Filling up on healthy appetizers is one way to eat less unhealthy sushi. (Joe Kline / The Bulletin)

First things first: If you’re going out for sushi instead of pasta, a burrito or a cheeseburger with fries, you’re probably making a solid choice.

“I think you’re dodging a bullet when you’re going to get sushi rather than American food,” said Jim White, a registered dietitian in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and spokesman with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

But — there’s always a but — even sushi, with its lean or fatty fish, veggies and rice, can quickly take a turn for the worse depending on how you order it at a restaurant or make it at home. With that in mind, registered dietitians White and RanDee Anshutz, with Synergy Health and Wellness in Bend, offered up the following tips to make sure you’re keeping your sushi nutritious and preventing the calories from multiplying.

1) Fill up on appetizers

Some sushi rolls contain far more carbohydrates than protein, especially if they’re filled with lots of rice (carbs) and not so much fish (protein). That might be the reason you don’t feel full after eating one roll.

“It’s definitely one of those where if you just eat the sushi rolls, you’re hungry again in an hour,” Anshutz said.

One solution would be to order or make nigiri — a small ball of rice topped with a piece of fish — or sashimi — a bite-sized piece of fish by itself — rather than rolls.

A healthy sushi roll, such as a California roll — that’s crab, avocado and cucumber — tends to contain roughly 300 calories, White said. A roll typically contains between six and eight pieces.

“That can really add up if you’re doing two or three rolls,” White said.

That’s why the two dietitians say it’s important to order the healthy starters most Japanese restaurants offer, things like edamame, seaweed salad or miso soup. Edamame, also known as soybeans, are a great source of protein and fiber, and a good source of magnesium, potassium and iron, Anshutz said. She added that miso soup can act as a probiotic, which helps with digestion. That soup tends to be high in sodium but can be eaten in moderation among people who aren’t watching their blood pressure, White said.

Eating more beforehand tends to result in eating less sushi, Anshutz said.

“Then you end up eating a little bit less of the actual sushi rolls that might have a little extra sugar and so much rice,” she said.

2) Keep it simple

Dietitians caution against going with fancier specialty rolls that are deep-fried and drizzled with sauces, which can contain lots of calories, fat and sugar, and instead stick with simple, “cleaner” rolls.

For his part, White said he’s encountered rolls that contain up to 800 calories.

“You can eat as healthy or unhealthy as you want at a Japanese restaurant,” he said.

Anshutz said she wouldn’t fret over the small amount of cream cheese on a Philadelphia roll — smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber — nor the bit of mayo that’s mixed with the tuna for a spicy tuna roll.

“It’s the amount that matters,” she said.

3) Brown rice > white rice

One of the more obvious tips dietitians serve up when it comes to sushi is to opt for brown rice instead of white.

A wealth of research has linked the consumption of whole grains, such as brown rice, with a lowered risk of heart disease, diabetes and other ailments. They also contain more fiber, potassium, selenium and magnesium than refined grains like white rice.

Some Japanese restaurants offer the option of brown rice. If you’re making sushi at home, pick up short-grain brown rice at the grocery store. You can also buy brown rice that’s especially for sushi, White said.

Brown rice is prepared the same as white rice for making sushi: Add rice vinegar, sugar and salt.

The downside is brown rice doesn’t tend to be as sticky as white, so the rolls are more likely to fall apart. Anshutz recommends placing the rice inside the seaweed paper, called nori, if you’re making sushi rolls with brown rice.

4) Watch the soy sauce

The sodium in soy sauce adds up fast. The tiny dipping dish used with sushi can contain 3 or 4 tablespoons of soy sauce — up to 3,600 milligrams of sodium, Anshutz said. Ideally, the average adult should stay below 2,200 milligrams per day.

“With going out to sushi, sodium is one of the big things that we really want to watch for, because pretty much all of it is salty,” she said.

Dietitians recommend opting for low sodium soy sauce — but Anshutz said even that will likely push you over your daily budget, just not nearly as much.

5) Choose the right fish

The tough thing about making sushi at home in Central Oregon is the lack of stores that sell fresh fish that can be used in sushi.

Fish contains parasites that are usually killed through either cooking or freezing, Anshutz said, so she recommends people freezing any fish bought locally before using it for sushi.

“The texture isn’t ideal,” she said. “It’s not going to be as tender and moist as fresh raw fish would be, but it’s probably worth it to know that you killed off any parasites if you’re going to make it at home.”

Restaurants, meanwhile, have fresh fish shipped in regularly, so parasites aren’t as much of a concern. If a store says its fish is sushi-grade — a term that’s not regulated by the federal government — it should be stored in a separate case from non-sushi-grade fish and shouldn’t have been handled with the same knives or cutting boards as the other fish. Anshutz said to be wary of store-bought fish that’s more than 48 hours old.

The amount of mercury — a chemical that can cause health problems, especially for pregnant women — in fish poses another concern. In a Natural Resource Defense Council fact sheet detailing mercury contents in various types of fish, salmon was placed in the lowest mercury content category. The organization noted, however, that farmed salmon may contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chemicals that also can have long-term health effects.

Shrimp, scallop, crab, mackerel and squid were also in the low mercury category.

The council placed yellowfin tuna, commonly used in sushi, in its high-mercury category, which it recommends eating three times or less per month. It placed Bigeye and Ahi tuna, also commonly used in sushi, in the highest mercury category, which it recommends avoiding.

“In general with mercury, it depends on the size of the fish,” Anshutz said. “The big guys are eating the little guys. So they’re getting that fish’s mercury, plus.” •

Dietitians caution against going with fancier specialty rolls that are deep-fried and drizzled with sauces, which can contain lots of calories, fat and sugar, and instead stick with simple, “cleaner” rolls.