Yakitori lower in calories and carbohydrates.

You actually don’t need to add olive oil or butter into your Yakitori which is great because oils and butters are super high and fat and can easily add a ton of calories into your dish so avoid adding these to your Yakitori!

Now you know how you can make your own healthier version of the Yakitori as well as the best types to get when you are trying to lose weight!

So whenever you feel like eating one of these delicious chicken skewers, do not be afraid because you can definitely incorporate it in your diet.

Hopefully this article has inspired and educated you that weight loss does not need to be a hard or painful experience

conclusion

Remember though, although nutrition is a huge factor that influences weight loss, it is important to pair this journey with exercise as well, especially strength training.

Several years of research on the benefits of weight training have shown that individuals that do some sort of consistent resistance training at least 3-5 times a week have shown not only a great amount of weight loss but are also able to keep the weight off! 

The secret to this phenomena is that strength training leads to a build-up of muscle.

Not only does your body recomposition into a more fitting and athletic-looking aesthetic, but having more muscle also increases your resting metabolic rate which essentially means you burn more calories at rest! 

We understand that not everyone has access to a gym membership or feel comfortable starting off in such an intimidating environment.

Although I would strongly recommend that everyone should get a gym membership, don’t worry we got your back!

Now that we know the importance of muscle we need to make sure we stay on track with our workouts.

Consistency and longevity are the two key factors when building muscle so there will be some commitment involved.

You can either go to the gym or build one for yourself.

It really just comes down to 3 pieces of equipment that you need to do most workouts.

These three are the workout bench, dumbbells, and gym flooring. Check out our recommended gear page to see our best picks for these pieces of equipment here. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/home-workout-equipment

If a home gym is not for you then getting a membership somewhere works too.

As long as you are starting your muscle building journey, we’re happy! 

Stick with it for the long run and you’ll see how amazing the results can be. 

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